20 notes

Insights

What we have learned checking titles, walking access roads and reading cadastral plans between Beirut and Batroun. Written for people deciding whether to buy, not for search engines.

Land, title and building

How buying actually works here.

  1. Law

    The one-share rule

    A Lebanese company with one foreign shareholder is not, for the purposes of buying land, a Lebanese company. Most people discover this at the Land Registry, after the deposit has been paid.

    3 min
  2. Title

    Forty heirs and one plot

    The finest land in Mount Lebanon often cannot be sold at all. Not because nobody wants it — because nobody can sign for it.

    2 min
  3. Title

    The track you drove in on

    A road you can drive is not the same as a road you own the right to use. This kills more mountain deals than price ever does.

    2 min
  4. Zoning

    What the coefficient really allows

    Two parcels of nine thousand square metres, a kilometre apart, can be entirely different assets. The difference is a number most buyers never ask for.

    2 min
  5. Title

    How to know the land is his to sell

    Roughly a tenth of land in Lebanon, mostly rural, has no clear title at all. That is the US State Department's figure, and it describes precisely the terrain worth buying.

    2 min
  6. Costs

    What it actually costs to close

    The price is not the price. Budget for registration, notary, survey and counsel before you decide what you can afford.

    2 min
  7. Process

    Buying without being here

    Most of our buyers see the property in person once, or not at all. That is workable — but only with the paperwork arranged in the right order.

    2 min
  8. Building

    What a stone villa costs to build

    Buyers budget for land and forget that the mountain adds twenty to forty per cent before a single wall goes up.

    2 min
  9. Zoning

    Dividing a large parcel

    Whether a big plot is one villa or five is not a decision the owner makes. It is set by the minimum lot size in that zone.

    2 min
  10. Title

    Land that is not for sale

    Some of the finest positions in Keserwan, Jbeil and Batroun belong to institutions that do not sell. Knowing which is which saves months.

    2 min
The villages

Where we work, one place at a time.

  1. Keserwan

    Adma

    Twenty-five kilometres from Beirut, high enough above Jounieh to see the whole bay. The view line is the product, and there is very little of it left.

    2 min
  2. Batroun

    Batroun

    The old fishing port that turned into a market. Fifty-four kilometres north of Beirut, with the strongest second-home demand on this coast.

    2 min
  3. Batroun

    Kfarabida

    Low headlands, sheltered coves and clear water, a few kilometres short of Batroun. Small, protected, and almost never publicly listed.

    2 min
  4. Keserwan

    Faqra

    Roughly 1,750 metres, and the most established mountain address in the country. Stone, snow, Roman ruins, and a market that behaves unlike anywhere else.

    2 min
  5. Metn

    Broummana and the Metn

    Twenty minutes from Beirut and ten degrees cooler. The only part of the mountain that functions as a year-round address rather than a summer one.

    2 min
  6. Batroun

    Tannourine

    Cedar forest, a deep gorge and terraced land at roughly 1,400 metres. Cool summers, real privacy, and title work that needs doing properly.

    2 min
  7. Jbeil

    Laqlouq

    Open highland above Jbeil at around 1,700 metres. Larger parcels, a quieter market, and room to build what you actually want.

    2 min
  8. Metn

    Sannine

    The high plateau above the Metn, rising toward 2,600 metres. Wide parcels, very long views, and snow into spring.

    2 min
  9. Jbeil

    Jbeil and Aamchit

    Byblos and the village just north of it. Continuously inhabited for several thousand years, and still one of the more liquid stretches of this coast.

    2 min
  10. Metn

    Dbayeh

    Twelve kilometres from Beirut on the inner edge of the bay. Marina frontage, gated compounds, and the shortest commute on this list.

    2 min

Something here apply to a plot you're considering?

Send us the cadastral reference and we'll tell you what the title actually says.