Togo

Registering Property in

Togo

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 10,320,580.71
  • City: Lomé

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

The buyer should perform due diligence before entering into a sale agreement with the owner of the property by requesting a copy of the property deed from the Land Registry. The copy will include all useful information regarding the property and its history since its registration with the Land Registry. The buyer will be able to know whether the seller is indeed the owner of the property and whether the property is encumbered with mortgages or liens.

Agency: Land Registry (Services de la Conservation et de la Propriété Foncière) 		7 days XOF 10,000
2 A notary drafts the sale agreement

The law requires that the sale agreement be notarized. It is the practice that parties ask the notary to draft the sale agreement himself. The notary will draft a preliminary sale agreement and will take the parties final observations. The notary finally asks the parties to sign the agreement and to register it with the tax authorities.
3 days Notary fees 1 -2,500 000 = 4.5% 2 500 001 - 5, 000 000 = 3% 5 000 001 - 10 000 000 = 1.5% > 10. 000 000 = .75%
3 Register the sale agreement with the Tax Authorities

The sale agreement should be registered with the tax authorities. The sale agreement registration fees would amount to 9% of the sale value, plus stamp duties. The cost is XOF 1,000 per stamp. The typical sale agreement takes five pages, hence five stamps. The Tax Authorities have different criteria to value the property (zone, characteristic of the land, etc.) and can request higher registration amounts if they assess that the sale value is understated.


Agency: Tax Authorities (Service des Impôts) 		14 days 9% of the property value + XOF 5,000 (Stamp duties)
4 Notarize the registered sale agreement

The parties return the sale agreement duly registered with the tax authorities, to the notary, who will notarize it and provide the “Expedition” which provides the full agreement with execution powers. The procedure is free of charge as the parties already paid the notary’s fee in their first encounter.
1 day Already paid in procedure 2 (notary fees)
5 Final transfer of the property title with the Land Registry

The parties or the notary acting on their behalf, can now take the notarized sale agreement to the Land Registry and file a request of transfer of property. It is added to the request copy of the former “Titre Foncier”.
The law supposes that the Registry’s authorities send employees to the property for a field inspection. However, this is never done in practice, especially when the sale covers 100% of the property. If the sale covers only part of the property, a field inspection is required and usually carried to assess the new boundaries of the Land and update the registry.
The Registrar can either refuse to accept the file for technical reasons or accept it. Once the file has been accepted, it will be allocated a case number which will allow follow-ups. The payment of the transfer tax of 1.2% of the property is made and a receipt containing the allocated number is obtained as proof of payment.
The Registrar will then issue an order for the transcription of the transfer in the registry books. Once transcription is made, the buyer or the notary, receives a copy of the transcription.


Agency: Land Registry (Services de la Conservation et de la Propriété Foncière) 		6-12 months 1.2% of the property value + XOF 5000 (fixed costs)
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