BASIC STEPS TO FOLLOW IN THE PURCHASE OF PRIVATE LAND IN CAMEROON
Disclaimer:
This doesn’t represent, replace or imply a valid legal advise as it is more of an academic research work. In order to engage in the procedure, it is advisable to hire the services of a licensed lawyer in Cameroon.
The steps could be divided into three – the pre-contracting stage, the contracting stage and the conveyancing stage. We shall examine each of these stages in this article.
I – THE PRE-CONTRACTING STAGE
At this stage, it is necessary to carryout basic inquiries about the parcel of land intended to be purchased. These inquiries could be carried out at the lands services, court registry, at the palace of the traditional ruler, from the owner of the land and the owners of other parcels of land sharing boundaries with the land in question. They include:
- Inquire to know the exact boundary limitation of the land
- Find out if there are any disputes over the land
- Find out whether the land is subject to a trust, mortgage or charge
- Find out if there is any court decision vesting the ownership of the land on the seller (in case of succession) as the administrator of the estate of the deceased and whether the co-heirs (beneficiaries) have given their full consent to the sale of the land
- Verify to be sure that the land certificate is a valid one (where there is one)
II – THE CONTRACTING STAGE
- At this stage, the purchaser and the seller of the land are expected to proceed to entering into a contract of sale or a sale of land agreement.
- The Agreement is expected to contain certain essential elements including:
- The complete name, identity and address of the purchaser and seller
- The full description of the parcel of land including its location, size and attachments
- The consideration to be made for the sale
- The nature of interest which is granted
- The amount of money (where in cash) to be paid as deposit
- The capacity of the vendor such as beneficial owner, trustee, personal representative or administrator
- The date of completion
- Signature of the parties
III – CONVEYANCING STAGE
In Cameroon this is governed by Decree Number 79/017 of January 13th 1979 relating to private real property transactions
- The vendor of the land prepares and submits an application to the appropriate surveys services having jurisdiction over the area where the landed property is situated, for the demarcation of the parcel of land in question
- The application shall contain the full names of owner, number of the land certificate and the surface area of the parcel and where applicable the number of the plot and the name of the person acquiring the plot
- The surveys office shall then demarcate the parcel to be sold with beacons, prepare a cadastral report which shall be signed by the owner and draw up a site plan
- The Surveys office shall hand over the plans and demarcation report to the owner, after they must have been stamped and endorsed
- The surveys office shall update its records
- Both vendor and purchaser shall submit a file to a notary public of competent jurisdiction
- The file shall contain: (i) The site plan and demarcation report; (ii) The town-planning certificate; (iii) The copy of land certificate
- The notary public then draws up a deed of conveyance between the vendor and purchaser
- The notary publish shall file the deed for registration alongside the report, town-planning certificate and copy of land certificate within eight (08) days of its registration
- The deed shall be entered in a special registry according to chronological order f arrival
- The lands services shall verify the validity of the documents in the file and establish the land certificate and return the file to the notary public
- The land register shall be updated
- The land certificate is handed to the owner (purchaser)
- A copy of the plan with number of new land certificate and name of persons acquiring the parcel of land shall be forwarded to surveys office.
In summary, this is the procedure to be followed in order to purchase a private real property in Cameroon. As already mentioned above, this doesn’t represent, replace or imply a valid legal advise as it is more of an academic research work. In order to engage in the procedure, it is advisable to hire the services of a licensed lawyer in Cameroon. Find herewith the contact address of a recommended lawyer in this regard:
+237670240796 or +237697273296