Burkina Faso

Registering Property in

Burkina Faso

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: XOF 13,395,274.65
  • City: Ouagadougou

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Check encumbrances on the property ("etat des droits reels")

Prior to the GUF, there was an option to accelerate the procedure and have it done in 1 day instead of 3 days. However, with the GUF the statutory time is fixed at 3 days. In practice, it takes 7 calendar days. If there are any charges on the property, there is an additional FCFA 2000 for information on each such charge. In our case, there are no charges and therefore only the basic price applies.

Agency: Land Registry ("Guichet unique foncier") 		7 days FCFA 4000
2 Notarize the sale contract

In Burkina Faso it is mandatory to notarize the sale contract, and common practice to ask the notary to conduct the entire registration process on behalf of the parties.


Agency: Private notary 		1 day Notary fee schedule on a sliding scale as follows: 1 - 2.500.000 FCFA = 7% 2.500.000 - 5 000 000 FCFA = 5% 5.000.001 - 10 000 000 FCFA = 3% above 10,000,000 = 1%
3 Request and organize an inspection for valuation (Proces Verbal) of the property at the GUF

A team of surveyors from the GUF will visit the property, and determine a value for the property, according the conditions of the property (floor type, roof, building materials. Etc…). Based on a table of values and the conditions of the property, a property value will be determined, and will be registered in the GUF for taxation purposes (transfer and publication taxes).
A statutory time limit of 4 days has been established in 2009 to process the evaluation has been established, as well as 2 days to register the new property valuation in the GUF.

Agency: Land Registry ("Guichet unique foncier") 		6 days 6000 FCFA (assessment of the property) + FCFA 4000 (valuation registration) + FCFA 1700 (Stamp duty)
4 Deposit deed of sale and pay transfer tax payment slip at Land registry

The notary will pick up the Proces Verbal and then deposits the complete transfer file at the Guichet unique foncier, and receives the notice of the transfer tax amount to be paid at the tax agency. The transfer tax is calculated and a payment slip is given to the notary for payment. With the transfer tax payment slip, the transfer tax is paid.
According to the Decree N: 2008-164, the registry has a time limit of 4 days to get back to the GUF with a newly registered title.
The transfer tax has been lowered from 10% to 8% of the property value by the "Loi des Finances 2008". The Publishing cost (frais de publication) of 1.05% is also paid at the same time. It takes about two months for the Conservation Fonciere to change the name and issue a new title. The name is also changed on tax records, so that the buyer pays future property taxes.

Documents needed:
The Memorandum of Association and Registration at the Company Registry
The Notarized sale agreement
Copy of the Property Title
Proces Verbal (PV) of the survey of the property

Agency: Land Registry ("Guichet unique foncier") 		45 days 8% of purchase price (Transfer tax) + 1.05% (publication cost)
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