Analysis & Features

Under Article 768 of the Syrian Civil Code, property owners are free to dispose of their properties and use and exploit them as they wish, within the limits of the law. However, some laws limit that freedom, as in the so-called "restraint on disposal" measure.

Under Syria’s Personal Status Law No. 59 of 1953, which is based on Islamic Sharia principles, the Druze’s inheritance rules are the same as those for other Islamic sects. That being said, the rules for drawing up bequests differ in the Druze sect. 

Syria’s Public Assets Collection Law allows the General Commission for Taxes and Fees, part of the Ministry of Finance, to transfer private real estate to state ownership if the original owners fail to pay the necessary taxes and fees. The law was promulgated by Legislative Decree No. 341 of 1956 and its amendments.

In Syria, security approvals are still required for some real estate transactions and other related transactions, such as public and private power of attorney. 

An expropriation plan is a document issued by an official authority that has made an expropriation decision. The plan contains the properties and portions of properties that will be expropriated per Article 7 of Expropriation Law No. 20 of 1983. 

People interested in buying real estate in border areas are required by law to first obtain security approval.

Building codes determine the conditions builders must meet to construct, repair, and demolish buildings and facilities within an administrative unit’s boundaries.

Despite gaining citizenship in 2011, many Kurdish people in the Hassakeh governorate still struggle to reclaim their housing, land, and property rights.

Syria’s system for the delimitation and census of real estate has permitted rights holders to object to the results of such work, albeit with some restrictions.

In some cases, several Syrian laws have allowed people to convert the right of usufruct and disposal of Amiri lands into the right to own such properties, while in other cases, laws have permitted the state to recover Amiri lands. These instances raise questions over the origins of state ownership over Amiri lands and the legitimacy of this kind of ownership. 

On August 14, the Prime Ministry issued Decree No. 1312, which stipulates that fees for construction permits be paid in three instalments over a period of two years. Administrative units grant construction permits to land owners in accordance with certain laws and regulations.

The procedures and rulings for terrorism cases differ between Syria’s criminal courts and the Antiterrorism Court with regard to seizing and disposing of accused persons’ assets and real estate. The two courts also are granted different powers and provide various safeguards in trials. 

Property extortion cases are today one of the most common housing, land and property violations in areas controlled by the majority-Kurdish Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) and constitute the most significant share of cases in local courts. 

Syria’s Criminal Court may sentence accused persons and issue judgments to seize their properties in absentia, placing those properties under the control of administrative authorities.  The Criminal Court handles cases with a criminal nature, in which the penalty for convicted persons is over three years. The court must apply the principles of Criminal Procedure Law No. 112 of 1950. 

The Ministry of Local Administration has established a fund to cover all the expenses for the zoning of the Damascus Northern Entrance area. Damascus Cham Holding, a company affiliated with the Damascus governorate, would manage the fund.

The rules for inheritance and wills included in Law No. 59 of 1953, which was based on Islamic law, are far more comprehensive and detailed than similar rules provided in the personal status laws for the country’s remaining religious groups. The broad outlines of such rules are generally similar across religious groups, but differ in some details. Below […]

While there are different personal status laws particular to each religious sects, Syria's personal Status Law No. 59 of 1953, which is based on the Islamic Sharia, was until recently the sole regulator of inheritance and wills for most sects. 

In early July, President Assad issued Law No. 29 of 2022, converting university campuses into public institutions, known as general commissions, that are independent from a financial and administrative point of view.

Syrian women who lost their husbands during the decade-long conflict have found themselves at risk of losing their housing, land, and property rights.

Article 2 of Decree No. 40 of 2012, which addressed the removal of so-called unlicensed structures (structures built without proper licence), stipulated that such structures be removed if they had been constructed after the issuance of the 2012 decree. This measure would apply no matter the type, location, investment category or usage of an unlicensed structure in question, which would be demolished and the rubble subsequently removed at the expense of whomever had benefited from the structure.