FAQ

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON LAND

1. How much do I have to spend to process a land title in the areas of Kayunga? Are the land offices based in Kayunga or Mukono?

ANSWER:
You question is too general. I hope you are asking how to transfer a mailo title from someone else’s names into your names. In that case, you must have in his/her possession fully completed set of Transfer forms which include a Transfer form and two Consent forms, A photocopy of the duplicate certificate of title and two authentic Passport photographs of the buyer and seller.

You will present the documents to the Valuation Division for valuation assessment for Stamp duty at the Ministry of Lands and check with the Valuation Division within a period of 3 working days to pick the form and proceed to pay stamp duty and registration fees in the Bank. Stamp duty is 1% of the value of the land. If the value for example is Ushs 1,000,000/= then stamp duty is Ushs 10,000/=.

You then pay the fees in the Bank (Diamond Trust Bank) and get a receipt and your Transfer form embossed by URA. You also pay registration fees (10,000/=) from Mukono and submit all documentation together with the Duplicate Certificate of Title, receipts and photocopies of all documents to the Mailo Registry in Mukono. Kayunga District has a Registrar of Titles (Mr Overson Arinaitwe) who is based at the Mukono Office of Titles. If you do not find him, then the Registrar of Titles for Mukono (Ms Christine Namirembe) can also help.

You then check after 10 working days for your title. You present identification documents and the Photocopies to collect the Duplicate Certificate of Title. Any assistance if you are stuck get to me, unless there is a specific transaction you want me to explain.

Regards

Dennis Obbo
email address:dennisfo@mlhud.go.ug
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2. How do i chase a tittle when i have only got willing buyer-seller agreements? I bought a piece of land of about 4 acres in the village but i have only got an agreement.

Does the govt respect owners with only agreements?

What can I do to get a land title? Is it possible to process a land title when I don’t have passport photos of the sellers because i cannot trace them anywhere?

I would appreciate it if you help me on this matter urgently before Otafiire, or Tinyenfunza or some fake Indian investor start chasing me away from my small land.

Please help!!
ANSWER
This is what you can do to get a title:
(i) You fill in Form 4 and apply to the District Land Board through the Area Land Committee.
(ii) The Area Land Committee will visit the said land to determine, verify and consider interest of the adjacent landholders.
(iii) The Area Land committee will make a report of its findings, making recommendations for issue or rejection of the application, which it forwards to the District Land Board.
(iv) The District Land Board on receipt of the application accepts or rejects the application.
(v) When it is rejected, proper explanation is given for the rejection. If the District Land Board is satisfied, it issues instructions for survey based on the report submitted by the Area Land Committee. You have to meet the costs of surveying because the service was privatized.
(vi) On completion of the survey, the District Land Board submits the application to the Commissioner for Land Registration for issue of the Certificate of Title for Freehold.

In this case, we shall only need passport photo’s of you the owner who has been granted the freehold.

Use this information side by side with the procedure for acquiring a freehold title. Do not hesitate to contact me once you get stuck

Dennis Obbo
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3. What is also freehold, customary ownership and mail tenure? Could u explain all this in details to Ugandans or you assume that they already know?

What is the role of surveyors in land registration process? Are there contacts for registered surveyors in different parts of the country?

How do you punish officials collecting money from people in the pretext that they are helping them to acquire land tittles?

What have you done to stop Indians from stealing people’s land in various parts of the country? People fear Indians b’se they think they are ‘connected ‘ to the govt officials

ANSWER

Usually when one wants to buy land in Uganda, before you pay, the buyer wants to be sure that the seller is passing on a good title, free of any encumbrance, and which is not a forged title. To do so, the potential buyer comes to the registry and requests for information about the given land title. That is what is referred to as carrying out a search.

Secondly, there are a number of land transactions that clients usually want to effect. For example if a buyer wants to effect a transfer of a land title into his names, or register a caveat etc etc the steps he/she takes to effect that request are what we call land registration procedures. If you read each of the procedures they explain what you have to do, what fees you have to pay, where you have to go and what forms you have to use.

1. Under the 1995 Constitution of Uganda Article 237(3), land in Uganda is owned in accordance with the following land tenure systems :

Customary, Freehold, Mailo and Leasehold.

Customary land tenure means a system of holding land regulated by customary rules;

Freeholdland tenure means the holding of registered land in perpetuity;

Mailo land tenure means the holding of registered land in perpetuity and having roots in the 1900 Uganda agreement

Leasehold tenure means the holding of land for a given period from a specified date of commencement, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the lessor and lessee.

2. The Surveys and Registration Board has some 100 licensed surveyors. Many of them run private businesses. A license is necessary to carry out surveying. The Surveyor applies to the Survey Registration Board for registration. Once registered the surveyor applies for a licence which is issued on an annual basis. The role of the surveyors is to demarcate and survey the land to be titled the Surveyor submits a technical report to the District Surveyor, who also submits the same to the Commissioner Surveys and Mapping for technical checking and plotting the land on the Cadastral map, after which he issues certified deed plans (the purple sheets which appear in the titles. You can contact Mr Cyprian Inyangat (cinyangat@yahoo.com), the Secretary of the Survey Registration Board for contact information about registered surveyors in different parts of the country.

3. Regarding the issue of officials collecting illegal fees from people in the pretext that they are helping them to acquire land tittles, you have to report these to this email address or to ps@mlhud.go.ug. As long as it is specific and can stand, we shall act.

Lastly on stopping Indians from acquiring land, I hope you know that many of them are Ugandan citizens. As long as they fall in that category you cannot deny them their right. It is not the Ministry which sells the land to them, but you Ugandans yourselves. Ours is to register their interests after you have sold to them. Your statements therefore are sweeping statements which are not good for this country as we all support Uganda’s drive to become an industrial country with a developed services sector and a skilled working class.

Ministry of Lands website has been updated with information on Land registration procedures (how to search, register a mortgage, get a special, get a leasehold title, get a freehold title, carry out transfers etc etc).

Persons in the Diaspora have reported had a lot of fraudulent transactions being carried out on their land. That is why we have specifically added the Gazette extracts on the website, which show persons who claim to have lost their land titles and are requesting the Ministry for new ones (Special Certificate of Title).

I urge every one to go through and check the Gazette extracts on a regular basis. Incase you discover someone claiming your registered land under the pretext that the title is lost and therefore want a new one, immediately alert us. We shall stop the process / cancel the process and investigate and apprehend the culprits.

Visit website at http://www.mlhud.go.ug to access the information.
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4.By the way do you have any information on what is refered to as “okwegula”? How does one determine the amount to be paid to the holder of the title?. This is in a case where one buys land from a squarter.

ANSWER:
If you have a copy of the Land Act (CAP 227) ‘okwegula’ falls under section 35 – options to purchase and Land Amendment Act (2010) 35 (7) & (8). It is important that a valuation assessment is done to establish the true value of the kibanja and the things on it. You can then hold negociations to reach an agreement.

Dennis Obbo

Dennis Obbo
Ministry of Lands, Housing & Urban Development
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5. Kindly advice me on the procedure for transferring the name from one person to another plus costs involved.
ANSWER:
The Applicant must have in his/her possession fully completed set of Transfer forms which include a Transfer form and two Consent forms, A photocopy of the duplicate certificate of title and two authentic Passport photographs of the buyer and seller.

The Applicant presents the documents to the Valuation Division for valuation assessment for Stamp duty. The Applicant checks with the Valuation Division within a period of 3 working days to pick the form and proceed to pay stamp duty and registration fees in the Bank. Stamp duty is 1% of the value of the land. Assessment for payment of Registration fees is done by the respective District Cashiers.

Pay the fees in the Bank, get a receipt and your Transfer form embossed. Submit all documentation together with the Duplicate Certificate of Title, receipts and photocopies of all documents to the Mailo Registry.

The photocopy is stamped ‘Received’. The applicant is asked to check after 10 working days.

The Applicant presents identification documents and the Photocopies to collect the Duplicate Certificate of Title. The applicant signs for the Title and the Photocopy is stamped ‘Returned’ on completion.

So the Documents required include : Duplicate Certificate of Title, set of Passport photographs, embossed Transfer form and consent form and General receipts of Payment.

Fees paid: Stamp duty- 1% of the value of the land; and Registration fees – 10,000/=

Dennis Obbo
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6. What is happening with land tittles at the moment. Why is the system so slow?

We are changing from the manual to the computerized system. There is therefore great demand for titles by those using the manual system and those digitalizing the titles. There is also a new procedure for retrieval by the those that have been digitalized, to ensure that those that are transacted upon after digitalizing are updated by the system before we fully go digital.

During the digitalizing process, we have also discovered what I would call ‘problematic titles’ that require rectification and completion before they are digitalized. Some have double plotting – different parcels but with the same identification codes, others signed but not sealed etc etc. These are being worked on and hence are not available incase of any transaction, until the problem is cleared.

We hope to complete this exercise and fully have a computerized system in place by Feb 2013. Any inconveniences caused are highly regretted.

Dennis
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7.Why do i need a RDC letter to buy land?
Would you explain to me why i need a RDC letter to buy land? I have been told that i cannot get a surveyor on the land i intend to buy to do the measurements without the RDC authority or letter, is this true? Why would i need an unelected official to determine this process yet LCs used to the job well for us?

Isn’t this another way of promoting corruption in our country bse you know as much as i know that these RDCs charge people a lot of money to do this?

ANSWER:
1. l think it is not a requirement, but to avoid land wrangles, it is not bad if he is involved or is kept informed. If the land is private mailo, he is not required. But if it is official mailo, he may be required. If it is public land under Uganda Land Commission or District Land Board, he be informed. But if there tenants like most land in Buganda, he should be involved. The only problem is that some of these RDCs are land grabbers and some are corrupt.

RDC, constitutionally are central government representatives in the district, who are in charge of security, monitor central and local government programmes, among others. Additionally when there were a lot of evictions especially in Buganda, the President directed RDC to champion cause of tenants. Some RDC are good but some are not. An example is the RDC Ssembabule Kamara Bayeeye who is covering up ghost teachers and schools in the district because he benefits from it.
He is also conniving with some land grabbers in my home Nnambiriizi village. He is not aware that l am a hard nut to crush. He is misled by some of our adopted people in an extended family. Preliminary findings suspect him to be an FDC sympathizer. He has the potential of being bribed by a radical group.l think he is a disgruntled historical or veteran even when he was reappointed RDC after being an SDA, DA and CGR for many years. He hails from Kanungu District.

AHMED KATEREGA- seniour journalist at Newvision

2.If you look at the procedures in the Ministry of Lands Access to Information Manual (www.mlhud.go.ug), it does not indicate that a letter from the RDC’s Office is required by any of the Land Administration institutions.

However, I am aware that RDC’s chair security committees in their areas of jurisdiction. Land matters have in some cases taken on a security angle.Where we have had persistent threats of evictions; RDCs have been requested to ensure that the law is complied with and law and order is maintained.

Dennis Obbo
Spokesperson of Ministry of Lands, Housing and
Urban Development