Residents who could not get their plots of land registered in a centralised system due to a prohibitive fee received the service for free after the government waived the charge, according to the Director General of National Land Authority (NLA), Grace Nishimwe.

She noted this while appearing before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on May 7 to provide explanations for issues exposed by the Auditor General of State Finances for the fiscal year 2022/2023.

The development, she said, was mainly observed since December 2023 after the government waived fees on land ownership transfer by sale for plots with a value of up to Rwf5 million, and land ownership transfer for any plot regardless of the value in case of a donation or succession. The fee waiver followed concerns from the general public on a flat fee of Rwf30,000 that was charged on a land transfer, regardless of the value, size, and location of a plot of land. Lawmakers subsequently urged for a review of the fee.

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"There are residents who had not registered their land because they complained that the fee that was charged on the service was high for them. After the fee was removed, we carried out an awareness campaign and they registered 324,000 land parcels in all districts, between December 2023 and now,” Nishimwe said.

On the implication of the free land registration and transfer, she observed that "it means a lot because after the change, land service seekers increased threefold.”

"There are many people who used to buy land but did not proceed to make ownership transfer because the transaction fee was high for them,” she said, referring to plots in rural areas that have a relatively very small value. "Now, a person who buys land, directly registers it because there is no price charged on that.”

"This ensures land security for residents, and enables us to have accurate information in the land registry,” she said, indicating that, for instance, a person who was keeping a land title for, say, three years, yet it was still registered in the name of the seller, did not have ownership guarantee, "and we also did not know the true land owner.”

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Meanwhile, regarding land transfer by sale, the law of September 2023, determining the sources of revenue and property of decentralised entities provides that while a plot bought at a price not exceeding Rwf5 million is not taxed, that bought at more than Rwf5 million pays a tax equivalent to 2 per cent of its value, if the seller is a taxpayer registered for income tax; and 2.5 per cent, if the seller is not registered for income tax.