Property Fraud and Poor Services in the Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp

Recent reports of increased property fraud in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus have prompted many displaced property owners to temporarily return, inspect their properties, and implement some protective measures such as installing doors and windows for houses and securing locks for shops. These individuals are required to obtain temporary security clearance to visit the camp.

Activists from the camp, including lawyer NourEddin Salman, have issued repeated warnings on social media in recent months about widespread property fraud occurring in the camp. These fraudulent activities have resulted in a surge of illicit property sales, with an increasing number of homes being sold illegally. A gang is reportedly selling many shares in undivided common properties in the area between Loubieh Street and the Yarmouk Girls’ School and has allegedly amassed around SYP 2 billion through this fraudulent and deceitful scheme, according to activists. Mr Salman advised anyone looking to purchase property in the camp to first inquire with neighbours about the seller and the property, verify ownership documents, ensure the validity of the sales contract, and obtain a current description of the property’s condition and boundaries from a court-appointed expert engineer.

Wafaa, a displaced resident of the camp now living in Damascus, learned from one of her former neighbours that a few individuals recently inspected her uninhabited house on Al-Urubah Street in the camp with the intent to buy it, according to a correspondent for The Syria Report. When Wafaa’s neighbour inquired, the individuals claimed they were there to view the house, which they said was for sale by its owner. After a discussion, the neighbour identified the person who falsely claimed ownership of Wafaa’s house and was trying to sell it. Based on this information, Wafaa filed a complaint with the Yarmouk Camp police station, which managed to detain the alleged seller who claimed ownership of her house. However, according to Wafaa, this individual was able to bribe the police officers, who then wrote in their report that the incident was a mistake rather than fraud, stating that the seller had mistakenly identified the house due to changes in the area’s landmarks caused by destruction.

Nizar, a Syrian Palestinian refugee from Yarmouk Camp currently residing in Sweden, told The Syria Report that he learned through friends still living in the camp that unknown individuals are renovating a house that belonged to Nizar’s grandfather. The house, located on Thalatheen Street, is partially damaged due to the fighting. Nizar confirmed that he has a court ruling proving his late grandfather’s ownership of the property. He added that his grandfather died in 2010, and then his father was killed in a bombing on the camp at the beginning of 2015, and consequently, the 105-square-metre house became the property of 21 heirs, including Nizar.

He noted that complications prevented them from completing the inheritance process, including the war, the siege of the camp, and the disruption of official institutions. Additionally, none of the heirs remains in Syria except for his uncle, who is disabled and unable to manage his affairs. Two of the heirs are missing, and their whereabouts are unknown.

The inheritance inventory document is the primary document used to determine the names of the deceased’s heirs, their relationship to the deceased, and their respective shares of the inheritance. This document can only be issued after the death of the testator, the registration of their death in the civil registry, and the issuance of a death certificate and a family record for the heirs. After this, the relevant court can be approached to obtain the inheritance certificate. The court then appoints an expert to identify the heirs and their shares of the estate.

Nizar pointed out that those renovating his grandfather’s property have a court-certified purchase contract for the house. He is unsure how someone without ownership was able to sell it to them. He plans to appoint a lawyer to challenge the validity of the sale contract in court.

According to The Syria Report’s correspondent, one of the common practices in the camp currently involves seizing adjacent properties or parts of them during the renovation of a specific property. This is done by encroaching on portions of neighbouring properties, exploiting the destruction and the loss of landmarks. According to activists in the camp, it appears that an influential person has usurped land next to the vegetable market on Palestine Street, which belongs to the General Authority of Palestinian Arab Refugees. The land previously contained buildings and homes that were destroyed, leaving only rubble, allowing the influential person to seize the land and build on it.

The correspondent reported that a real estate office employee in the camp mentioned that some fraud attempts were thwarted after news about them spread on social media. He added that with the increasing number of returnees to the camp, it is rare to find a neighbourhood without at least one inhabited house, which now serves as an early warning network for property owners in the same area, who often share relationships or kinship.

According to estimates by the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria in early June, approximately 50,000 people have returned to the Yarmouk Camp. Despite the concerted efforts by the returnees to improve the camp’s service conditions, they face many difficulties and challenges. For instance, the camp remains isolated from neighbouring areas, with only one entry and exit point via the Batikha roundabout in the Zahira neighbourhood.

Most areas of the camp still suffer from significant problems, such as some streets around the Yarmouk Camp cemetery and the entrance to the Zain neighbourhood (administratively part of Yalda) being flooded with sewage water from damaged and decayed pipes. Potholes abound on Safad Street, making it difficult for vehicles to pass, which hinders the return of displaced residents to the area. The lack of drinking water in many neighbourhoods and the absence of electricity limit stability in some regions. Residents of School Street have requested an electricity supply, but to no avail. Even Haifa Avenue, opposite the building of the Public Establishment for Transmission and Distribution of Electricity (PETDE), remains without electrical coverage. Residents resort to installing electric cables at their own expense in areas without electricity, but these either get stolen or removed by the PETDE, citing network infringement.

Rubble presents a major issue across most of the camp, still densely scattered in the Wasim Project, the Moroccan neighbourhoods, Safad Street, Kafr Qasim Street, and others. This problem is exacerbated by returnees clearing debris from their homes and neighbourhoods, often dumping it around the houses or transporting it to the PETDE’s land area on Thalatheen Street.

Meanwhile, the camp municipality has begun allowing owners of completely destroyed houses to remove the debris and manage it. Typically, these owners make agreements with building contractors to remove the rubble for free in exchange for the contractors taking the iron and metals from the debris to sell to metal traders.