Liberia - Purchase a property

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Procedure

In Liberia there are four kinds of land tenure namely; Government Land, Public Land, Customary Land and Private land. All these four categories of land can be acquired through leasehold (Leases ordinarily run for 25-50 years, but exceptions are permitted under the law) or purchasing permanently in accordance with the law and regulations of Liberia.
A person who wishes to purchase a property in Liberia should:

1. Identify the property and the legitimate owner either personally or through an agent/Lawyer. Note: Be very careful when choosing an agent or lawyer as some conmen purport to be lawyers or agents.
2. If buyer and the owner agree on the purchase price, a note of sell is published in local newspapers and posted in conspicuous place in the community where the land is located for a period of fifteen days. This notice period is given to allow any claims to be brought forth disputing the sale of the land.
3. After the end of the posted notice period and there are no claims, you can proceed by hiring a surveyor to conduct a survey on the property.
   1. A surveyor can be hired from the offices of Liberia land Authority or visit their officialWebsite
   2. Cost for Notice of Survey and Conducting Survey is US$50
4. The survey is done by the surveyor with the buyer in presence of a witness and any other person who may wish to be around.
5. When the process of surveying property is completed, a lawyer should now be contracted to start official transfer of property. In this case the lawyer is given the property deed prepared by the surveyor, who then visits the registry of property to check status and ownership of property. (For surveys payments check under fees below.)
6. Obtain a copy of the title from the seller and Conduct a title search to ascertain the legitimacy of the property by visiting the offices of Centre for National Documents and Record Agency (CNDRA)or through their official website:Website.The application form of the title process can be downloaded through the following Link: Form
7. Here, the lawyer obtains and completes an application for search for Deeds/Titles document and submits it to the Center for National Documents & Records / National Archives (CNDRA)
8. The search for ownership is done manually by checking the ledgers and will take the Center for National Documents & Records / National Archives (CNDRA) about a week to complete the search (in cases where a file is not found, the Center for National Documents & Records / National Archives (CNDRA) contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
9. After the search, the lawyer proceeds to the Bureau of Internal revenue under the Ministry of Finance to check for any outstanding taxes against property.
10. At the Bureau, if all taxes are cleared, the Real Estate Tax division issues an official Tax Receipt showing that all payable property taxes are cleared
11. Thereafter a deed form should be signed in presence of the lawyer. At this stage, both parties (seller and buyer) should sign the deed.
12. After signing deed, the lawyer takes it to the Probate Court to request for transfer of property. When request is received:
    1. They publish a notice of the transaction for 4 business days
    2. If there are no objections at end of the fourth day, the deed is sealed with a seal of approval
    3. On the fifth day, the lawyer then pick the sealed deed
13. After the deed has been sealed, property can now be registered at the registry:
    1. The buyer obtain a Registration Form for Deeds and Titles Documents which he / she completes carefully.
    2. Also a Bill Form is also issued and the buyer is expected to make payment at the Ministry of Finance and thereafter property is registered
14. Thereafter, seller goes to the Bureau of Internal Revenues to change the owners name on the property.
15. At this stage, the seller must endeavor to change name such that all responsibility is transferred to the new owner.

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Required Documents

• Identification documents for both seller and buyer
• Proof of nationality of buyer
• Payment receipts
• Notice to the public

Office Locations & Contacts

Centre for National Documents & Records / National Archives (CNDRA)
12th Street, Sinkor, Monrovia, Liberia
P.O.BOX 9046, 1000 Monrovia 10 Liberia
Email: [email protected] Website:Refer

Liberia Land Authority
Address:
Clay Building,
Sekou Toure Avenue, Mamba Point,
Monrovia, Liberia
Phone:
+231 775275328

For request for Information on LLA, including services offered:

Call the Customer Service Section of the LLA at the Annex of the Coupons of the Center for National Documents and Records Agency (CNDRA), located on 12th Street, Sinkor Monrovia Liberia or call the following telephone numbers:
+231 775 275328
+231 777 789639
+231 886 528712
+231 881 568661

Website:Refer Link

Bureau of Internal Revenue (Real Estate Tax Division)
Ministry 222of Finance Department of Revenue
Broad & Mechlin Sts Monrovia, Liberia
Telephone: 026-202-543
Website: https://www.mfdp.gov.lr/

Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy
Buzzy Quarter, Capitol Hill
Monrovia, Liberia

Ministry of Finance
Broad Street, Monrovia,
Telephone: +231 6243490
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.mfdp.gov.lr/

Eligibility

For private lands tenure:

• In keeping with the provisions of the Constitution of Liberia, ownership of land shall be limited to Liberian citizens, non-citizen missionary, educational and other benevolent institutions.
• A sole proprietorship or a partnership organized under Liberian law and the ownership of which is entirely Liberian shall be eligible to acquire ownership of, and hold title to, land in Liberia.

Fees

The fees are as below:-

• Transfer Deed Form: US$4
• Notice of Survey and Conducting Survey: US$50
• Fees to a lawyer: 10% - 15% of property value
• Search for ownership and status of property: US$4
• Checking for any outstanding taxes: no fee
• Signing Deed: no fee
• Sealing Deed at the Probate Court: no fee
• Registration at the Registry: US$15

Validity

• An owner of Private Land may lose their ownership right in favour of the Government if the Government exercises eminent domain (i.e. forced acquisition) in a manner consistent with this Policy.
• In accordance with the Constitution, a non-citizen missionary, educational, or other benevolent institution that owns Private Land loses their ownership right in favour of the Government if the land ceases to be used for the purpose for which it was acquired.
• In accordance with the Constitution, an owner of Private Land whose certificate of naturalization has been cancelled will lose their ownership right in favour of the Government if he/she does not have a Liberian spouse or heir.
• Leases ordinarily run for 25 to 50 years, but exceptions are permitted under the law.

Documents to Use

You can process your document through Liberia land Authority by visiting the offices provided above under offices and location or via their website: link

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• Purchasing property one (1) to two (2) weeks
• Registration of property one (1) to two (2) months

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

1. Be aware of fraud in property selling;
2. Ensure that the person selling property is the rightful owner of property;
3. Buyers are advised to always make search for the property before any transactions are made;
4. Ensure that there are no disputes against a given property;
5. Transactions should be in presence of witnesses;
6. Only Liberians can buy property in Liberia;
7. Also note that freehold properties can only be acquired by Liberian citizens;
8. Foreigners in Liberia can only obtain lease on property in Liberia;
9. Long-term leases obtained by foreigners must be approved by the government approval;
10. Always use licensed surveyors;
11. Notice of survey of a given property must indicate location of property, date and time of survey;
12. Ensure that a signed deed has vivid description of property;
13. Applicants must not that only lawyers are allowed to submit the deed for probate

Required Information

• Full name and address of buyer
• Nationality of buyer
• Name and address of owner of property (buyer)
• Location of property (plot and block number)
• Property description (size, appearance and features on property)
• Intended use of property in case of foreigners

Need for the Document

Land title is important because it is the only document that would prove a person’s ownership over a piece of land. It also shows the type of tenure land is under.

Information which might help

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Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

LIBERIA LAND AUTHORITY

Others

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