Samoa

Registering Property in

Samoa

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: WST 385,645.88
  • City: Apia

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 Conduct a search of title at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Meteorology

A search of title is conducted at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Meteorology in order to establish the vendor's title to ownership and to check for encumbrances on the property. It is common practice that the buyer's solicitor conducts a search at the land registry.The title search is done by volume and folio reference as well as parcel number (but registered chronologically).
With the new computerized system, a property title search now provides all information regarding the rightful owner of the property, and shows if any charges against that property.

Agency: Land, Survey and Environment Department 		1 day Included in procedure 2 if done by a lawyer
2 A lawyer prepares the sale and purchase agreement and notarizes the deed of conveyance

A sale purchase agreement is prepared by a lawyer. The participation of a lawyer is mandatory. The same lawyer/notary will notarize the deed of conveyance. The private practitioners in Samoa are entitled to notarize deeds of conveyance. The deed of conveyance is the transfer of ownership from the owner to the buyer.

1-5 days About WST 2,300
3 An abstract for the stamp duty is prepared at the Finance and Treasury Department

An abstract for payment of stamp duty is prepared at the Finance and Treasury Department, determining the valuation of the property.

Agency: Finance and Treasury Department 		About 7 days no cost
4 Payment of stamp duty at the Finance and Treasury Department

The stamp duty amounts to 1% of the property value and is paid at the Ministry of Finance. If there is a mortgage (in this case there is not) this has to be discharged first, taking about 5 days. The fee can be above WST 450 depending on the fee structure of the law firm. The discharged is signed by the mortgagee, usually a bank. It is then stamped. The stamp duty is WST 2 for the original and WST 5 for the copy payable to the Ministry of Finance. It can take 5 days or more. The discharge is then registered with the Lands Registry at the Ministry of Natural Resources. The registration fee (paid in step 5) is WST 75 and can take 4 weeks or more.


Agency: Finance and Treasury Department 		1 day 1% of property value (stamp duty) + WST 5 (for a copy)
5 Registration at the Land, Survey, and Environment Department

Registration of new title.
The land registry in Samoa has been fully computerized, and the property transfer process has been sped up significantly. The Land Titles Registration Act 2008 implemented on March 3rd, 2009 has changed the registration system in Samoa from a Deed to a Title system (Torrens system).

The project started in June 2005 with the conversion of all deeds, simple, complex and subdivision, into folios. The conversion was completed in February 2009.
At the same time, the land registry was being fully computerized and free-form deed documents were replaced by Form A4, thus facilitating registration.

The Land registry has also issued a flat fee of WST 100 for conducting a search of the property title and for lodging the deed of conveyance for registration.
Article 22 stipulates that a corporation may affix its seal in lieu of signing the instrument of transfer and it will be considered as signed by the Registrar.


Agency: Land, Survey and Environment Department 		3 days WST 100 (registration fee)
Explore Economy Data