The General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre announced on Thursday that “the land registry secretariats of Mount Lebanon will deliver the first batch of completed property deeds to the concerned parties or their proxies on Friday, March 8, 2024. This process will follow a regulated delivery mechanism.” Property titles can be collected from the land registry offices in Baabda, Aley and Chouf.
In a press release, the General Directorate urged concerned individuals to visit its website and check the “latest news” section to confirm the availability of their property title. They are also requested to provide two LBP 50,000 stamps or purchase them from accredited financial companies.
The land registry services in Mount Lebanon, including Baabda, Aley, Metn, Chouf, Jounieh and Jbeil, were closed in October 2022 due to the prosecution of 124 officials for corruption following bribery allegations. More than 50,000 land registration formalities were put on hold, resulting in a substantial loss of revenue for the Treasury.
However, on January 22, at the request of caretaker Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil, the Land Registry and Cadastre administrative bureaus in Mount Lebanon resumed in-house work to process the accumulated applications and transactions.
A source close to the Ministry of Finance informed This Is Beirut that “once the work is completed, new formalities and requests will be accepted. The filing date for these applications will be announced later.”
In this context, Ziad Hawat, Lebanese Forces (LF) MP, submitted an information note to the General Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Cassation, calling for an investigation “to identify the party that contributes, participates or benefits, directly or indirectly, by action or omission, from the closure of the Mount Lebanon Land Registry.” He called for their questioning and for necessary measures to be undertaken to resume the institution’s services.
Razi Hajj, also an LF MP, took a similar approach. During a tour of the Zalka Land Registry, he called for a prompt reopening of the Mount Lebanon Land Registry. He emphasized that their reopening should also be accompanied by “simplified mechanisms and procedures to facilitate citizens’ formalities.”
