Page 4 - JULY NEWSLETTER (2)

Continued from page 2 respect of the land.
The highest interest a foreigner can have in land in Ghana is a B&FT: Is there a law that prohibits individuals

50-year lease. On the expiry of the 50 years, an application has from owning land without developing any

to be made to the Lands Commission for an extension of the property on it for a period?
lease.
Ans: There is no law that prohibits individuals
There is no provision for automatic renewal. The renewal is at from owning land without developing any

the discretion of the Lands Commission. In practice, however, a property on it for a period. This is usually a
refusal to renew or extend a lease by the Government of Ghana contractual arrangement. For example, in
is rare. Provided that the leaseholder is in good standing and government leases, purchasers are given a grace
has observed the terms of the lease, there is no reason why the period to start construction and a time to
lease, whether of Government land, stool or family land will not complete the building but these are contractual
be renewed. arrangements not statutory.

B&FT: Are there laws that protect land encroachers? B&FT: How will you advise a prospective buyer to
Ans: There are two laws that protect persons who do not have proceed in acquiring land?

title but have managed to put up a building on the land. These Ans: The best legal procedure to follow when
are the Land Development (Protection of Purchasers) Act, 1960 buying land to avoid litigation is to do a
(Act 2) and the Farmlands (Protection) Act, 1962 (Act 107). comprehensive due diligence.

Act 2 was enacted to protect purchasers of land and their Due diligence means conducting investigations
successors whose titles were found to be defective after a into who owns land, finding out whether there
building has been erected on the land and it applies to Accra are any encumbrances on the land, and the
only. However, Act 107 was an extension of the policy in Act 2 nature of the transactions that have occurred on
to include the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Volta and the land. This would require the interested
Western Regions. purchaser to conduct searches at the following
divisions of the Lands Commission. Namely; the
In order for a person with a defective title to claim protection
Public and Vested Lands Management Division,
under Act 2, that person must show that they built on the land
the Survey and Mapping Division and the Land
in good faith and that they carried out a greater part of the
work for the erection of the building. In one case the court said Registration Division.
that a mere temporary structure will not qualify as a building If the purchaser is satisfied with the findings of

but an outhouse or “boy’s quarters” is a building. the search, then the purchaser can now engage
the vendor and conclude the transaction.
In addressing whether a person or encroacher acted in good
faith, the courts have considered factors like: Immediately the transaction is completed, the
purchaser should swiftly register his interest in
1) Did the encroacher conduct a search at the Lands
Commission before building on the land; the land. Registration under the Land Title
Registration Act constitutes notice to the world
2) Did the actual owner of the land challenge the encroacher to
and anyone who acquires the same land is fixed
stop building and the encroacher continued to build on the
with notice of a subsisting interest in the land. In
land.
this regard, no subsequent purchaser of the land
3) The courts have taken the view that a person can be said to can claim that he bought the land in good faith.
have acted in good faith if the person had been diligent in
Source: www.thebftonline.com

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