The Unit Titles Act

This Act may be cited as the Unit Titles Act.

This provision says the Act applies to Mainland Tanzania.

This section defines key terms used in the Act.

This section lets a proprietor or developer divide an existing or planned building into units by registering a unit plan with the Registrar, and requires a timetable if the plan is phased.

This section defines what counts as a unit property and says it may take several structural forms.

Common areas are split into fractional shares, and each co-owner holds an undivided ownership right equal to that share.

A developer or proprietor for a unit development must get planning and building permit consent from the appropriate local government authority.

The Registrar must, when a unit plan registration application is appropriate, close the register entry for the common property, open a separate register part for each unit, and issue a certificate of title after the prescribed fee is paid.

The section applies Land Registration Act procedures to unit registration, lets a unit proprietor deal with the unit subject to this Act, and restricts disposal or charging of common-property shares unless tied to an owner’s unit.

Interests affecting common property or a unit plan must be endorsed on the relevant register parts and title certificates.

The Registrar must record the unit factor when a separate register part is opened for a unit, and the common property share cannot be sold or charged except as attached to the owner’s unit.

A unit owner may subdivide or consolidate a unit if the local authority approves and the owner registers a unit plan with the Registrar; the Registrar must amend the original unit plan before accepting the registration.

A unit owner must not change the use of a unit unless the association consents and, if the proposed scheme is affected, the planning and local authorities approve it.

The Registrar must not register a unit plan unless it meets specified form and content requirements.

A unit plan must be accompanied by specified certificates, and the local authority may refuse or must issue a certificate depending on the building’s compliance and when the permit was issued.

This section says unit boundaries are generally defined by floors, walls, or ceilings, and special rules apply for load-bearing walls and for doors and windows.

An owner, or someone acting for the owner, must not sell premises covered by this section until the relevant unit plan is registered.

An association must give the rating authority two Registrar-certified copies of a unit plan within 28 days after the plan or an amendment is registered.

The association of co-owners’ by-laws must cover use and upkeep of private and common areas, co-ownership administration, dispute settlement, and how common expenses are assessed and collected.

Co-owners may use and transfer their units, take part in the association, and have certain compensation rights, but they must follow the by-laws, pay maintenance-related costs, and not interfere with authorized or urgent conservation work.

Owners of common property and units in a registered unit plan have easement-like rights for support, services, access, and light.

After a unit plan is registered, each unit gets implied easements for support, shelter, and listed services; utility-service owners may also benefit from easements needed for their services.

Ancillary rights and obligations tied to easements can operate without memorial notification, and the owner of a dominant tenement may enter the servient tenement to replace, renew, or restore things the dominant tenement benefits from.

An association may grant a lease allowing an owner exclusive use of part of the common property, if the by-laws allow it.

An association may accept a grant of easement or a restrictive covenant for the common property if it does so by special resolution.

An association may accept an easement or restrictive covenant over common property by special resolution, and must execute the instrument if the required written consents are given; the Registrar must not register it without the resolution and consent copies.

The owner of a unit is liable for an interest entered on the unit plan, based on the unit factor for that unit.

Each unit of the property is treated as a separate real-property object and the owner may dispose of it, in whole or in part, subject to the Land Act rules on land dispositions.

A developer must give the purchaser specified documents and charge details before selling a unit; the purchaser may rescind within 10 days unless those documents were delivered at least 10 days before signing.

Before selling units, a non-developer co-owner must give the buyer specified association documents and fee information. The association must supply those documents within 10 days of request, and a unit purchaser is only liable for amounts shown in the sale certificate plus common expenses due at acquisition.

An association may require a deposit from an owner who rents out a unit, and the owner must give written notice when a tenant moves in or out.

A disposition by way of inheritance is subject to the Land Registration Act.

A unit owner has the right to mortgage the unit, subject to the Land Act.

The association may make agreements with mortgagees about notices, consent, approvals, financial statements, and other agreed matters.

This section sets out how an association for unit properties may be formed, and when owners must register by-laws with the Registrar.

An association must have perpetual succession, a common seal, and the capacity to sue and be sued in its association name.

A developer must give the association specified property documents free of charge within six months after the unit plan is registered, and must provide requested documents within 21 days if they are in the developer’s possession.

If a unit has two or more owners, they must appoint a representative by written notice to the association.

If a company owns or co-owns a unit, it must appoint a representative for the Act and notify the association in writing.

The association must manage and maintain the common property, fund and insure it, comply with notices and orders, and the Committee carries out the association’s functions.

An association may invest funds it does not immediately need, if it follows its by-laws.

An association may transfer, lease, or grant easements over common property only with a special resolution, and the Registrar cannot register the transfer or lease without the required certificate.

A transfer of part of the common property must include a revised unit plan, and the Registrar must not register the transfer if the unit has an existing registered charge, lease, or sublease until written consent and notices are provided.

Voting rights for a unit owner are set by the unit factor, and a chargee who has given notice can be informed of meetings and may vote personally or by proxy.

If an owner cannot control their property, a guardian or legal representative may vote for them, and the court must appoint a legal representative when no one is able, willing, or available to vote for a unit.

If a developer registers a unit plan, the developer must convene a meeting of the association, and a committee must be elected at that meeting.

An association must have a management committee elected under its by-laws and must file a notice at the Land Registry within 15 days when committee membership changes.

The Committee must convene the owners’ annual general meeting each year, including the first meeting within three months after the Committee is elected.

The Committee must appoint a managing agent within 28 days after its election, and must appoint a new one within 20 days if the current managing agent relinquishes the appointment.

The association must make by-laws for managing units and property, and changes to those by-laws do not take effect until registered by the Registrar.

An association must keep a register and record specified information about each unit and certain related persons; it may also keep the register electronically.

A unit owner must notify the association in writing within 14 days after certain events happen; other persons may also give written notice of specified events.

An association must let an eligible person inspect and copy certain association register information within 14 days after a request is received.

An association must, on request by an eligible person, let the person inspect and copy certain documents and must provide the current executive members’ full names and addresses within 14 days, free of charge.

An association may serve documents on an owner of a unit using the listed methods.

An association may change its address for service if the Committee resolves to do so, but the change does not take effect until a notice is filed with the Registrar in the prescribed form.

An association may borrow needed amounts and secure repayment and interest if it is authorised by a special resolution.

An association must set up a general administration fund, may create other funds by special resolution, and must approve annual budgets for the funds by special resolution.

An association may set general-fund contributions and must notify each unit owner of the determination and the payment details.

An association must set up and maintain a sinking fund, unless it has only two or three units and passes a resolution not to do so.

An association must deposit money into its sinking fund each financial year, based on 5% of the general funds budget expenditure, and it may change that percentage by special resolution at its annual general meeting.

An association may set a discount for early payment, and overdue amounts bear simple interest unless a special resolution says otherwise.

If an amount owed to the association is not paid when due, the association may recover it as a debt, plus interest. If the unit changes hands after the amount becomes due, the earlier owner and later owners are liable for it.

If a unit has two or more owners and the association can recover an amount from them, the owners are liable for payment separately and together, with each owner liable in proportion to their interest.

The association may take a habitual by-laws breaching case to court, and the court may impose a fine set by regulations.

A person who breaches any provision of the Act commits an offence and, on conviction, may be fined up to five million shillings or imprisoned for up to two years.

Disputes under this Act are to be determined under this Part, despite contrary provisions in the Land Act on land dispute resolution or litigation.

The association may sue or be sued about matters connected to its common property, common assets, by-laws, or its own acts or omissions.

Disputes among association members about association matters must first be taken to the association for mediation.

After mediation fails, the aggrieved party may file a case in the High Court or the District Land and Housing Tribunal.

Certain people may ask the court to appoint an administrator for a unit association, and the court may make that appointment and related orders.

An association may apply to court to end a building’s or land’s unit status, and the court may make the order and set conditions if it is just and equitable.

If the unit status of a building or land ends under section 72, the association must be dissolved.

After unit status ends under section 73, an owner or mortgage interest holder may apply to court for an order on how to dispose of the association’s assets.

When unit status ends, the association must notify the Registrar and apply to register the relevant interest; the Registrar must then cancel the unit records and issue common-property titles, and the unit owners become entitled to the common property as tenants in common once an interest is registered.

An association may transfer common property, or part of it, when a building or land’s unit status is being terminated, if approved by special resolution.

Before a section 76 transfer, the Registrar may require a new or amended unit plan to be submitted and approved if necessary.

A transfer under section 76 cannot be registered unless it comes with the required certificate and the notice-based interest has already been registered; the Registrar must then take steps to give effect to the transfer.

The court may order an association wound up, and may also declare it dissolved.

For rate assessment, each unit and common property is treated as a separate entity, and the unit owner and the association are liable for rates, charges, or tax levied by the relevant authority for their property or common property.

The association must obtain and maintain insurance for the unit and common property, with specified cover and limits.

The Minister may make regulations about procedures for transforming existing houses into unit titles.

The Minister may make regulations on listed matters under this Act, and may also issue tax incentives to developers by order after consulting the Minister responsible for finance.