Property Papers Lost in the War… How Can a Lebanese Citizen Recover Their Right to Their Property?

Abstract

The war and hostilities that Lebanon experienced in 2023 and 2024 destroyed a large number of buildings and homes, and caused the loss of personal and property documents that had been kept inside the damaged houses. This raises legal problems that go beyond the loss of the physical paper: verifying property registrations, identifying who holds rights, proving rights in unsurveyed properties, and dealing with co-owned property, inheritance and unregistered documents. In this context, Law No. 22 of 11 July 2025, on granting those affected by the Israeli attacks on Lebanon certain exemptions and addressing the status of destroyed real-estate units, forms an important legislative framework for recovery and reconstruction. However, dealing with the loss of property documents requires distinguishing between recovering the document, proving the real right, and completing the procedures required to benefit from reconstruction measures. These matters are related, but they are not identical from a legal standpoint. This study aims to clarify the legal and administrative routes open to the person concerned, taking into account the provisions of the regime of real-estate ownership and immovable real rights issued by Decision No. 3339 of 12 November 1930 and its amendments, the provisions of the land registry regime, and the rules governing evidence and the relevant administrative and judicial procedures. The study proceeds from a basic principle: the loss of the paper document is not, in itself, enough to conclude that the real-estate right has lapsed; however, whether the right can be proved and the documents recovered or reconstituted depends on the nature of the right, the status of the property in the land registry, the available evidence, and whether there is a dispute over ownership.