Contract of sale

Where two parties have signed a contract of sale for the purchase of land from one party to the other, they have a binding and lawful agreement provided it has complied with all the elements of a basic contract. The two must be Zambian and must have capacity to own land in Zambia. Further, they must have proof of the fact that they are indeed Zambian e.g National Registration Card for a natural person or a Zambian Certificate of incorporation for an artificial person like a company.

In order to avoid burdening you with the legalities of contract and whether the parties meet the standards referred to above, MLP will draft the contract for you and investigate fully the citizenship of either party. In addition to this, we will conduct comprehensive searches on the status of the land or property in question; not only will the process be simpler for you, but we will endeavour to assist you in buying problem free property.

State Consent

The state’s permission to hand over title of property from one person to another is needed in order for the procedure to be successful. It is the first stage of the land transfer carried out by the Ministry of Lands and can only be obtained once all outstanding Ground Rent fees on the property have been cleared. Without the State’s Consent any attempts of property transfer between parties will prove to be futile.

Whether or not you know the outstanding Ground Rent fees on the property you intend to sell is not a problem because when you come to us, the amount can be checked through the Ministry and cleared by the Vendor with our help before State Consent is applied for. You need not worry about the intricacies of the process at this stage; we will take care of it.

Property Transfer Tax (PTT)

Any person or company willing to sell their property to another party incurs a tax debt for the transaction which has to be paid to Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), once paid one will obtain a PTT Clearance Certificate which is lodged in together with the property assignment towards the end of the process.

ZRA has set up a station at the Ministry of Lands to help make procedures relating to property transfers as simple and quick as possible; this makes the Ministry of Lands a One-Stop destination with regards to sale of land. Armed with your required collection of documents, we proceed to prepare the tax application and duly inform you when the payment is due.

Lodging of Assignments

After all requirements above have been met, all the original documents are lodged i.e. Contract of Sale, State Consent, PTT payment receipt and Clearance Certificate as well as the Deed of Assignment. The Deed of Assignment is the document that effectively transfers ownership in the land from the Seller to the Buyer. Containing technical terms and formalities, we carry out the drafting of such documents to the exact standards required by the Ministry on your behalf.

Obtaining Certificate of Title

Once the Ministry approves the documents referred to in the paragraph above, they are processed and an original certificate of title is typed for the purchaser in readiness for collection.

At MLP we verify the content of the title carefully before collection and ensure any errors are corrected; in so doing we keep your interests primary at all times. The correct and verified title produced in the purchaser’s name signifies the end of the transaction and marks the beginning of lawful ownership of the property by the title holder.