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Proving what your family owns in Syria.

A green tabu that burned. A registry office that was shelled. A cousin who says the house was sold. For Syrians in the United States, reclaiming property starts with one question: what does the record actually say today?

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In short

Losing a Syrian title deed (green tabu) does not mean losing the property. The deed is a copy of an entry in the land registry, so the first step is a current registry extract showing what is registered and in whose name. From there, identity records are rebuilt, gaps are filled from older surveys, tax files and court records, and the registry is corrected or the matter goes to court.

Last updated: · Written by the Biladi team

At a glance
What proves ownershipThe entry in the land registry, not the paper deed
First stepA current registry extract for the property
Identifiers to findCadastral area, property number and shares (out of 2,400)
Acting from the U.S.A power of attorney signed at, or legalized by, a Syrian embassy or consulate, then certified by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Main risksDestroyed records, forged transfers, and missing civil records for the owner or heirs
TimelineNo one can promise one: Syrian property rules are still changing
Where it starts

Lost your Syrian title deed? The registry record is what counts

The green tabu is the permanent title deed issued by the Syrian land registry, and for most families it is the document that proves the house or the land is theirs. Enormous numbers of them were destroyed, buried in rubble, left behind in a hurried departure, or taken.

Losing the paper is not the same as losing the property. The deed was always a copy of an entry held in the registry. Where that entry survives, the ordinary route is to obtain a fresh registry extract, not to recreate the lost document.

So the first job is never to argue about who owns what. It is to find out, in writing, what the registry says today — because that answer decides whether this is a paperwork matter, a correction matter, or a case.

The sequence

How do you prove property ownership in Syria from abroad?

01

Read the record

A current registry extract establishes what is registered, and in whose name.

02

Establish identity

Civil and family records are reconstructed where they were lost or never entered.

03

Build the chain

Older surveys, tax files and court records fill gaps the main register cannot.

04

Correct or contest

The registry is corrected, or the matter is taken to the court with jurisdiction.

What helps

What documents help prove ownership?

The hard parts

Why are Syrian property claims harder?

Records damaged along with the buildings. Where a registry office was destroyed, the entry may survive in a duplicate register, an older cadastral survey, a tax file or a court record. Reconstructing a chain of ownership from those sources is evidential work, and it is slower and less certain than pulling a clean extract.

Transfers that should never have happened. Property has been moved out of absent owners' names through forged documents and powers of attorney that the owners never granted. A registry entry showing someone else's name is a serious problem, but it is not automatically the end of the matter — how the entry got there is the question that decides what follows.

Identity before ownership. Families who left years ago often have to prove who they are before they can prove what they own. Lost civil documents, and children born abroad who were never entered in the register, both have to be resolved first.

Rules that are still moving. Syrian property administration has been through repeated change and has not settled. Anyone offering certainty about outcomes or timetables is telling you something they cannot know.

How we help

How Biladi starts a Syrian property file

Most families come to us with a story and a shoebox: what a grandfather said, an address, sometimes a photograph of a deed. That is a reasonable place to start. What it is not is a position — and no sensible decision can be made from it.

So we begin with the record. We establish what the registry holds for the property today, what identity and family documents exist or need rebuilding, and what independent evidence survives elsewhere. Only then is it worth discussing whether the route is a correction, a claim, a sale or patience. The work runs through vetted professionals inside Syria, and you deal with one person here in the United States who tells you plainly what was found — including when the answer is one you did not want.

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Questions

Syrian property: common questions

What is the green tabu, and what if ours is gone?

It is the permanent title deed issued by the land registry, and the strongest proof of ownership a family can hold. Losing the paper does not mean losing the property — ownership sits in the registry record, so the usual route is a fresh registry extract rather than recreating the lost document.

The registry office for our area was damaged. Is the record lost?

Not necessarily. Syrian land records exist in several forms and places — duplicate registers, older cadastral surveys, tax records, court files. Where a primary register is damaged, the work becomes evidential: assembling what survives to establish the chain. Slower and less certain, but frequently possible.

Someone else is living in our property. What can we do from here?

The first step is documentary, not confrontational: establish what the registry says about the property today. The occupation may be informal, it may rest on a forged transfer, or the registry itself may have been altered. Each leads somewhere different, and nothing useful can be decided until you know which.

Our civil documents were lost. Can we still prove ownership?

Usually yes, though it adds a stage. Identity and family records generally have to be reconstructed first, because the registry has to connect you to the name on the record. For families who left long ago, and children born abroad never entered in the register, this is ordinary but deliberate work.

Can this be done without traveling to Syria?

Much of it can, through a power of attorney legalized for use in Syria. One signed before a U.S. notary is not enough on its own. Syria is not a party to the Apostille Convention: a power of attorney made abroad is normally signed at, or legalized by, a Syrian embassy or consulate and then certified by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and property powers of attorney can need further clearances in Syria. The Syrian Embassy in Washington received U.S. consular accreditation in June 2026, but as of October 2026 it has not announced when power-of-attorney services will start, so we check before you sign. The wording must also cover the specific acts required, or it is refused at the counter.

The rules keep changing. Is it worth starting now?

Syrian property administration remains in flux, so anyone promising certainty is overstating what they know. What does not change: claims are stronger when the documentary position is established early, and weaker the longer another party's use goes unchallenged. Gathering proof is worth doing now even if a claim is filed later.

This guide is general information about a process, not legal advice, and requirements in Syria are changing. Biladi is not a law firm and does not practice law in the United States. See our disclaimer.

Sources

Official sources behind this guide

Requirements change. These are the official pages this guide relies on. Check them, or ask us, before you sign anything.

Not sure what the registry says about your property?

Send us what survived — a deed, a photograph, an address, a name. We will tell you what is on the record today and what it would take to act on it. It starts with a confidential $75 consultation, credited in full toward your service fee if you go ahead.

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