Direct Land Registration: How to Get Your Land Title

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about land titles. Many people tell me, "My land isn't titled," or "I bought a piece of land that isn't titled; how do I register it or put it in my name?"

In reality, when a piece of land is not titled, two procedures are available to you:

1. Direct Registration (Immatriculation directe).
2. Indirect Registration (also known as the procedure of "provisional concession" followed by "definitive concession").

In this post, I will detail the Direct Registration process. I will cover indirect registration in another post. However, there is a key condition for Direct Registration: the land must have been occupied or developed before 1974-1975 (at the time of this post). This means that in 2026, the person would generally need to be at least 51 years old to justify such occupation in their own name for this specific procedure.

The Direct Registration Process

Filing the Application: Go to the D.O (Divisional Officer or Sous-préfecture). You will need to write an application and include a legalized photocopy of your National ID Card. Once you pay the filing fees, you will be issued a receipt.

Referral to Land Services: After receiving your receipt, the D.O transmits the file to the Departmental Service of Land Affairs. In collaboration with the D.O's office they will schedule a date for a site visit and inform you.

The Commission’s Site Visit: You are responsible for organizing the logistics for the commission's visit to the land. Once there, the commission will:

1. Verify the boundary markers: Confirm the "mise en valeur" (development or occupation of the land).
2. Sign all the necessary administrative documents.

Compiling the Files: Once the visit is over, two distinct files are created:

1. The Technical File: Handled by the Surveyors.
2. The Administrative File: Handled by the Divisional Delegation of Land Tenure.

Regional Review and Publication: These two files are gathered by the Divisional Delegate and sent to the Regional Service of Land Tenure. They will conduct a compliance check. If everything is in order, your file is pushed to the Ministry of Land Tenure.

Final Registration: Once published, you will be notified. You then take a copy to the public registry. The Delegate registers it and transmits it to the Land Registry: (Conservation Foncière).

Issuance of the Title: The Land Registry establishes your land title and contacts you to collect it.

Well the procedure sounds straightforward but can also not be very direct. This is just to give you an idea of what it takes so you can approach a lawyer or any handler with more than 'mon patron'.

According to the regulations, the process should take approximately six months.

I have provided a general overview here, but if you need more specific details or approximate costs for each step of the process, reach out to someone from those ministry or regional delegations for cost estimations too.

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