How to Buy a Land in Ghana

We all know how owning land in Ghana is a big achievement, probably the biggest. The land is your biggest investment.

It doesn’t depreciate, and you can build whatever you want on it, depending on the location. Buying land in Ghana can be a hassle if you don’t know the right procedures.

You can buy four types of lands, government, vested, stool, and private lands. To buy a government or a vested land, you must apply with the Executive Secretary of Lands Commission or Regional Laws Office.

Stool lands belong to chiefs and local authorities; you can go directly to them, there are no free holdings in this type of land. It is always important to go through the right procedures and secure your land with the law.

Here are the steps you need to take to acquire land in any part of Ghana;

Feasibility Check

You will need to go and see the land, make sure it is situated at a place of your liking, know the topography of the land, is it a waterlogged area or rocky? Let the landowner show you the land boundaries, usually indicated with pillars, rocks, or walls.

Make friends with the people living around the land. That way, you can be notified if there’s anything “out of place” going on, on your land. Do not pay any money as a down payment or anything of that sort at this point.

Search for the land

Search to verify land at Lands Commission. This verification will show you if the land is registered, who the owner is, the size of the land, and more. Present a site plan or indenture to make this easier.

The site plan, otherwise known as the cadastral plan, must be presented to you by your landowner. It defines the dimensions of the land and is usually prepared by licensed surveyors. The search for the land is relevant to avoiding litigation in the future.

Get your surveyor

Sometimes the site plan may not be enough to satisfy your curiosity. Trust is always in question when it comes to issues like this. It is possible that your landowners’ surveyor can reduce the size of the land on the site plan.

So get a trusted surveyor to do an independent survey. Sometimes, when you go to the lands commission to search for the land, they can give you a licensed surveyor to go with you to survey the land, to be sure. That is also very helpful.

Purchase and Transfer Agreement

After going to see your land, searching for it, and surveying it independently, and assuming you are satisfied with everything, you can now proceed to buy the land and sign a transfer agreement.

A Deed of Conveyance is prepared by a lawyer and is signed by the landowner, you, and some witnesses. The land title is then transferred to you after you pay for the property. The title will be registered at the Lands commission secretariat after you have paid some legal fees like stamp duty.

At the end of it all, the lands commission will present you with a title certificate to show that you are now the landowner.

It looks quite easy, but it can take months depending on how quickly and seriously you do follow-ups. It is important to be diligent in the process to be satisfied at its end and avoid a litigated land.

Foreigners must lease land long-term because they cannot buy land outright. They can lease it for 50 years.

Always remember not to pay any money to your landowner before the purchase and transfer agreement process.

Takeaway

If you get between GHS 40,000 and GHS 300,000, you can acquire a plot of land in Accra at a good location. If you want to land in a residential area or a just developing place, you will need to prepare your pocket.

It is always reasonable to buy land from the government or trusted and registered agencies like CBC properties, AAA Sphynx property consultants, Terra Firma properties, and more.

Buying land and building a house is just as good as buying a house that has already been built. Remember that when buying a house, you will still be charged just as much as building one, you might not exactly get what you desire, but when you build your own house, you have the liberty to decide on what you want, how you want it and when you want it.

Remember always to have legal frameworks to help with the agreement. What are you waiting for? Start your journey to owning land anywhere in Ghana!