By Gifty Boateng
Private legal practitioner with the Robert Smith Law Group, Abena Boakye, has advocated strongly for the involvement of lawyers in the acquisition of lands.
According to her, it is the best way to avoid being duped or a possible litigation in an era where land purchase has become challenging due to criminals.
Speaking at an event on the ‘Own Your Space’ platform on Saturday, April 18 in Accra, Ms Boakye argued that engaging the service of a lawyer is not difficult and expensive, contrary to perception out there.
She said it is better that way to assure oneself that the property they are spending so much on is genuine and litigation free.
The event, first of its kind brought together key stakeholders across the mortgage, legal real estate, insurance, interior design, building materials electronics and smart home technology sectors.
Taking participants through steps involved in acquiring land and intricacies of owning a land, she said it is important one is able to first engage a lawyer and also do all the searches for instance at the Lands Commission, to satisfy oneself that the property first belongs to the said grantor, not sold to multiple personalities and in no contention whatsoever.
The search will enable the individual to know who rightly owns the land and details of the property.
She said involving professionals will help one to avoid multiple sales, impersonation, forgery of title documents and many others.
Taking attendees through the steps, Boakye said there are various ways one can acquire land that has no problem to deal with later, adding that engaging a lawyer and conducting proper search are two critical things one needs to take note.
She said lands can be procured through the stool or traditional leaders, state or government, family, spouse and so on but wanted this should be done with outmost transparency and clarity.
A senior colleague and head of Land Desk at the Robert Smith Law Group, Douglas Boahene expanding the discussion said even though acquiring estate property or land may appear genuine, it is important that such firm is investigated at the Registrar of Company to be sure that those who say they are directors are indeed the ones on official documents.
“If he’s not a director, then you ask, Mr. so so and so, I have not seen you as a director. But you are the one claiming to sell the land.
What authority are you standing by to sell this land? So, if you are dealing with a real estate, the only thing is you are much safer with landlords and things. But even then, they do double sales. I have encountered a lot of real estate companies who do double sales.
Some, they do agree, some do not agree with it. So, at the end of the day, once you are purchasing a land, the speculation in terms of due diligence must be done in respect of each parcel of land you purchase. And it doesn’t matter who you are purchasing it from, even the state, you must go to them”, he said.
He also touched on people who occupy on people’s lands for over a decade without the owner coming to eject the occupants or looking on. He explained that “The law is that if you stay on somebody’s land, or you deal with somebody’s land in a way that the person does not approve of for a period of four continuous years, without the person doing anything about it, sitting there and just watching you, you acquire an interest in that land. It’s referred to as adverse possession. The issue is, the question you ask, is that the person buzzes around.
A 12-year starts counting from the day the person becomes aware of your dealings with the land in a way that he doesn’t approve of. So, if he was away 15 years, and it was within those 15 years that he decided to deal with the land for a 12-year period, then it doesn’t count. It only starts counting the day he notices your presence on the land”.
He added “Assuming they knew, and they did nothing about it. Previously, this issue of having been on the land for 12 years used to be a defence. Now, it’s both a shield and a sword.
So, if you think you’ve been there for 12 years or more, and they knew, and they did nothing about it, see, you’re right, he knows what to do”.
Convener of ‘Own You Home’, Amma Naabia Boamah Danquah explained the intention behind the platform saying it is to bring together women to discuss issues of interest.
She said the first edition focuses primarily on land and furniture acquisitions. She said land because it one of the typical and disturbing issues that confronts many citizens.
“Primarily land acquisition because you can talk about interior decor, you can talk about building materials, you can talk about anything but if you don’t have the land, what are you doing? And land is one of the most litigated cases in our courts. It’s not even the politics, it’s the land.
So, you might as well get to know who the players are, what are laws, because we have a lot of laws. You can’t pretend not to know these laws, yes. So that was the whole idea of, you know what, I don’t sell land, I don’t, what is this, I don’t know land guards, I don’t know anything but at least I know lawyers, at least I know real estate companies, at least I know the banks who give them money”, she said.
She said the event was organized for women because they are the ones that have less knowledge about the subject matter compared to men. She said despite not knowing much about land acquisition, women these days are acquiring them for themselves and others which means they need to educate themselves.
Companies who joined the platforms gave insights on their activity’s facilities installed for potential clients, encouraging them to consult the right channels so that they get the best direction and guidance. Some of the companies are Aducraft Ambience Vista Paint, Home Craft, Star Assurance, Cal Bank, Sethi Steel, Star Oil, Nyamedua.