Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036)

This section lists the interests in land.

Allodial title is the highest interest in land and may be held by the State, a stool or skin, a clan or family, or an individual.

Customary law freehold is defined as a customary-law land interest, and non-citizens are proscribed from acquiring it in respect of stool and skin lands.

A common law freehold is a land interest arising from a common-law transaction, lasting indefinitely or for an uncertain time, subject to state and customary land interests, free of obligations to others, and inheritable and transferable.

Usufruct is a land interest that can be acquired in specified ways, can be inherited and transferred, and some transfers need written consent and customary obligations.

A lease is an interest in land for a certain or ascertainable duration.

This section defines a customary tenancy as an interest in land created by contract.

For interests in land, the applicable source of law determines the rights and obligations attached to the interest, subject to sections 2 to 7.

Stool, skin, clan, or family land vests in the appropriate stool, skin, clan, or family in trust for the relevant people, and freehold interests in that land may not be created by a person. The section preserves the inherent usufructuary interest of subjects or family members in vacant portions of the land.

This section limits non-citizens’ ability to acquire interests in land in Ghana and makes contrary transfer documents void.

Decisions or practices about land held under customary tenure must follow the community’s customs, traditions, and practices, but any discriminatory decision or practice is void.

The section makes it an offence to unlawfully control land development, extort benefits, block development, or use force or intimidation over land, and it lets people with an interest in land ask a court for restraining or injunction orders.

People managing stool, skin, clan, family, or group land must do so for the benefit of the concerned group, act transparently and fairly, and fiduciaries who breach these duties commit an offence.

Land-owning stools, skins, clans, or families must establish a Customary Land Secretariat. The Secretariat must send quarterly transaction records to the Lands Commission and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands, while those bodies must help establish the Secretariat and keep a register of them.

The Customary Land Secretariat must carry out specified land-record, information, dispute-resolution, education, revenue, and search functions; district Lands Officers and Stool Lands Officers must also perform required functions and maintain the district register.

The body setting up a Customary Land Secretariat must choose and appoint staff based on merit, good HR practice, and gender considerations, and the Secretariat must have an administrator and any other staff it needs.

The Customary Land Secretariat may charge and collect fees for its public services and may make agreements with other persons to do specific tasks for a fee.

The section lists the funding sources for a Customary Land Secretariat and says some proportions must be set by the Lands Commission and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands with agreement from the affected local groups and District Assembly.

Communities may set aside land for common use, but common land must be managed under customary law, a management plan, and local planning arrangements.

Disposals of stool or skin land for value are subject to article 267 of the Constitution.

An instrument disposing of certain land does not give rights, title, or interests in the natural resources on or under that land.

Grants of farming, mining, timber, and crop/animal-husbandry rights over stool, clan, or family land are capped at specified terms or area limits, unless the President directs otherwise in special cases.

The Lands Commission may direct that land boundaries be demarcated, a land survey be carried out, or both, subject to the Constitution and any other relevant enactment.

The Lands Commission may authorize a surveyor to enter land for demarcation or survey work, and the authorised person must show authority, carry identification, and follow extra consent or notice rules for buildings and enclosed yards/gardens.

If land damage compensation is claimed, the Lands Commission must have the damage assessed, pay compensation based on that assessment, and respond to review applications within 30 days.

An authorised official or licensed surveyor must mark land boundaries when they have not already been correctly marked.

It is an offence to wilfully or unlawfully destroy, move, or alter a boundary or survey mark, unless written authorisation is given by the Lands Commission.

A person who wilfully obstructs or resists a surveyor or someone working under the surveyor’s direction commits an offence and may be fined, imprisoned, or both.

The Lands Commission may cause any land to be valued when performing its functions under this Act or any other enactment.

Valuations under section 29 must be certified by the Commission, and valuations certified by the Lands Commission are presumed correct unless proved otherwise.

This section classifies types of valuation and says what rental valuation and rating valuation are for; it also lets the Minister make regulations on the listed matters.

A person who holds an interest or right in land may transfer it to anyone by instrument, with or without consideration.

Only a legal practitioner may prepare a conveyance.

A land-transfer contract is not enforceable unless it is in writing and signed by the relevant person or someone authorised to sign for that person, or it is exempt under section 36.

A land-interest transfer covered by this section must be in writing and signed by both sides, or by their duly authorized written agents.

Sections 34 and 35 do not apply to certain land transfers and transfer contracts, including transfers by law, equity-related trusts, court order, will, intestacy, prescription, short leases, some licences or profits, and oral grants under customary law.

Customary oral land grants may be recorded, and the record must be signed, certified, copied, delivered, and kept by the Customary Land Secretariat where one exists.

This section says certain conveyance terms are read broadly, and it sets presumptions about the parties’ age, capacity, and spousal interests in jointly acquired land.

A conveyance can use any word to show an intention to transfer land interests, but it cannot transfer more than the transferor has power to convey.

Rules on how a land conveyance can pass possession or ownership interests, including special rules for corporations sole and for transfers to multiple people.

A non-party to a conveyance may take an interest in land or the benefit of certain rights and agreements tied to that conveyance.

If a lease reversionary interest is transferred, surrendered, or merged, the lessee’s incidents and obligations stay the same.

A transfer of land made to defraud someone can be set aside by the person affected, but not in the insolvency context or where the transferee acted in good faith for value.

The court may set aside or change an agreement to convey land, or a conveyance of an interest in land, if it finds the transaction is unconscionable.

The court may set aside or change an agreement or conveyance of an interest in land if certain grounds are present.

People may transfer land interests to themselves or jointly with others, and a court may set aside a conveyance to prevent a breach of fiduciary duty.

A spouse must not transfer or otherwise deal with land acquired during marriage without the other spouse’s written consent, unless the spouses have a written agreement to the contrary or section 38(3) or (4) applies.

Agreements by two or more people about money, conveyances, or land-related acts can imply an obligation that survives to the remaining persons, unless the agreement shows a contrary intention.

If land in a lease is split up, or the lease ends only for part of it, any condition in the lease is split and keeps applying to the relevant parts.

This section says certain land-transfer and lease transactions include implied covenants, renewal rules, and limits on alienation or takeover of land.

Certain lease, sublease, and assignment conveyances imply specified covenants by the transferee, and those covenants can be varied or extended by the conveyance.

The benefit of an implied covenant under sections 50 or 51 attaches to the relevant interest and can be enforced by a person who holds that interest, or part of it.

Covenants tied to a land interest can be enforced by the covenantee and certain successors, and may run with the land without technical wording if the covenant allows it.

This section says certain land covenants are treated as made by the covenantor and can be enforced against successors in title and others deriving title from the covenantor.

The person entitled to the leased land income may recover, receive, enforce, or use certain rents, covenants, rights of re-entry, and related provisions tied to the lease reversion.

A lessor’s lease-related covenant or condition can attach to the reversionary interest, and the person holding the term may enforce it, but only to the extent the lessor can bind that interest.

A lessor cannot enforce re-entry or forfeiture for a lease breach unless notice is served and the lessee knows of it, and the lessee then fails to fix the breach or pay compensation within a reasonable time.

A lessee or sublessee may apply to court for relief against forfeiture, and the court may grant, refuse, or shape the relief on terms it considers appropriate.

Damages for breaching a lease repair covenant are capped at the drop in reversion value, and recovery is barred in two specified end-of-lease situations.

If a lessor or successor waives a lease covenant or condition, the waiver applies only to the specific breach mentioned and is not a general waiver unless the text shows a contrary intention.

A licence to a lessee normally applies only to the specific matter or breach it covers, unless the licence says otherwise.

Money cannot be required for a licence or consent to assign and similar transactions, except for reasonable administrative expenses; the Minister may make regulations about those payable amounts.

A person holding a document of title must hand it over when transferring the whole interest, and a written undertaking can require production, copies, and safe custody of a document.

Section 64 explains when a title counts as good title and gives buyers and assignees rights to inspect title documents.

This section limits what a land purchaser can demand about old title documents, but preserves some specific rights to inspect certain documents.

A supplemental instrument must be read as if it fully recited the earlier instrument, but this does not create a right to an abstract or production of that earlier instrument.

A notice required under a conveyance must be in writing unless the conveyance says otherwise, and notice to the transferee or transferor can be served by several listed methods.

A conveyance must be executed by the grantor and grantee, with witness attestation, unless subsection (1) does not apply to a vesting assent.

Receipts stated in a conveyance can be enough, and in some cases the statement is evidence against later disputes.

Section 70 says a conveyance should be drafted in clear, plain language, on durable material unless the Act provides otherwise, and worded so that words prevail over figures if there is a mismatch.

A document in the model precedent form, or a similar form using similar wording, is enough for the required form and expression.

People who fraudulently hide material title documents or falsify land plans when selling property can be sued for damages and may also commit an offence; courts must consider certain repair or improvement spending when estimating damages.

A land transfer that must be made by conveyance is lawfully made if it is done by electronic conveyance.

The Lands Commission must, as far as practicable, set up a land information system, equip and train staff to manage it, and provide education about the system and electronic conveyancing.

An electronic conveyance may only be made by a qualified legal practitioner who has access to the information system granted by the Lands Commission.

A legal practitioner may be given access to provide electronic conveyancing services if the Lands Commission is satisfied the applicant has the required facilities and equipment.

Access granted under section 76 cannot be transferred, and it is subject to conditions set by the Lands Commission.

An electronic conveyance under this Act must state when it takes effect, include the electronic signature of each person who authenticates it, and have each electronic signature certified under the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772).

The Minister may make regulations, after consulting the Lands Commission, to add requirements for electronic conveyancing.

The Act provides three systems for recording and registering land and interests in land.

The section lists the land interests that can be registered.