Timothy Anyidoho, the Greater Accra Regional Lands Officer-Lands Commission, has urged current and future landowners to make sure the information submitted to the Commission during their application for a land title is valid since doing so will hasten the process.
He claims that despite the fact that many people complain about the Commission’s bad customer service, they are unable to access crucial information that would enable them to finish the procedure in a certain amount of time.
“If we are working on a document and find out that there is a mistake, we have to write to your email or post, or further call. Assuming you use a third party and we try reaching out yet do not get in touch, then it means the document must be on hold till we get in contact with the right person before we can continue. This can affect the regular 90 days that the process is expected to last. So, give us the right information so that we can get back to you,” he said
Speaking on the topic ‘The Processes of Acquiring Land Title’ on the HomeOwners show, he advised individuals to avoid rushing to buy lands but rather take time to make a thorough search to arrive at a final point where necessary requirements are met before proceeding to make any payments – so as to avoid future litigation.
“More often than not, when people want to acquire property they are hasty to transact business with dealers before they want to approach the Lands Commission. For you to show interest in any land, the first thing to ask for is a site-plan. That will indicate at which part of the earth the land can be located, then you visit any of the Land Commission’s offices to make a search. That search is very critical, because it will decide whether you continue to make a deal on the land or not.
“Unfortunately for some people, the search is done after the contract has been concluded and money has been paid; that is when they come to register. In registration, that is when they get to know that the land does not belong to the said person or belongs to government,” he said.
He advised that potential land owners must adopt the habit of visiting lands about to be sold them to get first-hand information that might not be in the public records. This, he says, can save them from being defrauded by people who pose as landowners.
“Always visit the land more than once. The first time will have to do with the landowner, and you are not likely to be informed whether the land has been sold to someone else or it belongs to a different person, or there is a potential litigation until you visit the land alone. Then, people around are likely to give you information that may not be in the records,” he advised.