Explained: Financial Clearance Certificates Reinstated for Property Conveyance Transactions

On June 21, the transitional administration’s Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 87 to reinstate the issuance of financial clearance certificates for individuals wishing to transfer property ownership through “faragha” (direct conveyance) or formal transfer of ownership in the Land Registry. This decision took effect at the end of June.

The ministry had suspended the issuance of financial clearance certificates following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, in parallel with the suspension by the General Directorate of Cadastral Affairs in documenting any transactions involving the transfer or modification of real property ownership rights.

Faragha, or direct conveyance, is the process of transferring ownership of a property directly in the Land Registry and registering it in another person’s name – whether the property is built or unbuilt, residential or commercial. This process applies exclusively to subdivided and registered properties located within zoned areas. Such transfers may occur either through a sale or a donation.

Circular No. 87/2025 specifies that the resumption of issuing financial clearance certificates came after the Ministry of Interior, coordinating with the Ministries of Justice, Local Administration and Environment, and the General Directorate of Cadastral Affairs, completed the preparation of lists of “major criminals” from the Assad regime who committed violations in Syria, along with their relatives, who are banned from disposing of their properties. It is still unclear whether the Ministry of Finance has issued precautionary seizure lists against them.

A financial clearance certificate is a document issued by the Directorate of Finance to certify that the property owner has settled all due taxes, including: the real estate rental income tax under Law No. 53 of 2006 on real estate and land revenues; the real estate sales tax under Law No. 15 of 2021, in cases where the property is residential, commercial, or agricultural; and income tax under Law No. 24 of 2003 and its amendments via Decree No. 30 of 2023, in cases where the property is commercial.

Although the certificate is originally tied to the property, it has been linked to the owner, preventing them from executing a transfer in the Land Registry unless the property has been cleared. The financial clearance allows the Ministry of Finance to ensure that the owner has no outstanding financial obligations before transferring ownership to a new owner. This also protects the new owner from inheriting any unpaid taxes owed by the previous one.

To obtain a financial clearance certificate, the property owner or their representative must submit an application to the Land Registry office, which forwards it to the revenue department at the provincial Directorate of Finance. The owner or their representative must physically carry the referred application from the Land Registry to the Directorate of Finance to have it recorded in the finance office’s registry and then forwarded to the revenue department.

The application must be accompanied by copies of the personal IDs of the parties involved in the ownership transfer and the property registration certificate. If the property is jointly owned by heirs, an inheritance certificate must also be attached, and the heirs must either be present to sign or represented through a power of attorney. In practice, many heirs, particularly women, are represented through powers of attorney, which has raised concerns about possible misuse in the absence of safeguards to ensure informed and voluntary consent.

If the ownership transfer involves a sale or faragha, the request is forwarded from the revenue department to the Real Estate Trade Division at the Directorate of Finance, where the seller declares their intention to sell the property. The request is then sent to the tax collection department, which issues the financial clearance after collecting the applicable taxes.

If the property is residential, once the financial clearance is obtained, the owner or their representative must prepare a file including the clearance certificate, a recent property registration certificate, the original ownership document, copies of both parties’ personal IDs, individual civil registry extracts for both parties, and a properly organised transaction contract. The file is registered in the daily log of the Land Registry and forwarded to the audit division to verify the documents’ validity and ensure there are no seizure or mortgage notes on the property’s record.

Property transfer fees are calculated based on Law No. 17 of 2021, which defines the fees for services provided by the Department of Cadastral Affairs. The file is then referred to the Head of the Real Estate Documentation Office, who finalises the ownership transfer. The contract is signed by both parties and by the Head of the Documentation Office. The new owner can obtain a title deed a few days after completing the process.

If the property is used for commercial purposes, or is originally a commercial property, and once the financial clearance is obtained, the faragha process must be carried out before the Head of the Real Estate Documentation Office. For this, the property owner or their representative must prepare a file including the financial clearance certificate, a recent property registration certificate, the ownership document, copies of the seller’s and buyer’s personal IDs, individual civil registry extracts for both parties, and a properly organised property sale contract. The file is registered in the daily log of the land registry and then forwarded to the audit division to verify the documents’ validity and confirm the absence of seizure or mortgage notes on the property’s record. Female-headed households may be more vulnerable to the loss or unavailability of documentation, particularly in cases where a male relative has died or been detained. This situation has made it more difficult for many women to access or transfer their property rights.