What Documents Do You Need for a Property Valuation in Lebanon?
A practical list of the documents that make valuing land or property in Lebanon straightforward, and how requirements differ for court, bank, inheritance and embassy files.
No single set of documents suits every case. But gathering the right ones early saves time and cuts down the questions along the way.
Start here: the property number and cadastral zone
The single most important detail.
In Lebanon, property is identified by its number and its cadastral zone, not by its address. "An apartment in Hamra" is not a formal identification; "property number X in cadastral zone Y" is.
If you have that pair, send it first, even with nothing else attached. If you are handling a Lebanese property from abroad, tracking it down is the most useful thing you can do before anything else.
The title extract (*ifadeh 3aqariyyeh*)
An extract from the Land Registry showing ownership, registered charges, and the property's core details.
It is the most useful document in almost any file, and it is where problems usually surface: an old mortgage never discharged, a share still registered to someone deceased, an area different from what the owner believed.
Cadastral maps and area statements
Particularly important for land, for subdivision and consolidation files, and in any dispute over boundaries or area.
A cadastral map shows shape, boundaries and road frontage — factors that bear on value as much as area does.
Building documents
Permits and drawings matter where the building forms part of the value, or where there are questions about areas, use, or possible unregularised works.
The lease
If the property is let, the lease is not a side note — it is part of the asset. Its term, rent and renewal provisions determine the income a buyer could rely on, which weighs heavily in commercial property.
Inheritance files
You need what establishes the heirs and the properties in the estate: the inheritance certificate once issued, the death certificate, title extracts, and sometimes older ownership documents where the property still stands in an earlier generation's name.
Where some heirs are outside Lebanon, powers of attorney come into it too.
Court files
The decision appointing the expert or the text of the mission, the case number, the relevant documents, and the deadlines.
The mission wording particularly matters: an expert works within what they were instructed to address, and does not widen it unilaterally.
Bank files
The bank's name, and its template or requirements — before work starts, not after.
This is the most expensive mistake in bank files: a report prepared to a generic format, then sent back because it does not meet the institution's conditions.
Embassy files
The embassy's instructions in their exact wording, including the language and any legalisation required.
Copy the text as you received it. Your summary of the instructions is not the instructions, and the difference between "a valuation report" and "proof of ownership and value" can mean a rejected file.
What if some documents are missing?
Do not put off making contact.
Send what you have. Identifying what is missing is part of the initial review, not a precondition for it. Many files — inheritance files especially, and properties whose paperwork has not been touched in years — begin incomplete and fill in as they go.
Waiting until the file is complete can mean waiting a long time for no reason.
Related reading
Start your file
Send the property type, the region, and the purpose of the valuation. The information is reviewed first, to establish the documents required, the scope of work and the expected timeframe.