Uganda proposes steep land title fee increases, lost certificate to cost Shs200,000

Landowners in Uganda seeking replacement certificates for lost land titles could pay Shs200,000, up from Shs15,000, under proposed new registration fees by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

The proposal would also raise the fee for registering a certificate of title from Shs10,000 to Shs50,000, with the same charge applying to searches confirming ownership details in the land register. The changes would affect owners of freehold, leasehold and private Mailo land, and are subject to approval by the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet.

Ministry spokesperson Dennis Obbo said the review was prompted by rising operating costs and the long interval since the previous tariff revision. He said consultations on the fees began in 2015 and that stakeholders could still submit concerns and suggestions before the final rates are adopted.

Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba said the registration fees had been too old and the government needed to raise revenue. “If you look at the increment, it’s manageable because we were simply adding a small fraction to the already existing fees,” she said.

Speaking at the fourth Women’s Land Rights Conference, James Galabuzi Mukasa, chairman of the Uganda Land Owners Association, said the new charges would affect land transactions and promote fraud by pushing poor people out of the system. Land lawyer Yusuf Nsibambi said the proposals would hurt the real estate business because the mark-up is based on tax collection rather than the economics of the transactions. Frances Birungi of the Uganda Community Based Association for Women and Children Welfare said women were willing to pay for the services, but that the problem was not having them.

The ministry says it has streamlined land title processing steps to reduce the time required to issue titles from up to four months to 10 days, aiming to cut costs and reduce corruption.