5 Tips on How to Buy Land

“My own recipe for world peace is a little bit of land for everyone.”--Gladys Taber

This question should not pose any difficulty given the fact that most of us know what we want and know exactly how to achieve it. We know that once we have need for land, all we have to do is identify a suitable location, enquire about price and go ahead to pay for it. However, due to the nature of our land ownership structures and other issues with title registration and ownership, it has become an area one needs to look at carefully to prevent oneself from making mistakes.

Some people would rather keep money in a bank or other financial instrument than purchase land for fear of repercussions caused by insecure title and other uncertainties. You cannot blame them, given the confusion that we see around us -- especially in Accra and other Major cities within the country. The growth of urban areas is not unique to Accra and is increasingly becoming an issue with most of our Regional Capitals.

Purchasing land is the same everywhere irrespective of the nature of interest held in the land by the vendor, location, situation, expected use or price. There are certain basic procedures that one has to follow to ensure that after you have paid for the land, you can occupy and use it for the purpose for which it is acquired without any headaches.

Let us therefore try to understand some of the important factors to consider when making such an investment.

Before one purchases a plot or tract of land, there are certain things to consider first.

1. Find/Locate the owner
It is important to locate and identify who the owner of the land is. If the land belongs to an individual or a company, generally asking around for the owner may lead you to who the owner is; however, this may not always lead you to the registered owner. Especially when you identify a plot of land or an undeveloped area in a developed community, it is likely the land is undeveloped because it is probably the subject of litigation. To be on the safe side, find a surveyor to demarcate the land and produce a site-plan for you.

This may cause a group of land guards to descend on your surveyors and seize their equipment. In the event of such a situation happening, you will do the wise thing not to continue pursuing the subject property. However, if you are bold enough and able to complete your site-plan, then proceed to conduct a search. This search should bring out the name of the actual or registered title owner. If not an individual, at least you should see a stool or a chief or a family name. You can then proceed to look for them and start negotiations.

It is usually a tedious procedure when all you need is a plot of land and when the surveyor’s fees may even exceed the price of the plot of land you intend to purchase. This option usually works and is helpful for individuals seeking to acquire a large tract of land for real estate development, agriculture, or any other use requiring considerable hectares of land.

So, what if your search result shows that there is no recorded transaction for the land? You have two options. Some people quickly find a local chief to sign a lease that is hurriedly registered in their name. The danger is that although you may have duly registered the land, you may never be able to physically enter into possession because the “real” owners will definitely show up eventually. The other option is to search for the actual owners -- which can be a nightmare because the chiefs or stools sometimes may not be sure of their actual boundaries. And unless you want the land that badly or know that a pot of gold is buried 50 metres below the surface, most people simply move on to the next available piece of land.

2. Establish the difference and relationship between the owner and the vendor
I have discovered that land owners may not necessarily be the vendors of the land. Most people use family members, Linguists, Agents (much as you may loathe them), Lawyers and Surveyors…the list goes on. It doesn’t really matter who is selling, what matters is whether they have been duly authorised to conduct the sale and at what price have they been authorised to do so at.

This is irrespective of the size of the land; and, in fact, if you choose to forgo step 1, you must try as much as possible to carry out this step. Search for the owner and at least have a meeting with them. Usually, if you have a Lawyer or a Surveyor involved, most people don’t go any further to verify ownership because they are confident this has to be genuine. For stool and family lands, most people go with whomever they are told is the right source, only to sometimes find themselves in trouble after dealing with the wrong owners.

The bottom line here is that even if you are not dealing with the rightful owner, you should at least be dealing with a credible representative; and the only way to guarantee this is to locate the owner and hear them say, “Yes, this is my representative”.

3. Establish the ownership status of the vendor (title verification)
If you took your time with step 1, you may not bother much with this step. However, for mainly individual purchasers of land, say 1 plot or 2 plots etc, you should have a copy of a title document which you can use to conduct a search. This is where it gets interesting: if you are acquiring a family land, you can head directly to the land Title registry to conduct your search. However, if you are acquiring a stool, state or vested land, you may need to verify at both the lands commission (PVLMD) as well as the land title registry.

There are a few family lands that are however managed by the state, so you should be made aware of that. Some family lands also have their own management structures and offices, and you should be informed about that as well.

4. Limit your risk
In purchasing land, you need to know that you are buying an interest in land and not only the physical location. As a result, title is the most important consideration in purchasing a plot of land. The lower the risk relating to title, the higher the price -- which is why we see Government lands in the prime areas going for very high amounts. Where the risk is high, i.e. one cannot exactly tell for sure who the owner is or identify the correct vendor, the prices are generally low; and unfortunately that is what the average Ghanaian can afford.

You therefore must try as much as possible to limit your risk to avoid ruining yourself financially.

• Do not buy simply because everyone else is buying
• If the price is too good to be true, then it probably is just that: too good to be true
• Low price for land sometimes hides other costs, such as litigation and other incidental costs
• Never encroach on State land: one government may approve and another may disapprove, and they usually have the right to do so with their own explanations.

5. I can’t help but add that even if you have gone through all these steps, make sure after you have purchased the land you begin the registration process immediately. Sometimes, as soon as we hold the indenture, we breathe a sigh of relief and simply go to sleep. Ideally, you should rightly do so. But the problem may not necessarily be you; other people looking for shortcuts are always out there to make mischief. To be on the safe side, register. And if you can afford to secure it even further by showing a physical presence on the land somehow, do so.