Rights and obligations or duties of the buyer and seller of Land in Uganda.
Land in Uganda is the asset of choice for both genuine investors and crooks looking to hide illicitly acquired wealth or con men trying to defraud unsuspecting members of the public. Today we teach you what you need to do before you engage in a land transaction in Uganda.
What a buyer of land in Uganda should do.
Local leaders are fraudulent at best but you must make inquiries from them. A purchaser has a legal obligation to make inquiries of both the land and the seller. You must investigate the seller’s title and all the circumstances surrounding the land. A person is bound by all the equities of a person physically using the land and any other equitable interests that could have been discovered if the purchaser made inquiries about the land.
You should always acquire possession of the land upon payment of the initial deposit of the purchase price or soon after paying the full purchase price. Possession of land is more valuable than any paper or right you have given yourself in the purchase agreement. If you don’t acquire possession you have to engage in expensive litigation to enforce your purchase agreement. However if you acquire possession of the land the seller’s rights are limited to a lien over the property for the balance of the purchase price or suing for the balance. Asserting physical possession is best evidenced by constructing and fencing the land. Ideally always fence the land and build a structure on it.
You should always make multiple copies of your purchase agreement if you are purchasing untitled land and mark the LC copy or seller’s copy as such to distinguish it from the buyer’s copy. This is to reduce the risk of your spouse or your children conniving with the Local Council leaders and the seller to alter your purchase agreement. This risk is highest when your children or spouse or girlfriend have access to your original documents. There is nothing wrong with your family and relatives having a copy of your purchase agreement. So give copies to some trusted friends and relatives. Make a digital copy of your title or purchase agreement because the cloud can keep documents safe for centuries. Whereas rats of different kinds, fire and other hazards can destroy your physical copy your digital copy if it is in multiple places is virtually impossible to erase.
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