It is a dispute that arises when two or more parties believe that they are the rightful owners of a piece of land. These disputes can arise mainly through family feuds, abuse of power by government officials, corruption amongst chiefs and stool bearers.
The process of trying to acquire private land from an individual is a rather tricky one, but relatively safer from registered that sell lands. To avoid litigation, it's worth covering the following areas in your land acquisition and/or subsequent land registration to protect your interest.
If you approach a private land seller who is interested in selling off his/her land to you, find out all you can about this seller and his business. Be sure to check with the Lands Commission to validate from their records if this person truly owns the piece of land you are interested in buying - one cannot sell what they don't own to you. If the name on the land documentation is different from the seller's name, ask to deal with the actual owner - if the owner is deceased, make sure the land has properly been transferred to a living person's name before transacting.
It’s also advisable to check with government land overseers to ensure the land has not been taped for future national development projects. It is not unheard of for people to post a notice of inquiry in the newspapers to ask if there is anyone who has that particular land piece registered to their name.
Additionally request that the seller provides. At the same time, request that the seller provides you with a certified site plan demarcating the precise location of the land including its coordinates. He/She should have had a professional surveyor to do this and you are advised to also work with one to double-check everything. No money should have exchanged hands yet for the purchase of the land up to this juncture.
It is naive to make any form of payment based on just pictures of land or property - anybody can copy same online, pass them off as their own or authorized to sell it when they have no clue on the details of the said land or property.
Once you're assured of the legitimacy of the search results, then you can negotiate on sales terms with the seller and when you comfortably reach an agreement on buying land, then work with your lawyer (if you cannot do this yourself) to draft a purchase and ownership transfer contract/Deed of Conveyance which both you and the seller will sign. - - Once that is done and you make payment, you are now the legal owner of the land. You need to make multiple copies of the indenture (your ownership agreements, lease details detailing parties to the transaction, witnesses, price paid and ground rent) and have them endorsed by a land lawyer who also professionally stamps them. Each copy should have a land surveyor certified site plan attached.
ADDITIONAL LAND ACQUISITION EDUCATION RESOURCES
- Essential Themes in Land Law in Ghana Part I
- Essential Themes in Land Law in Ghana Part II
- Essential Themes in Land Law Book Launch
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