Land transaction fees too high, says new survey

A new survey has recommended that the government eliminates exorbitant fixed fees in registration of land transactions and peg them on the size or value of the land in question as well as the owner’s income. The findings and recommendations from the research on access to land tenure administration system in the country and its impacts on ordinary citizens, carried out by INES Ruhengeri, were presented to Rwanda Natural Resources Authority and other stakeholders on Thursday. Mireille Biraro, a land expert from INES-Ruhengeri, said the survey was conducted in nearly 2,000 households in 23 districts since November last year. It measured the extent to which citizens were aware of the system, its affordability and the benefit of possessing land titles. The study shows that transactions fees are fixed at Rwf27,000 without considering owners’ income or size and value of the property. Figures show that about 65 per cent of the population earn less than Rwf50,000 per month, meaning it could be a burden to most. Respondents also reported additional burdens of registering land such as transportation, cost of bringing witnesses, which is worsened by not having decentralised land services. The longest distances were found in all provinces (apart from Kigali) with people walking an average of two to three hours to district land offices. Dr Emmanuel Nkurunziza, the director-general of the Natural Resources Authority, said the research findings were important inputs in policy formulation and implementation. “Our land system is still developing, so research is a complementary aspect. We have to discuss the recommendations and suggest the way forward”, he said. “We have started discussions on how to act on high land transaction fees. The move is aimed at decentralising land services at the sector level by availing well trained sector land managers who will soon be given equipment (land surveying tablets) to carry out land subdivision without citizens going to district offices,” he said.

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Land transaction fees too high, says new survey