A total of 86 private notaries have been selected to join their public counterparts in overseeing land transactions in the country, a move aimed at making the services more available to the citizens.

Last month, the Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority (RLMUA) announced that private notaries would be allowed to render these services, and since then it has been receiving applications from those interested in the work.

In an interview with The New Times on Wednesday, March 23, Esperance Mukamana, the Director General of RLMUA said many people requested for the authorisation.

However, only 86 met the requirements and have been given training in various things, including the law governing land in Rwanda and technical aspects for handling land transactions, before they are commissioned to start the work by early next month.

"They have come to complement the government in rendering land services. What we require from them is offering good and fast services to the citizens. We also ask them to be people of integrity,” Mukamana said. "They should also be smart and vigilant…because land services are a target for fraudsters who use fake documents or try to sell pieces of property that don’t belong to them.” 

The signature of a notary is very valuable, she added.

"So, they should make sure that they sign after scrutinising the documents very well so that they don’t fall into the trap of scammers.”

Mukamana noted that RLMUA will take in more applications from private notaries in the future.

"More notaries are needed. We have many districts, and all of them need private notaries to complement the public ones who operate at sector level,” she said.

In the past, land transaction services were exclusively handled by public notaries, but after citizens’ complaints about how slow the process was, the government decided to allow private notaries to work alongside public ones.

In a February 2022 interview, Mukamana told The New Times about the challenges that have been affecting the land transaction processes.

For example, she said, the number of transactions were so high, overwhelming the notaries. 

"In addition, there were some places where the notaries were not working, or had been given extra responsibilities, and this also affected how they would deliver services,” she added.

She noted that when the new system goes into implementation, the transaction processes will be cut to "one or two days” from the current situation where they take up to three weeks.

"With the new system, a citizen in need of land transaction services will easily go see a private notary and work on the process there and then, as opposed to having to wait for two to three weeks, as it has been. Now they will be able to get the service in a day or two,” Mukamana said.

What services will they be providing?

Among the services they will be competent to render include certification of wills involving movable property or documents that nullify them.

In addition to this, they will also be in position to carry out the certification and authentication of agreements relating to transfer of land and other immovable property fixed on land through succession, donation, bequest, inheritance, leasing, sale, land leasing, compensation, right of way, provision of a guarantee for the benefit of a third party.

RLMUA will also allow them to certify the authentication of contracts relating to condominium agreements, among other documents related to property transactions as stipulated by the law.