Buying land · The honest version
Land fraud is the single biggest reason Ghanaians and diaspora buyers hesitate, and they are right to. So here is the whole process, the documents named, and the one step a dishonest seller always wants you to skip.
Every one of these is avoidable, and every avoidance is a document or a search, not a feeling about the seller. We would rather you knew them before you met us.
A confident seller, a signed indenture, a plot on the ground, and a name on the document that has no registrable interest in the land.
Run an official search at the Lands Commission against the plot before you pay. The record, not the seller, tells you who owns it.
You buy, you travel, and you come back to find a wall going up, built by the other person who also “bought” it.
Insist on demarcated, pillared boundaries tied to a registrable site plan, and register your own interest quickly so the record shows you.
A chief or a family head signs an indenture that looks complete, but the consent and concurrence the law requires was never obtained.
For stool or family land, demand the Lands Commission consent and concurrence. Without it the disposition cannot be registered, whoever signed it.
A drawer full of paper and nothing on the public record. An unstamped, unregistered indenture is a receipt, not a title.
Stamp the instrument with the GRA and lodge it for registration. Unregistered paper protects nobody, and stamp duty is not optional.
A finished house on a plot with no development permit, and a demolition notice that does not care how much it cost to build.
Get a development permit from the District Assembly before you build. It requires proof of your right to the land, which is why the paperwork comes first.
Tell us the location, your budget, and whether you are buying to build now or to hold. You get plot sizes, the current price and the payment options back in writing, usually the same day. Nothing about the first conversation asks you to commit to anything.
We meet you on the plot. You see the pillars, the access road, the neighbours and what is actually being built around it. Saturday is our inspection day and we arrange weekday visits on request. If we cannot show you a plot on the ground, we do not sell it to you.
Take the plot details away and run your own official search at the Lands Commission, and have your own lawyer review the indenture. The search report is issued in Form 9 and is presumed conclusive of what it states, which makes it worth more than anybody’s word, including ours. Any seller who rushes you past this step, or discourages it, is telling you something you should hear. We would rather lose a week to your due diligence than have you doubt the plot for years.
When you are satisfied, you pay a deposit and we agree the instalment schedule in writing before any further money moves. Every payment, deposit and instalment, is receipted in your name. Payment methods are confirmed in writing first; we favour traceable bank transfers, with mobile money for deposits and monthly instalments.
Your document pack is prepared, the instrument is stamped and lodged for registration, and the plot is handed over to you on site. If you want to build, that is where our construction, surveying, plant-hire and materials lines pick up, one accountable company from the plot to the roof.
This is the paperwork that turns a piece of land into something you own and can defend. We name every document, a company that cannot name them has probably never handed one over.
A surveyed drawing showing the plot’s dimensions, bearings and coordinates. Prepared by a licensed surveyor. This is the document that proves which piece of ground is yours.
The conveyance document that transfers the interest in the land to your name. It should carry the correct parties, the correct plot and the site plan attached.
A search tells you what the public record says about the land, the registered interest and any encumbrance on it. Do it yourself, or through your own lawyer. We will give you everything you need to run it.
Your document is stamped and lodged for registration so your interest appears on the record. Unregistered paper protects nobody.
Every cedi, on paper, in your name. Including deposits and instalments.
The current law is the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), which replaced the older acts a buyer may have been taught to ask about. Knowing the words is how you tell a real transaction from a performance of one.
This is a maths tool, not a price. BRIDGE INC. quotes the actual deposit and terms per plot, in writing. The figures below are only your own numbers worked out, nothing here is an offer or a commitment.
These are the Lands Commission’s own published target times. They are useful for planning and they are not promises.
These are the Lands Commission’s own published target times, not guarantees. In practice registration commonly runs from several months to over a year, and anybody who promises you a certificate by a fixed date is guessing.
Pressure you to skip your own search, or discourage you from using your own lawyer.
Take a cedi without giving you a receipt in your name.
Sell you a plot we cannot walk you onto.
Promise a document we have not prepared, or a registration date we cannot control.
Quote you a plot size or price we have not confirmed for that specific plot.
This is general information about Ghanaian land law, not legal advice. Confirm current fees, timelines and requirements with the Lands Commission and instruct your own lawyer before you transact.
Book a site visit, run your search, bring your lawyer. We built the whole process to survive that scrutiny.