Customary Land in Uganda Archives

Customary Land in Uganda – Everything you need to Know!

What is Customary Land?

Customary land tenure refers to the system of land ownership and management that is based on traditional cultural practices and customs in a particular community. In Uganda, customary land tenure is the most prevalent form of land ownership outside Buganda, covering more than 85% of the country’s land area.

There are different forms in which customary land tenure exists in different parts of Uganda. In some places, the land is held communally, in some it belongs to a particular clan while in others, it is held by individuals.

The rules of customary law also vary in different parts of the country. The Land Act 1998 states that customary land tenure shall be governed by rules generally accepted as binding by the particular community, and anyone who acquires land in that community shall also be bound by the same rules.

Advantages of Customary Land Tenure in Uganda:

Social security: Customary land tenure provides social security to communities, as it gives individuals and families a sense of belonging and stability. This helps to ensure that people have access to the resources they need to survive and thrive, such as land for agriculture and housing.
Flexibility: The customary land tenure system is highly flexible, allowing individuals to easily access land for different purposes, such as agriculture, forestry, and housing. It also allows for the transfer of land ownership through inheritance or sale, which can be done quickly and efficiently.
Inclusiveness: Customary land tenure is an inclusive system, as it allows for the participation of both men and women in land-related decisions. This promotes gender equality and helps to ensure that both men and women have access to the resources they need to live productive lives.
Sustainability: The customary land tenure system is also sustainable, as it is based on the principles of intergenerational equity and the responsible use of resources. This helps to ensure that the land is managed in a way that benefits future generations, while also protecting the environment.

Disadvantages of Customary Land Tenure in Uganda:

Lack of formal recognition: Despite its prevalence, customary land tenure is often not formally recognized by the government, which can lead to difficulties in accessing land-related services and benefits. This can also lead to disputes over land ownership and usage, as there is no clear and official record of land ownership.
Insecurity of tenure: Customary land tenure is often based on informal agreements and unwritten rules, which can make it difficult to enforce land rights. This can result in land grabbing and the displacement of communities, as well as making it difficult for individuals and communities to access land-related services and benefits.
Limited access to credit: The informal nature of customary land tenure can also limit access to credit, as individuals and communities may not have the documentation required to secure loans. This can make it difficult for communities to invest in agriculture, forestry, and other land-related activities.

Obtaining a private certificate of title is possible for individuals, whereby they have to agree with the community that owns the land (the clan or tribal chiefs), then the Sub-county and government land boards take up the process of issuing the title.

To convert customary land to freehold in Uganda, you’ll need to take the following steps:

Obtain a certificate of occupancy from the Commissioner of Lands, which is a government-issued document that confirms ownership of the land.
Get the land surveyed and have a plan prepared by a registered surveyor.
File an application for leasehold conversion to the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development.
Pay the conversion fee, which is calculated based on the size and location of the land.
Wait for the conversion to be approved, which usually takes several months.
Obtain a leasehold certificate of title, which serves as proof of ownership for the converted land.

Note: These steps may vary and it is best to seek the assistance of a legal professional to ensure a smooth conversion process.

In conclusion, the customary land tenure system in Uganda has both advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, it provides social security, flexibility, inclusiveness, and sustainability, while on the other hand, it also faces challenges such as lack of formal recognition, insecurity of tenure, limited access to credit, and lack of transparency. To address these challenges, it is important for the government to formally recognize customary land tenure and provide the necessary support and services to communities, such as access to credit and dispute resolution mechanisms. This will help to ensure that the benefits of customary land tenure are enjoyed by all, while also ensuring that land resources are managed responsibly and sustainably.

At LUBA Properties Ltd, we only sell private mailo land. If you have any land-related questions, talk to us: 0773259007 or 0757444666

Nov 10 5 Comments

What is Kabaka’s Land and how it differs from Private Mailo Land

Categories:Education,Land

What is “Kabaka’s Land”?

During the 1900 Buganda Agreement, all land in Buganda was divided into two; crown land, which was under the control of the colonial government, and mailo land.

This mailo land was also divided into two; Official mailo and private mailo.

Official mailo includes the land given to the Kabaka (350 square miles) and the ssaza chiefs who got eight square miles, among others.

The 350 square miles is the land that is currently managed by the Buganda Land Board. This land is predominately found in suburbs such as Nansana, Munyonyo, Buziga, Konge, Kigo, Maganjo, Kagoma, and Ganda, among others.

One cannot buy and own the “Kabaka’s land”. The reason why they only give leases on this land. The difference between “kabaka’s land” and private mailo is that a buyer is only given a leasehold title for Kabaka’s land while for private mailo one can get either a leasehold title or an outright transfer.

The Difference Between Private Mailo Land and Kabaka’s Land

Private Mailo; Private Mailo is the land parcelled out to individuals in the sense that it was their property. “People such as Kabaka Daudi Chwa, his mother, the Muhamedian prince, who was Mbogo, and the mother of Mwanga, were given land as individuals.

They could deal with this land as they deemed fit; they could transfer it, or if one got a financial problem or any other, they could sell it.

Between 1900 and 1908, roughly 1,300 Baganda individuals and institutions, including churches, were given the Private Mailo. Private owners own their property in perpetuity (forever) and can sell or pass their rights on to their heirs.

Official Mailo; the Kabaka owns this land because of his position. The sale of Kabaka’s land is not permitted because it benefits the Kabaka’s office, Katikkiro, Ssaza, and Gombolola Chiefs. In distinction, with Private Mailo, one can get either a leasehold title or an outright transfer.

The other difference is that one has to pay the premium and annual ground rent for Kabaka’s land. In contrast with the Private Mailo, you only pay for the premium.

The official premium is 10% of the land’s capital value, while ground rent is 1% of the premium. Let’s say “If a plot, say in Buziga, costs USh 40 million, that is its capital value. The premium is 10 per cent, which translates into USh 4 million, while the ground rent is one per cent of USh 4 million which is USh 400, 000. For that plot in Buziga one pays premium once, and annual ground rent over the 49 years.”

When the lease expires, the land returns to Kabaka’s ownership. The Kabaka’s office determines whether to extend the lease. But it is the policy of Buganda Land Board that once a lease expires, we renew it and give it to the sitting tenant.”

All land sold at LUBA Properties Limited is Private Mailo Land. Talk to us on 0773259007 or 0757444666 for more information.

Oct 21 No Comments

Understanding Customary Land Tenure in Uganda

Categories:Education,Land

CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN UGANDA
Customary land owned by community members, consent of the community members is required for any land transaction while for land owned by a family, consent of the spouse and children must be obtained.

Customary land can also be converted to freehold land where the owners wish to change it. (Section 9 of the Land Act)
Under customary systems, the land is owned and disposed of under customary regulations. The land can be owned by an individual, a family, or a community, and is the most dominant system in Uganda. Under this tenure, proper records are not kept which makes it difficult to purchase land and resolve land-related conflicts. The inherent insecurity leads to mismanagement and degradation, as little personal interest in the land exists.

Types of Customary Land

1. Customary communal land; where persons or communities share ownership or use of land for a common purpose. A particular group of people in a particular area for purposes like grazing, water source, and firewood collection, wild fruits and vegetables, fishing, harvesting honey, and white ants, cutting papyrus, etc, communally owns the land. In most cases, the rights to access this land are inherited.

2. Customary family land; is where the head of the family or clan may be said to ‘own’ the land. Its utilization is usually controlled by the family head, elders, clan heads, or a group in its well-defined administrative structures. The family heads are responsible for protecting the land and ensuring that every family member gets the right to use some part of the land. Family land is inherited within the family. The management of the land is passed down from parents to children and their family members but kept within the family.

3. Individual customary land; is where an individual is said to ‘own’ land because the land was allocated to them, to use or own permanently, or they inherited the land or purchased the customary land as an individual. This will include the right to allocate potions of the land to the next generation.

Customary land is very different from Kabaka’s land or official mailo.

What is “Kabaka’s Land”?

During the 1900 Buganda Agreement, all land in Buganda was divided into two; crown land, which was under the control of the colonial government, and mailo land.

This mailo land was also divided into two; Official mailo and private mailo.

Official mailo includes the land given to the Kabaka (350 square miles) and the ssaza chiefs who got eight square miles, among others.

One cannot buy and own the “Kabaka’s land”. The reason why they only give leases on this land. The difference between “kabaka’s land” and private mailo is that a buyer is only given a leasehold title for the Kabaka’s land while for private mailo one can get either a leasehold title or an outright transfer.

Buying land is easy more so if you have the money at hand. But always be mindful of the type of tenure of the land in question.

At Luba Properties, all the land we sell is private mailo which means the land is titled and can be owned forever and can be passed on to the next generation. Give us a call on 0773259007/ 0757444666 or email us at info@lubaproperties.ug

Sep 06 12 Comments

The Different Types of Land ownership in Uganda

Categories:Land

To fully comprehend land ownership in Uganda, one has to first go back to the 1900 Buganda Agreement when the British appropriated land for different purposes, and from these appropriations comes today’s land tenures or forms of ownership.

The 1900 Buganda Agreement divided into Crown land, Kabaka’s land (Official mailo), land to chiefs (Private Mailo), and more.

Currently, we have 4 modes of land ownership or tenure in Uganda namely;

Mailo Land
Freehold land
Leasehold
Customary land

When acquiring land in Uganda, one has to carry out due diligence and understand the different modes of land ownership. This article is to help you understand exactly that;

1. Mailo Land

This type of tenure is predominantly in Buganda, with some minimal parts of Ankole, Bunyoro and Tooro sub-regions having it. Mailo tenure is one where permanent ownership of a large plot of land belongs to landlords who acquired it through the 1900 Buganda agreement, while at the same time tenants on the land are recognized and they also have rights to live on and utilize the land.
Owners have perpetual ownership and are free to sell or pass on their rights to their heirs. On the side of selling, many mailo holders have since 1900 sold off their holdings, to such an extent that the Ministry of Lands puts the number of owners to have risen to more than 300,000 today courtesy of so many having inherited or bought parts of what was previously one piece of land, thereby causing its subdivision.

On the side of the constitution, it states that mailo landowners are not allowed to use their powers against the interests of customary tenants, bona fide, or lawful occupants.
This provision was introduced in 1998 and revised further in 2010 with the aim of inhibiting the possible eviction by landlords of people occupying mailo land as customary tenants or squatters.
It is important to note that there are no more new titles issued for land under Mailo tenure because all titles were issued prior to 1928.
Today what happens is an only further subdivision of the existing titles which were issued prior to 1928, as well as changing the names on the titles in cases where ownership is being transferred. Under the process of subdivision and transfer of ownership, the applicant and the transferring landowner both fill application forms with the zonal office of the ministry of lands in their area, then wait for the zonal office to complete the rest of the process.

2. Freehold Tenure

The Land Act 1998 defines freehold tenure as a tenure that bestows upon someone ownership of registered land in eternity –which means “owning the land forever,” this type of tenure was set up by the 1900 agreement between Buganda and the British colonial government.
Most owners of land under this tenure acquired it as grants from the colonial government before independence and from the Uganda Lands Commission after independence –with only a few having bought it mostly from the government.
The Land Act specifies that the holder of land in freehold has the full power of ownership, which means they can use it for any lawful purpose and sell, rent, lease, dispose of it by will.
The act also decrees that only citizens of Uganda are entitled to own land under freehold tenure, with non-citizens allowed only the alternative of leasing it for a period of up to 99 years.
About obtaining certificates of title under this tenure is pursued directly through the government authorities where the Sub-county land office, the district land office, and the zonal office of the Ministry of Lands are all involved.

3. Leasehold

The 1998 Constitution describes leasehold tenure as one where one party grants to another the right to exclusive possession of land for a specified period, usually in exchange for the payment of rent. Under this type, a landowner (whether through freehold, Mailo, or customary tenure) grants a lease to another person.
In practice, much of the land that is leased was previously owned by government bodies, particularly the Land Commission and the District Land Board, and normally this comes with some development conditions imposed on the land’s subsequent use by those to whom it is leased.

4. Customary Tenure

With the exception of Buganda which is mainly held under Mailo, land in other parts of Uganda is held mostly under the customary tenure. He says the Land Act of the Constitution describes this tenure as one where land is owned communally, by a clan, or a tribe, among others. There are different forms in which customary land tenure exists in different parts of Uganda. “In some places, the land is held communally, in some it belongs to a particular clan while in others, it is held by individuals.
The rules of customary law also vary in different parts of the country. The Land Act 1998 states that customary land tenure shall be governed by rules generally accepted as binding by the particular community, and anyone who acquires land in that community shall also be bound by the same rules.”
He adds that with customary tenure, obtaining of a private certificate of title is possible for individuals, whereby they simply have to agree with the community that owns the land (the clan or tribal chiefs), then the Sub-county and government land boards take up the process of issuing the title. The constitution also provides for the conversion of individual or communal tenure into one on freehold, and leasehold can also be issued by owners to tenants under this tenure.

Conclusion

It is, therefore, our advice that before you purchase a plot of land, you should know what type of tenure (the type of ownership or system) the land is under as well as the implications.

Learn more about the land in Uganda here: Land Resources

Our Blog

Tag: <span>Customary Land in Uganda</span>

Customary Land in Uganda – Everything you need to Know!

What is Kabaka’s Land and how it differs from Private Mailo Land

Understanding Customary Land Tenure in Uganda

The Different Types of Land ownership in Uganda

1. Mailo Land

2. Freehold Tenure

3. Leasehold

4. Customary Tenure

Conclusion

Contact Info

Custom_html

WANT TO TALK?

+256 773 259007

Most Recent

Our Blog