The Tanzania Investment Act of 1997, establishes a corporate body known as the Tanzania Investment Center (TIC) to regulate and facilitate all investments in Tanzania. The body was given a mandate by the Act to allocate land under Derivative rights to all foreign nationals who wish to invest in the United Republic of Tanzania. Before TIC allocates land to a non-citizen, that land must be designed and listed for only the purpose of Investment and shall be issued under the name of Tanzania Investment Center.

Purchase of Land by Foreign National for Investment Purposes

In some circumstances, it may happen that the land issued to the Tanzania Investment Center as land designated and listed for investment purpose does not fulfill the requirement of the investor who wishes to establish his project in Tanzania. And when this happens the Foreign National is allowed to search for the land which will be suitable and fulfill all the requirements for his/her investment. This means he/ she may purchase land from a Citizen of Tanzania who owns the land under either Customary Right of Occupancy or Granted Right of Occupancy.

Now, once a foreign national wishes to purchase land from a local Citizen, the requirements needed are the same as those used by the Tanzanian citizens on the transfer of land by way of sale (including but not limited to visiting the property site, conducting an official search, conducting evaluation to the said property and entering in pre-contractual agreement (where necessary)). An exception to this is that, the parties will not go to the Registrar of Titles to transfer the title, rather the person who sells that particular land shall surrender back his/ her title to the Commissioner of land. The Commissioner shall then re-issue that land under the name of Tanzania Investment Center following with the allocation of that land to the Foreign National under Derivative Right for Investment purposes.

Alternatively, a foreign national may own land in Tanzania by way of a long lease. And in-term of a long lease, a non-citizen may enter into a long lease agreement with Tanzanian national depending on the tenure of Right of Occupancy granted to the Tanzanian. The lease agreement shall be for a term not exceeding the tenure of the Granted Right of Occupancy issued to the Tanzanian.

OPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR A FOREIGN NATIONAL TO ACCESS AND OWN A VILLAGE LAND IN TANZANIA

All land in Tanzania that is declared to be a village land is governed by the Village Land Act, Cap 114 R.E 2019. Unlikely, the Land Act, Cap 113 R.E 2019, the Village Land Act does not have any requirements and provisions to allow foreign nationals to own village land for investment purposes under Derivative rights.

The provision of S. 22(2) of the Village Land Act only allows a group of Tanzanian person(s) including local companies which reside within the local limit of such village to acquire land under the Customary Right of Occupancy. The Village Land Act goes further under the provision of S. 17(1) by allowing non-village organizations to own village land within the local limits of all villages in Tanzania.

The provision of S. 20(2) of the Land Act, allows any foreign national to own land in Tanzania by way of Derivative Right, save for village land which he/ she has no right to own such land even if it is for Investment purposes. Now, the question would be, if the law allows only general land to be designated and listed for purposes of investment only, what about the village land?

The provision of section 5(2) of the Land Act, gives power to the President of the United Republic of Tanzania to transfer any village land in Tanzania to either general land or reserved land. This means, that once such village land is transferred to be general land, such transferred land shall be eligible to be designated and listed for the only purpose of investment and be issued under the name of Tanzania Investment Center.

Conclusion

A foreign national does not have an automatic right access to General land in Tanzania let alone the village land except, if such land is converted to be a general land as provided by the law, and upon conversion, a foreign national may acquire such land under Derivative Right through the Tanzania Investment Center (TIC).

Important Notice:

This publication has been prepared for information purposes only, and it does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication, and, to the extent permitted by law, Cymbell Attorneys, its members, employees, and agents do not accept or assume any liability, responsibility or duty of care for any consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained in this publication or for any decision based on it.