Land Registration Process In Ghana [Step By Step Guide]
Are you looking for the cost of land registration in Ghana? or all the steps you have to go through when registering your land?
So you have gone through our articles on how to buy land in Kumasi and Ghana as a whole and be able to buy a plot of land in Ghana. What next? The next step is to register the land in your name.
And that is what this article is going to cover. In this article, we will cover Ghana’s land registration process.
The benefits of registering your land in Ghana and the types of land ownership.
The land registration process in Ghana is one of the most tedious as it involves a lot of paperwork and evidence.
In Ghana, three documents are needed before one can lay claims to an area of land: the owner’s agreement, a certificate of occupancy, and a statement of no objection by relevant authorities.
The Land Registration Process in Ghana was established to register, catalog, and prevent fraudulent transactions on all types of land.
The process of land registration in Ghana will be easy or hard for you, depending on where you bought the land.
You need to present some documents before you can register the land. They might be the deed of the property, title deed, and passport-size photograph (white background).
It will be easier if you have a professional person to do this work.
When you want to register your land in Ghana, there are many steps you must complete before you can get to register your land.
Types Of Lands In Ghana
Now let’s first cover the types of land in Ghana, there are four types of land in Ghana, and they are:
- Family lands: These are the lands that family members own.
- Individual or private lands: These lands are owned by individuals who are yet to establish a project on the land.
- Stool/skin lands: Stool lands are lands that are owned and managed by chiefs.
- State and stool vested lands: These lands are managed by the lands commission of Ghana.
Benefits Of Registering Your Land
So why should you register your land after buying it? Here is why you should register your land even if you don’t intend to use it anytime soon.
- It gives you full access to the land
- Registering the land establishes your right as the rightful owner of the land
- It helps avoids future misunderstanding
- It lets you own the land documents
- It reduces land litigation
Latest Land Registration Process In Ghana
Here are the steps to follow when registering a land you just bought:
- Make A Background Check
- Make Negotiations With The Land Owner
- Sign The Purchase Agreement
- Verify Your Land Ownership At The Lands Commission
Make A Background Check
If you are planning on buying land, you first need to research the land and know if the person you are dealing with is the actual land owner.
As you can see, there are 4 types of land. The person claiming to own the land might sell you government land or land for family members, not for sale.
If you are also not living in the country, you can hire a lawyer to help you with the investigation and the research.
Make Negotiations With The Land Owner
Now that you have researched and concluded that the land is for sale and you have finally confirmed the land owner, now is the time to discuss the price with the land owner.
Make sure you don’t involve any ‘middlemen’ as you will have to also pay them some percentage after dealing with them.
Sign The Purchase Agreement
When you finally agree with the land seller, the next thing is to sign papers. Make sure your lawyer is present because he will be required to endorse three copies of the agreement with a stamp.
Each copy must come with the site plan with additional copies of the site plan.
The seller and the buyer will need to sign the agreement forms, and each will be given copies.
To avoid getting problems after you have finally built your dream house, it is advisable to make sure you bring a witness.
The seller will present his witness, and both witnesses will include their full names and signatures on the land documents.
Verify Your Land Ownership At The Lands Commission
After buying the land, you next need to head over to the Lands Commission of Ghana and then hand over the land documents to the authority.
You will be required to pay a processing fee for the land registration.
Once they are done, the Ghana Land Valuation Board will stamp and certify your documents. Then the land finally becomes yours.
Cost Of Land Registration In Ghana
Land registration costs 0.25% of the land price if the land is less than GHS 10,000. But for, lands that have a price tag above GHS 10,000 and GHS 50,000 will attract 5% of the land price as the land registration fee.
Online Land Registration In Ghana
Now you don’t always have to walk to the Ghana Land Commission office to register your land. It is now easy to do land registration online.
All you have to do is visit the Ghana Lands Commission online registration portal and then follow the steps.
Sample Of Land Documents In Ghana
What Are The Requirements To Get A Property In Ghana
Documents Needed For Land Registration. To register land in Ghana, here are the documents you will need:
- Date of instrument
- Nature of instrument / Title of document
- Names and addresses of witnesses
- Signature of witness
- Solicitor’s stamp
Wrapping Up
Registering your land in Ghana is no longer a hard task, but owning the land is.
In this article, we covered the land registration process in Ghana. We covered the types of lands in ghana, the cost of registering land in Ghana, steps to follow, and how to register your land online.
