Securing indenture doesn’t guarantee ownership of land – Anyidoho
Mr Timothy Anyidoho, the Greater Accra Regional Lands Officer, said securing an indenture on a parcel of land does not guarantee ownership of that land.
He, therefore, advised prospective landowners to present the indenture to the Client Service and Access Unit (CSAU) of the Lands Commission to continue the registration process till one secures the land title certificate.
An indenture is an agreement or contract between the vendor and the prospective buyer, which also contains the duration the land was being leased.
Thus, it was only when the Commission had issued the land title certificate to the buyer before he or she could claim full ownership of the land.
“You should not keep the indenture under your bed because you’re not done with the land registration process yet. For example, if your guarantor gives the same land to another person and he or she obtains the land title on it you can lose the land…,” he said.
Mr Anyidoho said this at a public sensitisation campaign, organised by the Lands Commission for traders at Makola and the Tudu markets in Accra.
It formed part of the Commission’s drive to educate traders on the new Lands Act 2020 (Act 1036) and land registration procedures in the Greater Accra Region.
Mr Anyidoho said the Commission was mandated to validate the indenture and make sure it met the tenets of the law before performing any stamp duty on it and enter the information into public records.
He urged the public to engage lawyers and professionals with expertise in drafting an indenture and seek clarity from the Commission before appending their signatures to it.
Ms Pearl Rockson, Senior Lands Administration Officer, Lands Commission, entreated the public to deal only with the Commission’s CSAU officials with name tags, instead of paying monies to middlemen or “goro boys” to register their lands.
She cautioned that dealing with individuals without name tags at the Commission’s premises could lead to loss of monies because such people were not recognised by the Commission.
She asked prospective landowners to always do due diligence using the site plan of the land they intended to purchase at the CSAU to avoid being defrauded.
Madam Mercy Naa Afrowa Needjan, the President of the Greater Accra Markets Association, expressed gratitude to the Commission for the insights into the land registration process and the new Land Act.
She expressed the belief that it would go a long way to prevent land litigations and uninformed decisions regarding land purchase.
The Association was presented with copies of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036).
Source: GNA