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Lebanon’s old commercial leases went through three successive texts in 2025: a law published on 3 April 2025 as having entered into force by operation of law, then Law No. 11 of 5 June 2025, then Law No. 24 of 14 August 2025, which rewrote its core provisions. This guide sets out the rules in force today, meaning Law 11/2025 as amended by Law 24/2025, cites the article behind each answer, and begins with what changed, so that anyone who read the earlier texts is not misled by them.

What changed since April 2025

Which texts were issued on this subject?

• A law published in the Official Gazette on 3 April 2025 as effective by operation of law. The Constitutional Council, by Decision 5/2025 of 20 May 2025, unanimously held that it had not entered into force, the constitutional requirements for issuance and publication not having been met.
• Law No. 11 of 5 June 2025, published on 12 June 2025, which re-enacted the same text: an extension of four years if the landlord claimed the gradual rent increases, or two years if the landlord waived them, and a fair rent of 8 percent. It was challenged before the Constitutional Council, which by Decision 15/2025 of 22 July 2025 annulled paragraph (d) of Article 10 alone and rejected the other grounds.
• Law No. 24 of 14 August 2025, in force since its publication on 21 August 2025, which amended Articles 3, 4, 6 and 15 and paragraph (d) of Article 10 of Law 11: it removed the landlord’s choice between claiming and waiving the increases, set extension periods that vary with the type of lease, reduced the fair rent to 5 percent, and reorganised the gradual increases and the reduction of recovery compensation.
• Decision No. 50/1 of the Minister of Finance of 27 January 2026, which sets out how the tax exemptions in Article 14 are applied.

Which text is in force today?

Law No. 11 of 5 June 2025 as amended by Law No. 24 of 14 August 2025. Anything written about a “four-year extension”, a “landlord’s waiver of increases in exchange for two years” or “fair rent at 8 percent” describes the text before amendment and has not been the law since 21 August 2025 (Articles 3, 4 and 6 as amended).

Scope of the law

Which leases does the law cover?

All leases of built property for non-residential use that were concluded, and whose original term expired, before 23 July 1992 (Article 1).

Does it cover leases concluded after 23 July 1992?

No. The law covers only leases whose original term expired before that date (Article 1). Leases concluded from 23 July 1992 onward are governed by freedom of contract under Law 159/92, which the law states expressly for sub-leases (Article 7).

What counts as non-residential premises?

Premises let for trade, industry, a liberal profession regulated by law, a craft, or any other non-residential activity (Article 2).

Does the law cover premises let for housing?

No. Old residential leases are governed by the Rent Law of 9 May 2014 as amended.

The statutory extension

How long is the extension?

It depends on the lease:

• five years at most for non-residential leases concluded and expired before 23 July 1992, which is the general rule;
• six years at most for leases arising from a transfer of a commercial establishment (fonds de commerce) under Decree-Law 11/67 concluded more than ten years before the law’s publication;
• seven years at most for leases arising from such a transfer concluded within the ten years before publication;
• eight years at most for leases of buildings occupied by persons of public law, and for leases of commercial establishments belonging to a liberal profession regulated by law (Article 3(a)).

The amended text does not state when these periods begin, unlike paragraph (b) below, which runs from the law’s entry into force.

Is there a special rule for large premises the tenant has invested in?

Yes. Leases of non-residential premises exceeding 500 square metres are extended for eight years from the law’s entry into force where the tenant has borne, in the landlord’s place, costs that are by nature the landlord’s: rebuilding, repair of damage, structural repairs, maintenance of façades and common parts, and the addition of floor area with the landlord’s knowledge. Disputes go to the single civil judge hearing rent cases (Article 3(b)).

Can the landlord refuse the extension or shorten it?

No. The extension applies by operation of law, its length is fixed by the type of lease, and the landlord has no option. The text before amendment allowed the landlord to waive the gradual increases in exchange for a two-year extension only; Law 24/2025 removed that option (Article 3 as amended).

What happens when the extension ends?

The lease becomes free and subject to the parties’ agreement. A tenant who stays on becomes an occupier without title and may be evicted by order of the judge of urgent matters, issued on a petition by the landlord with the supporting documents (Article 3(c) and the last paragraph of Article 8).

Is there any relief for a tenant who has to move?

Yes. Where the tenant’s establishment is subject by law to technical requirements, such as a mandatory distance from another establishment and/or a minimum floor area, a tenant who relocates under this law may benefit, once only, from a reduction of the distance and/or the area by half (Article 3(a)).

Fair rent

How is fair rent calculated?

At 5 percent of the sale value of the premises in their present condition, as if vacant (Article 4 as amended).

How is fair rent fixed between the parties?

By agreement first: the landlord sends the tenant an invitation to negotiate, by registered postcard with acknowledgement of receipt or by notarial letter, and the tenant must reply in writing within twenty days of service, or of proof that service could not be effected. If they agree, a written contract is signed; if the tenant does not reply within the period, the matter moves to judicial determination (Article 5, first part).

And if the parties do not agree?

Either party applies, by summons or by joint petition, to the single civil judge hearing rent cases for the district where the premises are situated. Within one week of the filing, and without waiting for the exchange of pleadings, the judge appoints an expert in chambers. The expert must report within two weeks of being notified of the assignment, extendable once for an equal period at the expert’s request, for serious and substantial reasons, by a reasoned decision, failing which the expert is replaced. The report is served on both parties, who have one week to comment, extendable once by a reasoned decision for serious reasons, and the judge must rule within one month of the close of proceedings (Article 5, second part).

Can the judge’s decision be appealed?

Yes, within eight days of service. The Court of Appeal hears the appeal under the same procedure, and its decision is final and not open to any ordinary or extraordinary recourse, subject to Article 50 of the Rent Law of 9 May 2014, which preserves the objection (opposition) within the limits of Article 657 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Article 5, second part, paragraph (c), of the Non-Residential Rent Law).

Gradual rent increases

How does the rent rise during the extension?

The rent due on the law’s entry into force rises year by year, on the basis of the difference between the rent in force before the law and the fair rent. There are two ladders, depending on the lease:

• for general-rule leases (five years) and older establishment-transfer leases (six years): 30 percent of the difference in year one, 40 percent in year two, 50 percent in year three, then the full fair rent in years four and five, and in year six as well for the older transfer leases;
• for recent establishment-transfer leases (seven years), leases of public-law persons and regulated professions (eight years), and premises over 500 square metres: 30 percent in year one, 40 percent in year two, 50 percent in year three, 60 percent in year four, then the full fair rent from year five through year eight (Article 6 as amended).

Can the landlord waive the increases in exchange for a shorter extension?

Not any more. That option existed in the text before amendment and was removed by Law 24/2025 (Articles 3 and 6 as amended).

Doubling of the rent

When is the rent doubled because of the tenant’s own property?

When the tenant, whether an individual or a legal person, owns or comes to own buildings or undivided shares in premises whose actual rents, in the tenant’s share, exceed ten times the rent of the premises the tenant occupies, the rent is doubled once. The spouse and the children living with the tenant count as one person for this calculation, and the landlord may claim this doubling from a given tenant, or a successor under this law, once only. The comparison is between the rents of the tenant’s property and the rent of the premises, not between the value of that property and the rent (Article 12(a)).

And when is it increased because of a transfer or free management of the commercial establishment?

For leases that form part of a commercial establishment and are the subject of a transfer contract or a free-management (gérance libre) contract under Decree-Law 11/1967, for the duration of the free management, on a scale tied to the annual rent: twenty times if the annual rent is below 200,000 Lebanese pounds; ten times between 200,000 and 500,000; seven times between 500,000 and 1,000,000; five times between one and five million; and doubled once between five and ten million. The law states no band above ten million pounds (Article 12(b)).

Assignment and sub-letting

May the tenant assign the lease or sub-let the premises?

Not without the landlord’s express written consent, on the terms agreed. Where assignment is expressly authorised in writing in the original or extended lease, the assignees benefit from the statutory extension, replace the original tenant and deal directly with the landlord. Where sub-letting, in whole or in part, is expressly authorised in writing in the original or extended lease, the tenancy remains between the landlord and the original tenant and the sub-lease ends with the head lease. The landlord must join the sub-tenant in any action brought against the original tenant, and the sub-tenant may claim damages from the original tenant for bad faith, fault or negligence (Article 7).

Loss of the right to extension

When does the tenant lose the extension and face eviction?

In the following cases (Article 8):

• non-payment of rent due within two months of service of a formal notice, by registered postcard with acknowledgement of receipt, by notarial letter or by notice from the enforcement office. A legal person must elect a domicile within two months of the law’s entry into force, failing which the general rules of service apply; where service fails, it is made by publication in two newspapers and by posting on the door of the premises, by order of the judge of urgent matters;
• where it is proved that, on three successive occasions, the tenant withheld the rent due and paid only after formal notice, in a manner showing bad faith;
• misuse of the premises, by causing damage beyond ordinary use or by using them contrary to the lease without the landlord’s express written consent. Fittings installed by the tenant at its own expense that do not affect the soundness of the building are not misuse, but beyond simple surface decoration and individual heating or cooling units the tenant must first obtain leave from the judge of urgent matters;
• assignment or sub-letting, in whole or in part, without the landlord’s express written consent;
• leaving the premises for one uninterrupted year even if the rent continues to be paid; occupation that is not genuine counts as leaving;
• leaving the premises for six months while owing rent and without a known or elected address in Lebanon at which the notice to pay can be served;
• for a non-Lebanese tenant, failure to occupy the premises in fact for six uninterrupted months, even if the rent is paid;
• sham occupation lacking genuineness, which the rent judge assesses;
• a change in the use of the premises as exclusively defined in the lease.

Who succeeds a deceased tenant

Who benefits from the extension after the tenant’s death?

The law distinguishes three categories of premises:

• premises let for trade or industry: the tenant’s spouse and children, or one of them by agreement among them, provided they carry on the same trade or industry and notify the landlord within six months of the death, by registered postcard with acknowledgement of receipt or by notarial letter, of the fate of the lease and of their agreement to continue it, on pain of losing it; the tenant’s partners whose partnership is established at or before the date of the lease; and the person to whom the commercial establishment passes under Decree-Law 11/1967, where the establishment predates the lease;
• premises let for a liberal profession regulated by law: the spouse and children on the same conditions, provided they practise the same profession. Where the premises are occupied by more than one practitioner and one of them dies leaving no spouse or child practising the same profession, the partners take the deceased’s place on the same terms, against compensation to the heirs equal to ten times the deceased’s share of the annual rent. Partners also take the place of a partner who leaves the premises for any reason;
• all other premises: the spouse and children on the same conditions, provided they carry on the same occupation or craft; and partners whose partnership is established at or before the date of the lease.

The spouse and children may not assign the premises to third parties, and all beneficiaries of the extension are jointly and severally liable to the landlord. The article closes by providing that the lease ends if none of the tenant’s spouse or children carries on the same trade, industry, profession or craft, a provision to be read together with the partner and transferee routes above (Article 9).

Recovery of the premises and compensation

When may the landlord recover the premises?

In two cases: the owner of a hospital, educational institution, charity or orphanage may recover the part of its property, or of adjoining properties, that is let for housing, on condition of adding it to the main property and using it for the institution’s purposes; and the landlord may recover the premises in order to demolish the building and erect a new one in its place, or to add one or more floors where the existing rooftop structure occupies less than half the permitted area, provided the landlord brings a single recovery action against all tenants and proves that the property can be built on (Article 10(a) and (b)).

What is the recovery compensation?

It equals 15 percent of the sale value of the premises and decreases in proportion to the time remaining in the extension, by one fifth, one sixth, one seventh or one eighth for each elapsed extension year, according to the extension period that applies to the lease. To it is added compensation for the loss the tenant suffers from the eviction, such as key money, loss of location and clientele and interruption of business, fixed by agreement or by the court on official documents. The landlord may borrow to pay it, and the loan is treated as a housing loan benefiting from the exemptions of Law 543/1996 (Article 10(c), (d), (e) and (f) as amended).

What if the landlord does not use the premises for the stated purpose?

The landlord pays the tenant additional compensation equal to half the compensation already paid, without proof of loss, where the landlord, without legitimate excuse, does not use the premises for the stated purpose within one year of the eviction, or, without legitimate excuse, does not continue that use for at least three years, or, without legitimate excuse, does not begin construction within eighteen months of the last tenant’s eviction, or, without legitimate excuse, does not complete it within five years of starting; and likewise where the landlord uses the recovered premises as a residence or for personal benefit, or lets them to others, within that first year (Article 10(g)).

Can recovery be agreed amicably?

Yes. The landlord notifies the tenant in writing of a preliminary wish to recover the premises within two months of the fair rent being fixed for the first extended year, and within the same two-month period at the start of each later extended year, and obtains the tenant’s preliminary written agreement to vacate against agreed compensation; neither party may rely on that preliminary agreement for any purpose before any authority. The landlord then tenders and deposits the compensation with the notary. If the tenant accepts, the tenant signs a declaration of acceptance and an undertaking to vacate, receives 90 percent of the deposit from the notary, and the balance on actually vacating and handing over the keys. A tenant who fails to vacate within the agreed period becomes an occupier without title and owes, for each day of delay, a non-reducible penalty equal to five days’ rent at the fair rent, and the landlord may apply to the head of the enforcement office for an eviction order; the head of the enforcement office’s decisions in this procedure are open to objection only (Article 10(i)).

Do these rules apply to recovery actions already pending?

Yes, to actions in which no final decision had been given before the law’s entry into force (Article 10(j)). Other actions brought before the law’s entry into force remain governed by the laws under which they were brought (Article 15 as amended).

Fees, common provisions and tax exemptions

What court fees apply to eviction proceedings?

Applications to enforce an eviction, and everything ancillary to them, are subject to the flat fee, and notarial procedures relating to appraisals and their service, notices, tenders and deposits are exempt from any proportional fee and from stamp duty (Article 11).

Do the provisions of the 2014 Rent Law apply to non-residential premises?

The common provisions applying to all leases in Title IV of the Rent Law of 9 May 2014 as amended, Articles 43 to 55, apply. They include payment of rent monthly in advance where the monthly rent exceeds half the minimum wage, deposit with the notary, common charges, maintenance and refitting, the jurisdiction of the single judge and the available recourses, and collection of rent by enforcement (Article 13).

What tax exemptions do landlords enjoy?

Owners of let buildings subject to the Rent Law of 9 May 2014 and to this law, residential and non-residential alike, are exempt from inheritance transfer duty and estate settlement fees and the related collection and late-payment penalties, and from built-property tax and its penalties, for the ten years preceding the law’s entry into force and through 2026. Transfer fees on a sale or gift between ascendants and descendants are reduced by 90 percent (Article 14).

How are the exemptions applied in practice?

Decision 50/1 of the Minister of Finance of 27 January 2026 sets the procedure. For inheritance transfer duty, buildings let under leases concluded and expired before 23 July 1992, residential or not, are excluded from the estate provided the occupation continued until the death, for deaths from 12 June 2015 to 31 December 2026; the heirs list these buildings in the transfer-duty declaration with the registered lease and an occupancy certificate from the municipality or, in a village without one, from the mukhtar, certified by the district governor (qaimaqam) or the governor. For built-property tax that is due and unpaid, the owner applies to the competent unit for the period from 12 June 2015 through 2024, and for 2025 and 2026 within the first month of the following year. Amounts paid before Law 11/2025 was published are retained by the Treasury and are not refunded (Decision 50/1, Articles 2, 3, 6 and 8).

Legal references

• Law No. 11 of 5 June 2025 (Non-Residential Rent Law), as amended by Law No. 24 of 14 August 2025.
• Constitutional Council Decision 5/2025 of 20 May 2025 and Decision 15/2025 of 22 July 2025.
• Decision No. 50/1 of the Minister of Finance of 27 January 2026.
• Rent Law of 9 May 2014 as amended, Articles 43 to 55.