Landed property is a very essential asset to nations, businesses and individuals. It is a cherished asset top-notch investor in the world feel safe to keep their funds. Nonetheless, owning a land has always come with its challenges. From time immemorial, conflicts from land litigation have seen people murdered, families torn apart, land guards’ brutalities, siblings fighting and companies dragged to court for settlements.
Many people have also fallen ill out of stress, had their pressure risen, and died eventually. The case is not different in Ghana as there are numerous cases of land issues filed at every court with the mandate to handle land cases.
The problems could be due to greed, ethnic conflict, misunderstanding, mismanagement and lack of education, delays in adjudicating land disputes in court, lack of Customary Lands Secretariats for traditional councils, improper documentation, lack of understanding between tenants and land owners or chiefs.
Other causes are chieftaincy problems, unemployment, default in rent payment to the Administrator of Stool Lands, lack of sensitisation programmes for tenants, stakeholders and chiefs on stool lands.
Land disputes and litigations have become rampant, causing troubles within and among families, communities and ethnic groups.
And lack of proper dispute resolution mechanisms in our communities compounds the problem.
Before beginning your search for land to buy in Ghana, and to avoid potential land litigation issues, it is important to understand the laws surrounding land acquisition and purchase, especially the law on who owns land in Ghana. The first thing to know is this: no one individual owns land in Ghana! All lands belong to the state, traditional authorities, and families and clans. Lands owned by individuals and private entities are simply leaseholds lasting 50 years for expatriates and 99 years for citizens (It’s a 50 to a 70-year ratio where commercial property is involved).
Land litigation issues in Ghana have the tendency to derail all your efforts in acquiring a prime piece of land. Purchasing land is a fantastic long-term investment to make. The benefits, including low maintenance costs and security, are numerous. You may have read everything you need to know about buying land in Ghana; searched lands for sale in Ghana online; found an ideal piece of land for sale; and taken all the necessary steps you can think of to finally make that purchase.
A recent dispute over the rightful owner of a plot of land in Ghana has led the country’s highest court to ask why people who sell the same land to several buyers in fraudulent deals, are not prosecuted. The judges also expressed their shock at the state of Ghana’s records from which it is often impossible to tell the rightful owners of plots of land. They said such chaos, combined with uncertainties about whether property deals are valid, would deter also foreign investors.
Brainsfield Limited, a real estate brokerage and consulting firm, representing sellers, buyers, developers, and renters of properties in Ghana, has established a land litigation clinic, a unit that will assist victims of land litigation cases and provide direction to new and prospective land owners so they can avert the pitfalls.
The clinic would invite applicants with land issues for the following:
Tender any available documents for scrutiny, the clinic would run searches to ascertain the position of the document, the clinic would advise its clients, and if possible, would fund all court cases for its clients depending on case potentials.
Brainsfield Limited is a company well-versed in land issues. Most people go to court unprepared and thus, lose their case even though they may have a good case. Brainsfield will take you through property consultative counselling, survey work – that is the technical, and legal work – which is the court. One needs to be strategically prepared for any court issues and that is what Brainsfield is here for.
Come October, 2022, the company will begin to receive issues and complaints from victims for advice and treatment at its litigation clinic.
Processes of the litigation clinic
- The clinic is meant to ensure that all disputes in vital aspects in the litigation are attended to and fixed or maintained, a department where victims are given counsel or advice, especially of a specialist nature in land litigation.
- The victim of such instances needs to have legit and legal documents of ownership of the given land, based on which the claim of the land can be rested on.
- The given land must have all its corners properly measured and accounted for in the case of relevant issues and questions concerning the land.
- Concerns on the land and arising issues must clearly be stated to avoid parallel accusations and encourage a rather organised defense and factual reasoning.
- The clinic will need to have legal assess to the documents concerning the given land by which protection and retrieval will be possible.
- The clinic will ultimately arrange for the case to be handled legally by an internal barrister.
