HLP

The government is seeking funding from international organisations for early recovery projects in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, despite making the conditions for IDP returns to the neighbourhood difficult to meet.

After it took control of Raqqa in 2017, the Syrian Democratic Forces seized residential areas and private real estate properties.

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. 

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 and constitute the most significant share of cases in local courts. 

An unchecked proliferation of weapons in Syria, as well as the few means of prevention or social protection for women, has resulted in some husbands using physical threats to force their wives into relinquishing their properties. 

Rules for inheritance and wills differ and resemble one another across Syria's various religions, especially in regards to degrees of kinship, distribution of estates, Amiri lands, and barriers to inheritance. 

On May 23, 2022, the Ministry of Local Administration issued Decision No. 81/N, establishing the Damascus Northern Entrance (Qaboun-Harasta) Zoning Area Fund to cover all expenses for the zoning area. Damascus Cham Holding, a private joint-stock firm affiliated with the Damascus governorate, would take on management of the fund, despite some lack of clarity in the wording of the decision.

In response to amendments requested by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to a waterfront zoning study, the Tartous City Council has adopted new proposals that may lead to resolve the five-decade-old problem. Also, the new proposals may lead to implementing Law No. 23 of 2015, which concerns the implementation of zoning and urbanisation, within a small area along the waterfront. 

There are various personal status laws particular to different religious sects in Syria. However, personal Status Law No. 59 of 1953, which was based on Islamic Sharia principles, was until recently the sole regulator of inheritance and wills for most of the country’s religious groups. 

Throughout June and July, the government-run General Secretariat of the Idlib governorate offered rural farmlands owned by absentees and forcibly displaced residents for auction. 

President Assad recently issued a law converting university campuses into public institutions that are independent from a financial and administrative point of view.

In Northeast Syria, the properties of Christians who emigrated from Syria, especially those located in city and town centres, have become the targets of seizure through extortion, forgery, and fraud. 

The Damascus governorate has established three new zoning areas at the capital city’s northeastern entrance and redrawn the boundaries of those areas.

The idea of good faith serves as a basic pillar and legal principle at all stages of sales contracts in Syria, and is often used in real estate sales. Good faith means that the contracting parties adhere to any obligations arising from the contract with integrity and fairness and without fraud. 

The Damascus governorate has amended its eastern borders, adopting the southern ring highway as its new dividing line with the Rural Damascus governorate.

A prominent businessman in Qamishli recently tried to use forged documents to seize real estate owned by an emigrant Assyrian Christian family.

The recent implementation of the Financial Law of Administrative Units No. 37 of 2021, as well as its executive instructions, has increased fees for construction and renovation licences. This is because under Law No. 37, these fees are now calculated based on the current values of real estate properties, which are in turn determined in accordance with Real Estate Sales Law No. 15 of 2021. At the same time, administrative units have expanded their definition of the improvement fees. 

The Damascus governorate recently announced a new master plan for the Jobar neighbourhood.

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

The distribution process for share certificates in the Al-Qadam zoned real estate area of eastern Damascus’ Basilia City is witnessing significant modifications – namely, changing the legal description of already zoned land and other changes to those properties’ entries in the Land Registry.