Burundi

Registering Property in

Burundi

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: BIF 10,615,267.63
  • City: Bujumbura

About This Topic

To see indicator data for all economies, see the Registering Property page. To see how economies rank, see the Rankings page.

No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Obtain a proof of title property at the Land Registry

The seller must give the original property title to the buyer for the checking (or go with the buyer at the Departement des Titre Foncier). The buyer asks the “Conservateur” at the “Registre des Titres Foncier” to check if the property is indeed registered to the present owner. The buyer also requests proof that the property is not encumbered by mortgages, liens or other securities.

Agency: Land Registry (Registre des Titres Fonciers) 		5 days No cost
2 The lawyer drafts the sale agreement and it is signed by both parties

Both parties sign a "compromis de vente" once it has been prepared by a lawyer.
2 days 250.000 BIF
3 The buyer checks the price at the Land Registry

The buyer goes to the Land Registry ("Departement des Titre Foncier") with the compromis de vente and the property title. The Land Registry will send the documents to the Ministry of Finance for price verification. An expert is designated by the Ministry of Finance to check whether the price is the correct one. This depends largely on the availability of the expert. The expert will produce a report which is transmitted to the Director for signature. If for instance the price on the “Compromis de vente” is lower, the transaction tax will be paid based on the appraisal value provided by the expert from the Titre Foncier and not on the agreed price between vendor and buyer. The Titre foncier also proceed to the verification that this property has no encumbrances.

Agency: Land Registry (Registre des Titres Fonciers) 		25 days 10 000 BIF
4 Notarize the Sale Contract at the Public Notary

The parties should notarize their sale contract with an accredited public notary. Costs vary in each case. Notaries usually charge a fixed fee per page. Assuming a standard sale contract, an average estimation of the cost of this procedure is BIF 21,000.
2 days 21.000 BIF
5 File for Name Change with the Land Registry “Registre des Titres Fonciers”

The parties should file a request with the Land Registry “Registre des Titres Fonciers” for the transfer of property to the buyer’s name. The only documents the parties are required to present are the notarized sale contract and the property title. The Land Registry employees have to perform due diligence and might do a field inspection of the land. The Director of the Registry will also write to the Urbanism Department “Services de l’Urbanisme” asking it to confirm that the total surface and total sale price as stated in the sale contract are accurate and not understated. The due diligence process could take one or two months.

The former 7% additional tax has been abolished by "Loi No 1/38 du 30 décembre 2006".
The “Loi des Finances 2007” (article 35) adopted on December 30, 2007 and implemented in January 2008, has abolished the property transfer tax of 6%.
Article 36 of the same law, authorizes the Land Registry “département des titres fonciers” to charge a 3% of the property value for all transactions.



Agency: Land Registry (Registre des Titres Fonciers) 		60 days 3% property value (tax to change the Property Title to the buyer's name)
Explore Economy Data