The government on Friday, January 6, launched the electronic certificate system for land registration which officials said seeks to replace hard copies or physical land deeds offered to citizens with electronic titles, as the country targets to fully digitise transactions.

With the development, they observed, Rwandans are set to start accessing land titles online, a move expected to reduce the cost and time needed to get such a service, but also, through the security brought about by the technology-based system, which will address fraud that has marred land transactions.

As the e-title feature is now fully implemented and deployed, the authority said transactions that do not need to be processed by land notaries will fully be online, on Irembo – the Government’s online one-stop service portal.

It is expected that within three months, the system will have been integrated with Irembo, such that the electronic land titles could be accessed through this online Government service portal.

Meanwhile, Esperance Mukamana, Director General, National Land Authority, said that residents will start applying for the electronic land titles beginning Monday, January 9, through the Authority’s website.

The process to access the e-land title

Once the service is available on Irembo, a citizen will apply for the land deed through it, and the application will be sent into the Land Administration Information System (LAIS).

Then, the registrar of land titles will assess it.

The National Land Authority (NLA) indicated that after the application is approved by the registrar, the land owner will get a notification with a link to be used to download and save the digital copy of his or her land title (on devices such as a phone or computer).

To be allowed to download the digital document, the applicant has to enter their plot Unique Parcel Identifier (UPI) number they got while registering their land, ID card and phone number to make sure that they are the right owner of the land in question, officials indicated.

Before integrating the service in Irembo, one can get it through the National Land Authority’s website.

After accessing the website, they click on Land Information Inquiry Portal, where they are requested to register for an account in the portal.

Once they have an account, they log in using an email and an ID card number they used while registering, and a password, said Athanase Akumuntu, a business analyst at the Ministry of Environment.

Akumuntu said that after logging in, you have to enter your plot UPI number.

Then, a space appears where the applicant has to fill in their ID card number.

When the number entered corresponds to that in the land registry, the brief about the information about the plot appears, Akumuntu explained. This includes the name of the land owner, size and location of the plot.

At this point, the land owner is requested to enter their telephone number, to which they are sent a code that they put in the system to be allowed access to the land title.

Now, the land owner can download the electronic title. It is in three official languages in Rwanda, namely Kinyarwanda, English and French, and one has to choose whichever they like.

Meanwhile, the National Land Authority clarified that the land titles in form of hard copies that were issued before the new system, remain valid as long as the information they contain matches that in the land registry.