Avoid the pitfalls when buying property in Ghana
In Ghana, land is owned by stool and families, individuals
and the State. Apart from state lands, stool and family lands
take up greater percentage of available land. As regards state
lands, allocation and management is in the hands of the Lands
Commission whose regional secretariats are responsible for
administration of the land. Apart from the fact that the process
of allocation is not transparent its scarcity puts great pressure
on those responsible for its management.
Stool and family lands by far offer the surest means of accessing
land to a vast majority of people, whether or not they are
members of the family or hold allegiance to the stool. Ghana
has not reached the stage where any class of people can seriously
be said to be landless. It is the acquisition and ownership
in such lands that bother most people. In the traditional
setting, chiefs are mainly said to be the custodians of land,
which they normally hold in trust for all those who owe allegiance
to the stool. In a similar vain family heads hold their lands
in trust for family members.
Thus, no transfer of any piece of land should be made to
any other person, who is not a member of the land-owning group,
without the express or implied consent o the members.
In some cases, lands are sold outright without due consideration
being given to the future generation. In fact purchase of
an interest in stool/family lands is problematic and fraught
with litigation and harassment. There has been instances of
multiple sale of the same plot of land to different persons.
At present, there are over 4,000 suits pending at the courts
to determine the rightful owner. The situation has invariably
led to disputes among family members. In most cases, injunctions
are placed on the development of such lands until the rightful
owner is ascertained. Meanwhile an investor who has borrowed
money to develop the lands has to wait while his loan accumulates
interest, great caution must be taken when acquiring such
land.
There is the need therefore to streamline these transactions
not only to ensure that they benefit all those who have interest
in the land, living or yet unborn or may be dead. It is in
the light of the above that the following suggestions are
made to improve upon the situation.
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Where developers acquire vast stretches of land from
the stool and family, compensation normally goes to the
chiefs and elders. But this is a one off payment to the
chiefs and elders.
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They may also give a percentage of the houses constructed
to the family or stool so that the family or stool may
generate a revenue from such a transaction.
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On disputed lands, a fund must be set aside so that the
rightful owner of the land receives his fair share.
Payment of the land price could be made by installments spread
over a considerable period of time. However, the actual payment
for the land should be equal to the value of the land.
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