FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

COURSE UNITY: LAND LEGISLATION

By MANIRAGABA Abias
Environmental Scientist

Academic Year 2014- 2015

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Contents
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Land as a property and its classification .......................................................................... 2
1.2 What is land?.................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Interests in land ................................................................................................................ 3
Chapter 2: LAND AS A RESOURCE THAT NEEDS MANAGEMENT ............................... 4
2.1 Land management issues in Rwanda ............................................................................... 5
2.2 What is land management? .............................................................................................. 6
2.2.1. Land management complexity ................................................................................. 6
2.3 Land administration ......................................................................................................... 8
2.3.1. What is land administration? ................................................................................... 8
2.4. Land management social and economic aspects ............................................................. 9
2.4.1 Land management and local economic development ............................................... 9
2.4.2 Land management and food security ...................................................................... 10
2.4.3 Sustainable land management ................................................................................. 10
2.5 Adapted land management glossary definitions ........................................................ 11
Chapter 3: RWANDA LAND POLICY .................................................................................. 22
3.1. Land management issues before the National Land Policy .......................................... 22
3.1.1. Very High Population density and high pressure on land...................................... 22
3.1.2. Excessive land fragmentation ................................................................................ 23
3.1.3. Loss and degradation of soils ................................................................................. 23
3.1.4. Lack of adequate land legislation .......................................................................... 23
3.1.5. Unfavourable land tenure systems to women ........................................................ 24
3.2 Land policy framework and principles .......................................................................... 24
3.2.1. Objectives .............................................................................................................. 24
3.2.2. General Principles .................................................................................................. 25
3.3. Institutional framework ................................................................................................. 27
3.4. Rwanda land Policy in the international scene ............................................................. 29
3.4.1. Africa Land Policy Framework and Guidelines (ALPFG) .................................... 29
3.4.2. Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,
Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (FAO) .......................... 30
Chapter 4: LAND ADMINISTRATION ................................................................................. 31
4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 31
4.2. Land registration and ownership ................................................................................... 31
4.2.1. Land acquisition ......................................................................................................... 31
4.2.2. Land tenure typology and classification as per the land law and secondary ......... 32
4.2.3. Why is land registration important? ....................................................................... 34
4.2.4. Who must register? ................................................................................................ 34
4.2.5. Basic legal principles for land registration ............................................................ 35
4.2.6. Land registration and cadastre ............................................................................... 38
4.2.7. Land registration maintenance and up date ........................................................... 39
4.2.8. Cadastral developments and land management ..................................................... 49
Chapter 5. GENERAL CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 58
Reference ................................................................................................................................. 59
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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
According to Ministry of natural resource 2012, Land remains a highly complex and
contentious issue, involving economic, social, political and cultural systems. As spelled out in
Article 75 of the Habitat Agenda, stating that "legal access to land is a strategic prerequisite
for the provision of adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human
settlements affecting both urban and rural areas. The failure to adopt, at all levels, appropriate
rural and urban land policies and land management practices remains a primary case of
inequity and poverty" [UN-Habitat, 2003], there is a strong link between land and poverty.
Access to land is a fundamental basis for human shelter, food production and other economic
activity, including by businesses and natural resource users of all kinds.

1.1 Land as a property and its classification

Land is one of a number of kinds of property which can be owned, so it is useful to establish
the meaning of the word ‘property’ and then to attempt to classify types of property. When
considering sale of goods we saw that the word ‘property’ was used in the special sense of
‘ownership’. The more general meaning of the word is, simply, anything capable of being
owned.
The various categories of property are so diverse (e.g. land, jewellery, cars, stocks and shares,
patents, money) that it is not surprising that the law has needed to develop different rules for
each type to cover buying, selling or other transfer. Of course, if you buy a loaf of bread, it
can be handed over to you. The same is not true when you buy land. A transaction involving
land may be far more complex, especially when several people may have different rights over
the same property at the same time. A person may own a house in which a tenant is currently
living. The house may be mortgaged to a building society, and the owner may have leased
shooting and fishing rights on the land and granted rights of way. This is a simple example
but it serves to illustrate why the rules relating to land can be complex.

1.2 What is land?

Land is the surface of the earth, the airspace above it and the ground below.
An owner of land could expect the law to protect his or her interests if someone unlawfully
tunnelled under the land. However, the law limits a landowner’s rights in this respect. Certain
mining and mineral rights have been granted by statute to public corporations, e.g. coal
mining rights to the Coal Authority.
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As for the airspace above the surface of the earth, it used to be assumed that the landowner
owned the space up to the heavens. The law determine the spatial limits of landowner above
the land as is reasonably necessary for ordinary use or enjoyment of the land.

It is clear that the law now sees some limit on the extent to which land extends into the air.
The precise limit will depend on the type of land and the sort of use to which it could be
reasonably expected to be put. An owner of a grouse moor may need a considerably greater
height of air than the owner of a suburban bungalow, where the only likely use for airspace
will be for the erection of a TV aerial.
On the surface of land there are likely to be structures such as houses or factories. Buildings
form part of the land, and so do fixtures. A fixture is something on or attached to the land for
its improvement, which is regarded as forming part of it, e.g. a garden gate, rose bushes or a
dry-stone wall. A chattel is an item of personal property which does not form part of land,
e.g. a watch or a pen. The same items may, in different contexts, be either fixtures or chattels.
Thus, a pile of stones in a builder’s yard is personal property, but the same stones in the form
of a dry-stone wall would be a fixture.

1.3 Interests in land

Rights in land other than the two legal estates (freehold and leasehold) are called interests in
land. Basically, there are two types of interests in land:
Legal interests and
Equitable interests.
The land law N°43/2013 of 16/06/2013 determining the governance of land in Rwanda,
provides limited number of rights in land may, if created by deed, be legal interests. The most
common of these are easements and profits a prendre (provided that their duration is either
that of a fee simple absolute in possession or that of a term of years absolute), and charges by
way of legal mortgage. The nature of each of these interests is considered below.
Any interest in land which is not a legal interest must be an equitable interest. Examples of
equitable interests are: interests under restrictive covenants; interests (including fee simples,
leases, easements or profits a prendre) granted for life; interests (including fee simples,
leases, easements and profits a prendre) created without the use of a deed; interests under
contracts to create legal estates or interests; and interests under trusts.
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Traditionally, the essential difference between a legal interest and an equitable interest is that
a purchaser of land is bound by all legal interests in the land but will not necessarily be bound
by all equitable interests in it.

Chapter 2: LAND AS A RESOURCE THAT NEEDS MANAGEMENT

Land is the ultimate resource, for without it, life on earth cannot be sustained. Land is both a
physical commodity and an abstract concept in that the rights to own or use it are as much a
part of the land as the objects rooted in its soil. Good stewardship of the land is essential for
present and future generations.

From a legal perspective, land extends from the centre of the Earth to the infinite in the sky.
In the present presentations, however, the focus will be on that volume of space that
encompasses the surface of the Earth, all things that are attached to it, and the rocks and
minerals that are just below it. Land includes areas covered by water such as seas and lakes,
all building and construction, and all natural vegetation.
Objects that are not attached to the soil, such as motor cars, animals and human beings, are
not part of the land, although they will be subject to the rights that control the use of the space
that they occupy.

Land and its use may be examined from many different points of view. From an ecological
perspective, land plays a vital role in the breeding and survival strategies of many living
species. The history of human settlement has been dominated by national and international
conflicts-men and women may kill or may be killed in fights over the boundaries of their
nations or of their individual properties.
This manual focuses on land as something over which individuals or communities have rights
of ownership and use, that can be bought and sold and be subject to tax, and that is the basis
of economic production.

In many countries the term “real estate” is used to describe land. Some differentiate between
the land and the buildings attached to it, referring to the latter as “property”.
In this course, unless otherwise stated, the term “land” will be treated as all embracing, while
real property refers to man-made constructions.
There is a need to manage the wealth of every nation, to the extent that a given portion
(percentage) of the gross domestic product (GDP) can come from land, property and
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construction. All countries need to determine the ownership and value of land and property,
and to monitor and manage their use so that the value of these assets may be enhanced.

2.1 Land management issues in Rwanda

In Rwanda, land-related issues are multiple and varied. Some originate from the morphology
and physiology of the land, while others are rooted in the socio-demographic and socio-
economic situations, combined with inadequate land policies, laws and regulations in the
past.
Being a densely populated and hilly country, Rwanda faces serious problems related to the
scarcity of land, the mode of human settlement and the protection of the environment.
The evolution of agriculture, long considered as the backbone of the national economy, has
become unpredictable because the land resource has been badly managed, and yet over 90%
of the Rwandan population work on land from which they earn their livelihood. Soil erosion
has worsened due to continuous cultivation of land, settlement on marginal land that is
unsuitable for agriculture, and lack of reliable soil conservation methods.

Although the situation above, the Government of Rwanda, through the Vision 2020, PRSP,
EDPRS I and now II, the investment strategy, and other Government programs has
recognized land as a key priority for economic development and poverty reduction.
To this end, the National Land Policy (NLP) was developed and adopted by the Cabinet in
2004, in order to be a framework to establish broad norms and guidelines for land use
planning, effective and responsive land use management and client-friendly oriented to land
administration services. Thus, the main objectives of the NLP are:
• To establish a security of tenure for all in equitable manner;
• To put in place a system of land management that will support sustainable land use
patterns for national development.

Following the adoption of the land policy, the Government put in place the implementing
legislation, including the Organic law N°43/2013 of 16/06/2013 determining the use and
management of land in Rwanda. In parallel, a comprehensive institutional framework for the
land management and governance was developed, and mandates defined.

Another critical development has been the Land Tenure Regularization Support Program
(LTRSP) that started in 2005 and is ending up with next June. The program has for objectives
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that all rightful landholders in Rwanda receive legally valid land title documents and to
minimize disputes preventing the issue of land titles. The LTRSP has been a very ambitious
but also very successful systematic land registration program. In line with the land tenure
security, the Land Administration System (LAS) has been developed to deal with
maintenance and update in terms of the information on parcels, rights and right owners that is
regularly changing due to transactions on land.

At the same time, a national land use and development master plan (NLUDMP) was
developed and adopted by the Parliament through the Law n° 24/2012 of 15/06/2012 relating
to the planning of land use and development in Rwanda.
As regard to land values, the Law n°17/2010 of 12/05/2010 establishing and organizing the
real property valuation profession in Rwanda was passed by the Parliament and the Institute
of Real Property Valuers (IRPV) set up.
In relation to land development, the only legal instruments in place are related to human
habitation organized by law n°20/2011 of 21/06/2011 governing human habitation in Rwanda
and urban planning and urban planning and building organized by law n°10/2012 of
02/05/2012 governing urban planning and building in Rwanda.
In terms of land information infrastructures, a national geodetic network and the national geo-
database are also under establishment.
Coming back to land management institutions, it is relevant to point out that they were set up
in the spirit of the decentralization policy. There are national institutions at the Central
Government level in charge of the overall land management, and decentralized land
management institutions at the District and Sector level. The later need a very strong special
attention in terms capacity building at all levels.

2.2 What is land management?

2.2.1. Land management complexity

• Land management is the process by which the resources of land are put into good
effect (UN-ECE 1996). The notion of good effect has no clear meaning.
• However, land management encompasses all activities associated with the
management of land and natural resources that are required to achieve sustainable
development. The concept of land includes properties and natural resources and
thereby encompasses the total natural and build environment.
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• The organizational structures for land management differ widely between countries
and regions throughout the world, and reflect local cultural and judicial settings.
• The institutional arrangements may change over time to better support the
implementation of land policies and good governance.
• Within this country context, the land management activities may be described by the
three components: Land Policies, Land Information Infrastructures, and Land
Administration Functions in support of Sustainable Development.
• Land policy is part of the national policy on promoting objectives including economic
development, social justice and equity, and political stability. Land policies may be
associated with: security of tenure; land markets (particularly land transactions and
access to credit); real property taxation; sustainable management and control of land
use, natural resources and the environment; the provision of land for the poor, ethnic
minorities and women; and measures to prevent land speculation and to manage land
disputes.

Figure 2.1: The Land Management structure

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2.3 Land administration

2.3.1. What is land administration?

The operational component of the land management paradigm is the range of land
administration functions that ensure proper management of rights, restrictions,
responsibilities and risks in relation to property, land and natural resources. These functions
include the areas of land tenure (securing and transferring rights in land and natural
resources); land value (valuation and taxation of land and properties); land use (planning and
control of the use of land and natural resources); and land development (implementing
utilities, infrastructure and construction planning).
Land administration comprises an extensive range of systems and processes to manage:
• Land Tenure: the allocation and security of rights in lands; the legal surveys to
determine parcel boundaries; the transfer of property or use from one party to another
through transactions; and the management and adjudication of doubts and disputes
regarding rights and parcel boundaries.
• Land Value: the assessment of the value of land and properties; the gathering of
revenues through taxation; and the management and adjudication of land valuation
and taxation disputes.
• Land Use: the control of land use through adoption of planning policies and land use
regulations at national, regional and local levels; the enforcement of land use
regulations; and the management and adjudication of land use conflicts.
• Land Development: the building of new physical infrastructure; the implementation
of construction planning and change of land use through planning permission and
granting of permits.

Land administration systems (LAS) and particularly their core cadastral components, are
important infrastructures which facilitate the implementation of land policies in both
developed and developing countries. LAS are concerned with the social, legal, economic and
technical framework within which land managers and administrators must operate (UNECEF
2005). These systems support efficient land markets and are, at the same time, concerned
with the administration of land as a natural resource to ensure its sustainable development.
These systems are interrelated. The actual economic and physical use of land and properties
influence land value. Land value is also influenced by the possible future use of land as
determined through zoning, land use planning regulations and permit granting processes. And
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the land use planning and policies will, of course, determine and regulate future land
development.

2.4. Land management social and economic aspects

2.4.1 Land management and local economic development

Land remains a highly complex and contentious issue, involving economic, social, political
and cultural systems. As spelled out in Article 75 of the Habitat Agenda, stating that "legal
access to land is a strategic prerequisite for the provision of adequate shelter for all and the
development of sustainable human settlements affecting both urban and rural areas. The
failure to adopt, at all levels, appropriate rural and urban land policies and land management
practices remains a primary case of inequity and poverty" [UN-Habitat, 2003], there is a
strong link between land and poverty. Access to land is a fundamental basis for human
shelter, food production and other economic activity, including by businesses and natural
resource users of all kinds. Secure rights to land encourage people to invest in improved
dwellings and the land itself; they can also enable people to access public services and
sources of credit.
One way for local economic development is through development of cities and trading
centres which are sources of jobs and revenue for local governments. Development of cities
and centres requires professionals in land use and urban planning supported by a proper land
registry – answering the question of “what to do where and who owns what”. This is the role
of land management at local government.
It is argued that districts with big urban area and more trading centres require a lot inputs
from land management and have a lot of revenue and jobs. Hence by putting emphasis and
strengthening land management in local governments, it attracts investors once plans and
land to be invested in is identified.

The design of adequate systems in the area of land tenure and land value should lead to the
establishment of an efficient land market capable of supporting trading in complex
commodities. The design of adequate systems in the areas of land use control and land
development should lead to effective land-use management. The combination of an efficient
land market and effective land-use management should then form the basis for a sustainable
approach to economic, social and environmental development.
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It is against this background that a wide ranging reform of land tenure and land management,
in Rwanda, forms a central part of Vision 2020 and EDPRS. Indeed, four of the six pillars of
Vision 2020 are underpinned by land reforms:
• Pillar 1-Social Capital. Land titles, and the legal status that goes with them, have been
key elements in the development of social capital in modern economies
• Pillar 2- Agricultural Transformation. In 2000, 90% of Rwandans worked in
agriculture. By 2020, urban development and the creation of non-agricultural
livelihoods is expected to reduce this to 50%. Simple and economic ways to change
land holdings and land use will be fundamental to this process.
• Pillar 3- Private Sector Development. In many sectors this will depend on access to
land. Just as important, entrepreneurs will need to be able to move capital both into
and out of land, as quickly and easily as possible as they respond to markets and
changing economic conditions
• Pillar 4-Infrastructure Development. Land is needed to build roads, bridges and other
infrastructure. At the same time, new infrastructure stimulates development and
changes in land use. In many cases, land taxes contribute to financing of infrastructure
development.

2.4.2 Land management and food security

For the last four years, Rwanda has been food secure mainly due to the change in land
management which saw the introduction of land use consolidation and crop intensification
program. It is clear that the land tenure regularization program helped also all land owners to
get titles of their land and were encouraged to join land consolidation scheme.
It is also argued that once people have proof of ownership of their land they invest more on
land by putting for example terraces, anti-erosive mechanism and using fertilizers for their
land which increase food security. In order to maintain and increase the level of food
security, local governments need proper land management to carry through those efforts.

2.4.3 Sustainable land management

Sustainable Land Management is a knowledge-based procedure that aims at integrating the
management of land, water, biodiversity, and other environmental resources to meet human
needs while sustaining ecosystem services and livelihoods. The term sustainable land
management is used, for example, in regional planning and soil or environmental protection
but also in property and estate management.
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2.5 Adapted land management glossary definitions

The following is a set of definitions of technical and legal words that are commonly used in
the field of land management in Rwanda. These are written to be interpreted in the local
context, while considering the need to remain consistent for global comparison.
Land acquisition : Assumption or attainment of rights in property.
Ad valorem : Latin term meaning ‘based on value’.
Adjudication : Process of final and authoritative determination of the existing rights
and claims of people to land.
Adverse possession :Possession of land through long term peaceful occupation as a
trespasser or squatter. The right to possession after a statutorily
prescribed period of limitation can be gained if there is no legally
defendable claim. This period, called “prescription” is limited to 30
years according to the law governing land in Rwanda.
Assessed tax :Taxation based on an assessment of the value of the property.
Assessed value :A value recorded by a public body on the market price of the property.
Building permit :An approval by the local governing body on land use and planning for
construction or renovation to a property.
Building standards :Regulations or by laws that set out standards one must conform to
when constructing or renovating buildings or immovable objects.
Examples include building heights, setbacks from roads or neighbors
etc. Where standards are not met the local authority can impose fines
or instruct on construction changes.
Cadastre Cadastral plan/Deed plan Caution register:
Cession A cadastre is normally a parcel based and up-to-date land
information system containing a record of interests in land (i.e. rights,
restrictions and responsibilities).
A cadastral plan or Deed plan is a spatial description of a land parcel
with accurate boundary dimensions or in some cases with general
boundary measurements. It is one of the key features on a register and
a land title.
A caution register of title allows the temporary registration of other
land certificates, rights and other interests to land to be registered
before a definitive title is registered.
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An act of giving definitely to a third party a land or a real property or

the rights thereof.
Classification : Classification is a land use and management mechanism to assist
decision making. Classification is based on the use of the land, not on
the type of ownership or necessarily the rights associated with the
land/property.
Collective rights : Collective ownership of a natural resource is where the holders of
rights to a given natural resource are clearly defined as a collective
group, and where they have the right to exclude third parties from the
enjoyment of those rights.
Common property : Common property is typically land and other resources in which
entitled beneficiaries, whether individual or community defined, have
specific common rights to common areas. The community controls the
use of the common property and can exclude non members from using
it.
Concession : A concession is a restricted use right granted to a private party for a
large parcel of public land that is granted for a specific purpose (for
example forestry, bio-fuel, cultural/tourism etc).
Condominium : A condominium is a collection of individual home units along with
the land upon which they sit, also known as strata.
Individuals have private rights within the complex/building, but they
also have use and access to common facilities, including hallways,
stairwells, and exterior areas etc. There are typically common property
areas included in the property that require management by the
commons.
Conveyance : The conveyance of land is the actual process of transfer of that land.
Customary tenure : The holding of land in accordance with customary law.
Customary land law regulates rights to enjoy some use of land that
arises through customary, unwritten practice, rather than through
written or codified law. Customs are a set of agreed, stipulated or
generally accepted standards, social norms and practices.
Decentralization : Decentralization is the principle of delegating policy-making
and authority responsibility to local levels of public authority.
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Disposition : Arrangement for relinquishment, disposal, assignment or

conveyance of rights in property.
Dispute resolution District land
:There are typically a range of dispute resolution mechanisms
available in a country. These could be grouped into two broad
classes: formal dispute resolution mechanisms; and informal
dispute resolution mechanisms. The formal dispute resolution
mechanisms include the formal court system as well as a range
of other options that may include administrative dispute
resolution and state administered or sanctioned alternative
dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms. The informal systems
typically involve community leaders, village elders, village
assemblies or committees in resolving disputes. They may or
may not have formal recognition by the state or under the law.
Land or property where the District or local authority has
custodianship.
Easement : Easements are rights exercisable by owners of one parcel of
land over other land.

Emphyteutic lease : Is a long term contractual agreement between a landlord and a

tenant for the tenancy of land. It ranges from 15 years to 99
years as prescribed by the law governing land in Rwanda,
providing the owner with sufficient ‘bundle of rights’ of
ownership allowing for any land transaction.
Encroachment : Occupation of land, typically unclassified or under-utilized
State land.
Encumbrance : A right that adversely affects the land. Many are registerable
in formal real estate registration systems; such as restrictive
covenants, easements, mortgages and registered leases.
Escheat land : Eviction A piece of land without any person with particular
rights over it whether it was never owned or owners abandoned
it and it became vacant or it is impossible for the individuals to
fully own it.
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Eviction is the removal of someone from their occupation of

land or property. The term is very commonly used in
connection with the eviction of squatters, but may also be used
in the context of unlawful eviction.
Exemption (tax) : Release from the obligation to pay tax. Property tax
exemption is typically based on criteria such as the particular
use of the property (such as use as a place of primary residence,
public use, agricultural production, etc), ownership (with
exemptions for particular types of owners such as investors,
government etc.), or other factors (such as the status of
improvements on the land, location or size of the holding etc.).
Expropriation : Expropriation is the act of taking away individuals' land by
the state due to public interest but prior to respect of procedures
provided for by law and prior to payment of fair compensation.
First instance (Basic tribunal)
: This is the first judicial instance (court) which serves as the
place of a first hearing of a dispute in the judicial system.
Decisions served in such courts can be appealed and raised to a
higher level of the judicial court system.
Forests : There are typically many different forest classifications,
designated for different uses, management authority levels and
with various effective bi-laws. Management regulations
typically outline user rights, production rights, extraction rights,
hunting and gathering rights etc. Community forests and
community land care groups use and manage designated areas
by an identifiable community, but in many cases they must gain
governmental approval of their management plan. In a more
general sense, forest classifications can extend to a wide range
of natural resource management areas including wetlands,
grasslands, desserts, and cleared areas.
Freehold : Freehold, equivalent to the legal term fee simple absolute, is
full ownership of land in English law providing the owner with
the largest ‘bundle of rights’ of ownership.
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Governance : We define governance as the traditions and institutions by

which authority in a country is exercised. This includes (i) the
process by which governments are selected, monitored and
replaced; (ii) the capacity of the government to effectively
formulate and implement sound policies; and (iii) the respect of
citizens and the state for the institutions that govern economic
and social interactions among them (Kaufmann et al., 2002)
Governance (land) : Concerns the process by which decisions are made regarding
access to and use of land, the manner in which those decisions
are implemented and the way that conflicting interests in land
are reconciled. Key elements of the definition include decision
making, implementation and conflict resolution, with dual
emphasis on process and outcomes. (GLTN, 2008) Group A
group is a collection of households residing in a locality and
operating under some common organization or set of rules and
norms, with or without formal recognition of the state. In rural
areas these groups include indigenous, nomadic and pastoral
communities. In the urban context these groups include
organized informal settlements, collectively organized migrants
who cluster in a particular locality and clusters of traditional
communities.
Informal settlements:
Occupation of an area by a group of individuals (households)
that is not legally registered in the name of the occupiers. There
is great variety in the form of informal settlements ranging
from well established, well-built communities that simply lack
formal recognition to very heterogeneous groupings of houses
that are poorly planned and lack access to infrastructure such as
roads, utilities etc.

Land administration Land consolidation:

The processes of determining, recording and
disseminating information about tenure, value and use
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of land when implementing land management policies

(UNECEF 1996).
A process of putting together small plots of land in
order to manage the land and use it in an efficient
uniform manner so that the land may give more
productivity.
Land dispute /conflict Land fees:
A land dispute is a disagreement over land. A land
dispute occurs where specific individual or collective
interests relating to land are in conflict. Land disputes
can operate at any scale from the international to those
between individual neighbors.
An amount of money that the tenant pay at annual basis
based on the size of the land parcel as provided by the
law
Land management : The activities associated with the management of land.
Land tenure system Land title Land Transaction
: Land tenure refers to the legal regime in which rights in land
are exclusively assigned to an individual or entity, who is said
to "hold" the land. A land tenure system refers to the regulation
for the allocation and security of rights in land, transactions of
property, the management and adjudication of disputes
regarding rights and property boundaries.
In the Rwandan National Land Policy (2004), land tenure is
defined as methods and procedures that lead to land acquisition
and appropriation. It is, in other words, a combination of
regulations that determine modes of access, exploitation, and
control of land and its renewable natural resources. It is
therefore a relationship between humans or social groups, and
land or its underlying resources. In simple way, land tenure
means how land is accessed and held/owned by different users
with the strong support of relevant laws and regulations.
In the National land Policy Land tenure may be considered as a
set of modes or procedures of land acquisition and ownership.
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It is, in other words, a combination of rules that define the

modes of access, use and control of land and its renewable
natural resources. It is therefore a relationship between men or
social groups and land or its underlying resources.
Land tenure has a multidisciplinary dimension that includes
social, technical, economical, institutional, legal and political
aspects. Debates on land issues must deal with various aspects
of the environment, including the vision of space and nature,
forms of land ownership, the role of the government, etc.

A written legal document confirming rights and interests that

people have in land and which is governed by written laws and
delivered according to the law by competent authorities
Legal transfers of land or real property rights trough sale, gift,
exchange, inheritance and mortgage.

Land use plan : A plan that identifies areas for a designated use for the
purpose of land management. Used for classification, resource
management planning, identification of areas for future
development uses, including road widening.
Lease : A lease is a contractual agreement between a landlord and a
tenant for the tenancy of land.
Legal framework : Judicial, statutory and administrative systems such as court
decisions, laws, regulations, bylaws, directions and instructions
that regulate society and set enforcement processes.
Mortgage : A transfer in the interest of land for the security of a debt.
Notary : Legal attester of documents.
Operating costs (of the registry)
: For the purposes of the LGAF, total operating costs
include all non-capital investment costs (i.e. salaries and
wages, materials, transportation, etc.) associated with
registry operation. Registry operating costs do not
include long-term capital investment or associated
depreciation expense.
 18

Parcel (of land) : A parcel is a defined area of land with a unique record
of ownership, use, or other characteristics
Potential (property) tax : Tax that could be collected based on existing tax
policies.
Private state land Public approval
: all the land that is not included in the public domain
like: Vacant land which includes land that has no owner
and the land that was retaken by the state in respect to
confiscation mentioned in article 75 of the land law;
State land previously occupied by public activities but
which was excluded in that category according to law;
Land purchased by the state, donation or land acquired
through expropriation due to public use; swamps that
may be productive in terms of agriculture; Land
occupied by state owned forests.
Public approval : Approval of a decision or instrument such as a land
use plan through some participatory process that
involves public display and consultation.
Public good : An asset, facility, resource or infrastructure provided
for the benefit of the public.
Public information : Public access to information is a feature of public
policy by which each society defines what information,
particularly about private citizens and corporate entities
should be available to the public.
Public State land : Is the land in the public custodianship of the State or
public domain of the State, municipality or district, as
opposed to private State land. State land which makes
up the public domain consists of all the land meant to be
used by public or land reserved for public institution
services as well as land reserved for environmental
protection: Land on which lay lakes and rivers as listed
by an order of the Minister having water in his or her
attributions; Shores of lakes and rivers up to the length
of 50 m and 15 m successively determined by an order
 19

of the Minister having environment in his or her

attributions; Land occupied by springs and wells
determined in accordance with an order of the Minister
having water in his or her attributions; natural forests,
national parks, reserved swamps, public gardens and
touristic and cultural sites ; State roads and their
boundaries which were listed by the order of the
Minister having infrastructure in his or her attributions;
Land and building occupied by public administration. It
is immune from inadvertent alienation. It can only be
transferred to other uses by act of Parliament or Order
of the Prime Minister.
Publicly accessible : Referring to information that can be obtained by the
public without any special requirements or certifications
placed on the person/body making the enquiry.
Registry : The term ‘registry’ or ‘register’ is used to denote the
organization where the information on registered land
rights is held.
Information on registered land is typically textual and
spatial, with the former typically maintained in a
registry and the later in a cadastre office. In some
countries there is a combined organization that has both
sets of data (for example in Rwanda) and in some
countries this office is called the cadastral office (in the
Balkans, for example). In others there are separate
registry and cadastre offices. For the purpose of the
LGAF, unless clearly specified otherwise, we use the
term ‘registry’ to cover both the registry and the
cadastre (if one exists).
Registered : The term ‘registered’ means that the rights are
recorded unambiguously in the land
administration system and there are generally
few disputes over the recorded information. The

Regularization /formalization
Resolution –formal
Resolution –informal
Restrictions
Secondary rights
Sporadic registration
State land
Systematic registration
Transaction cost
20
term ‘registered’ does not necessarily mean that
the final certificate or title has been issued.
: Regularization of tenure is where informal or
illegal occupation of land is legalized by statute,
giving occupiers the legal right to ownership,
occupation or use of the land.
: Resolving a dispute through an administrative
or judicial process where the outcome is legally
binding.
: Resolving a dispute through a process where
the outcome is not legally binding.
: These are limitations on one’s rights.
: Rights that are beyond the primary rights to
transfer property through sale, gift, exchange or
inheritance or encumber property through
mortgage, lien or other charge. Secondary rights
are typically associated with use rights that may
or may not be eligible for registration.
: The process of registering rights over land on a
case-by-case basis.
: Property in the custodianship of the
Central/National Government.
: The registration of rights over contiguous
parcels on an area-byarea basis, involving
adjudication, surveying, registration and titling.
: Costs associated with an agreement over
property rights and the costs of enforcing those
rights. For example, purchase of land may
require not only payment of the negotiation
asking price but also legal land transfer fees to
establish who is the rightful owner, survey and
valuation costs, arrangement of credit and
drafting the legal transfer document. Taxes and

Transfer tax
Typology of tenure situations
Tenure Upgrading
Urban group rights
Usufruct, use rights
Valuation roll
21
duties are not considered part of a transaction
cost.
: Taxes associated with the transfer of properties
payable to the State. The most common is in the
form of a stamp duty or capital gains tax.
: A country-specific typology of land tenure
distinguishes Public ownership/use, Private
ownership/use and Indigenous and
nonindigenous community tenure.
: A mechanism for increasing tenure security by
formalizing interests in property in an
incremental process. All or some rights may be
registered with varying degrees of restrictions
placed on the property.
: Refers to identifiable groups in an urban
setting. Those which people can be easily
classified as members or non-members for the
purpose of benefitting from specific rights to an
area.
: Usufruct is the legal right to use and derive
profit or benefit from property that belongs to
another person or entity.
: A list of taxable properties and associated
property values used in assessing property tax
within a jurisdiction (typically a local
government authority).
 22

Chapter 3: RWANDA LAND POLICY

3.1. Land management issues before the National Land Policy
The lack of a comprehensive land policy in Rwanda since colonial time and after
independence resulted into various issues and poor planning in land use coupled with
inexistence of tenure security in Rwanda. After 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, the Government
of Rwanda started the process of elaboration of a comprehensive land policy in the line with a
long term vision of Rwanda becoming a middle income country. Various consultations
showed that it was important to first have a land policy addressing issues and hence put up
law that will facilitate the implementation of the policy.
The sections below highlight issues that were identified before the National Land Policy of
2004 and were addressed by that policy.

3.1.1. Very High Population density and high pressure on land

For the last century the population of Rwanda has grown exponentially. The first census that
was conducted by Belgian Colonials between 1930-1935 showed that Rwanda had a
population of 1,595,400 with density estimated to 63 inhabitants per square kilometer. This
population grew to become 8,128,553 in 2002 with density of 321 inhabitants per square
kilometer: this is almost 8times in 70years. The table below shows population figures and
density over years.

Year 1930-1935 1978 1991 1997 2002 2012

Population 1,595,400 4,831,527 7,148,496, 7,700,000 8,128,553 11,000,000
Density 63 191 283 305 321 500
(inhabitant
per Km2)
Table 3.1: Population figures and density over years

The population growth and increase in population density went hand in hand with heavy
pressure on land because there are no off-farm jobs that were created to cater for the
increasing population. Natural reserves and forests were encroached to create new arable land
and excessive populations were cramming in one area of the country with most arable land.
This was aggravated by the lack of proper housing and settlement in the country which was
characterized by scattered settlement and unplanned settlement in rural area and urban areas
respectively.
 23

3.1.2. Excessive land fragmentation

The increasing population explained above went hand in hand with extensive land
fragmentation especially out of family members. According to the 1992 report by the
National Agricultural Commission, there were 1,111,897 rural households in 1986, and an
estimated 1,202,605 in 1989. It was expected that the figure would rise to 1,941,000 in 2000.
In 2000, available arable land per family farm is just 0.6 ha. This, of course, can vary by
regional in terms of the available agricultural land per family, ranging from <0.25 ha to >2
ha. The reduced size of cultivated land per family is a nationwide problem. Some highly
dense districts have already reached an average that is below 0.5 ha per household. And yet,
the critical threshold below which a farmer can no longer meet his family’s basic nutritional
requirements from agricultural activity alone is approximately 0.75 ha. According to FAO, a
farming unit should have at least 0.90 ha to be economically viable (National Land Policy,
2004).

3.1.3. Loss and degradation of soils

These were mainly due to natural causes such as topological and morphological causes,
climatic causes such as heavy rainfalls in some parts of the country, the scarcity of land in
comparison with various competing land use categories (housing, farming, conservation etc.)
and man-made causes including population pressure, the war and Genocide, inappropriate
farming methods together with inadequate soil conservation techniques, and pressure on
forests and natural reserves.

3.1.4. Lack of adequate land legislation

Before the current land Policy, there was a duality in land law in Rwanda; most of land was
governed by customary law (To discuss custom land law) which another part was governed
by written law and was the only land registered. Since there was no policy, existed legal
instruments, most of which was done during colonial period, lacked a comprehensive
approach to address the issue of land tenure hence it was also an impediment to rational land
use.

The 11th July 1960 decree related to land use and management and the 4th March 1976
decree-law concerning the purchase and sale of customary law regulated land were not
addressing the issue of tenure of land in Rwanda. They favored the ownership of land by elite
and put aside the big part of the population. Moreover, there was no comprehensive land use
 24

planning law apart from the 29th January 1981 decree concerning town planning and land use
which was never implemented due to various reasons including the lack of political will.

3.1.5. Unfavourable land tenure systems to women

According to Rwandan custom, inheritance was done from father to sons. Girls were
excluded from inheritance of family land. This system prevented a woman from land
ownership, even as a widow where she was entitled only to the right of usufruct over family
land while waiting for her sons to come of age. The 1999 succession law changes this but it
was never reflected in any land law before the policy of 2004.

3.2 Land policy framework and principles

3.2.1. Objectives

3.2.1.1. Overall Objective

In the perspective of the harmonious and sustainable development of our country, the overall
objective of the national land policy is to establish a land tenure system that guarantees tenure
security for all Rwandans and give guidance to the necessary land reforms with a view to
good management and rational use of national land resources.

3.2.1.2. Specific Objectives

• To put in place mechanisms which guarantee land tenure security to land users for the
promotion of investments in land.
• To promote good allocation of land in order to enhance rational use of land resources
according to their capacity.
• To avoid the splitting up of plots and promote their consolidation in order to bring
about economically viable production.
• To establish mechanisms which facilitate giving land its productive value in order to
promote the country’s socio-economic development.
• To focus land management towards more viable and sustainable production by
choosing reliable and time-tested methods of land development.
• To develop actions that protect land resources from the various effects of land
degradation.
• To establish institutional land administration arrangements that enable land to have
value in the market economy.
• To promote research and continuous education of the public in all aspects of duties
and obligations with regard to land tenure, land management and land transactions.
 25

• To establish order and discipline in the allocation of land and land transactions in
order to control and/or curb pressure on land, inappropriate development, land
speculation and land trafficking.
• To promote the involvement and sensitization of the public at all levels in order to
infuse land use practices that are favourable to environmental protection and good
land management.
• To promote conservation and sustainable use of wetlands.

3.2.2. General Principles

Of all the resources, land is certainly the most precious because it is an irreplaceable support
of all forms of life, particularly in Rwanda where it constitutes the most important factor of
production and survival.
However, land is a very fragile asset by its very nature, its spatial limitations, and the strong
man-made and climatic pressures that it endures. It is obvious that the mode of land
management, land use and land development will determine the development of the national
economy and the well-being of the entire population of Rwanda.
In this connection, the National Land Policy will be guided by the following general
principles:
• Land is a common heritage for past, present and future generations.
This implies a legal framework that integrates a series of rights on land and renewable
resources. But each right should be correlated to a number of duties. The management
of such a heritage should involve every citizen. The duty of the government should
therefore be to prompt and support the ecological and economic dynamics by guiding
the behaviour of all land users. The government becomes the guarantor of the
country’s land and environmental heritage and must ensure its good management
while taking into account the needs of the present and future generations.
• The State has supreme power to manage land for the benefit of all
• The General land tenure regime is a renewable long term lease. However, free hold
titles may be granted upon fulfilment of required conditions on lands with specific use
• According to the constitutional principle of equality of all citizens, all Rwandans
enjoy the same rights of access to land without any discrimination whatsoever.
• According to this principle, women, married or not, should not be excluded from the
process of land access, land acquisition and land control, and female descendants
should not be excluded from the process of family land inheritance
 26

• Allocation of public land for investment through competition

• Foreigners rights (49 years, conventions, reciprocity condition for free holds)
• Land administration should guarantee land tenure security.
• To this end, the principle of land registration should henceforth be necessary and
applicable throughout the country. It will be supported by the establishment of a well
designed land registry system that is applicable both in the urban and rural areas. This
will ensure that land is given its real value.
• The determination of the real purpose of land and information about land are a
prerequisite to good management and rational use of land, which is the basic element
of development and source of life.
• The use and management of land should take into account the different land
categories as represented by different master plans and classification and land-use
planning maps. Account should also be taken of all the various types of land-related
information, which constitute land databases which vary according to times and
space.
• Methods of land management and land use will differ according to whether they
concern urban or rural land.
Rural land consists of hills, marshlands and natural reserves.
• Existing fragile zones that are of national interest should be protected.
• Good land management should develop land use planning, including organization of
human settlement and consolidation of small plots for a more economic and
productive use of land.
• Land transactions and land taxation should be included in land administration as
elements of land development. Transactions on land rights (sale, donation,
inheritance, succession, ascendent sharing, exchange, sublease, rent, donation,
mortgage, …… (N.B. Prior consent of registered owners)
Land market gives more value to land and promotes its use in a more productive
manner. It facilitates investment in land development and enables various land users
to expect better times ahead.
• Cadastral plans and maps are the best method for obtaining, registering and analysing
comprehensive and accurate data regarding land.
Plans and maps are absolutely necessary for the success of planned development
programs of natural resources. The complexity of the relationship between man and
 27

land is such that it is essential to record this relationship in conformity with public,
communal and individual rights. Large-scale plans and maps in a graphic or digitized
form constitute the only likely basis for such a recording. Large-scale plans are
essential for good planning and for the execution of land use programs.
• An appropriate cadastral system is an essential basis for really understanding the land
situation of a country, and thus for planning any land reform action.
Such a system is very important in the implementation of a reform plan that entails all
types of interventions or some changes in the existing land systems. Cadastral maps
and land rights registers are very vital in ensuring the security of the landowner,
facilitate land transactions and monitor the use of conceded and ceded land. The
registration of land rights facilitates greatly the operations of any programme aimed at
granting agricultural loans, especially for small farmers.
• A well-defined legal and institutional framework is an indispensable tool for the
establishment of a national land policy. Decentralized institutional framework putting
alongside land registration and geo-information services In order to lay a solid
foundation for the new land policy, the land law will assist in putting in place the
necessary administrative structure for finalizing the land reforms.
• Individual land as opposed to public land
• Public land is composed of State land, para-statal institutions land and local
government institutions land
• Public land may be in the public domain or in the private domain of the concerned
institution.

3.3. Institutional framework

As mentioned above, the National Land Policy advocates for decentralization of land
management institutions. However, land management is vested into the Ministry of Natural
Resources at central level which has Rwanda Natural Resources Authority and Office of the
Registrar of Land Titles as its implementing arm.
The Ministry of Natural Resources primary role is to prepare land management laws and
policy and ensure their monitoring and evaluation. In terms of daily to daily land
management, the Ministry gives policy guidelines to decentralized entities (Districts and the
City of Kigali) through Rwanda Natural Resources Authority or the Office of the Registrar of
Land Titles. The Ministry has the mandate for resource mobilization end ensure the linkage
 28

between land management with other natural resources especially the protection of
environment.
Rwanda Natural Resources Authority was established in 2011 after the merger of the then
National Land Centre, National Forestry Authority, Office of Geology and Mining and a
Department of Water Resources from the Ministry. Through its department of lands and
mapping, Rwanda Natural Resources (RNRA) is the key institution in charge of
implementation of the land policy, it is vested to carry out land registration, keep the land
registry, national land use planning, surveying and mapping hence the general management
of all lands in Rwanda.
The Office of the Registrar of Land Titles established within RNRA was prescribed in the
former Organic Land Law and established by a Presidential Order in 2006. It has the
responsibility for issuance of land titles (Leaseholds or freeholds) and perform all
transactions related to land. It is headed by the Registrar who is supported by five deputy
zonal registrars covering each of the four provinces of Rwanda and Kigali City.
Technically, this office issues instructions to District land office and coordinate the work
related to land registration and maintenance of the land registry.
District Land Bureaus (DLB) are found at district level with responsibilities of land use
planning and land administration at the district levels, they were established by the former
Organic Land Law of 2005 (and later on provided by the Law Governing Land in Rwanda of
16 June 2013) and their responsibilities and functioning were established by a Ministerial
Order of 2006. Administratively answerable to the District authority, the DLBs are the public
notary in all matters related to land and perform tasks related to approval of cadastral plan,
receive and process transaction related to land and convey them to the Office of Registrar of
Land Titles for approval.
The One Stop Centre (OSC), this is a new concept of putting together services related units
at district level and City of Kigali in order to improve the quality of service delivery in local
governments. It is a Centre that combines the land bureau, housing bureau, infrastructure
bureau and environment bureau for better and timely delivery of services related to housing,
land management, infrastructure and environment.
Sector Land Manager, current sector organization structure has at least one sector land
manager who is in charge of land management in general but specifically they assist in land
use planning especially for rural settlement, issuance of repair permit for housing and orient
the population in all matters related to land transactions. In the near future, the land manager
will have the responsibility of providing the necessary information for land maintenance, and
 29

collection of land documents (titles), shall be done from his office. It is also to be noted that,
the public officer in charge of the civil status at the Sector level shall will be given powers of
public notary in all matters related to land in order to further decentralize land management
services.
The Mediators (Abunzi), even though they are not a land management institution per se,
mediators play a key role in the resolution of land conflicts especially those involving
boundary disputes and intra-family conflicts

3.4. Rwanda land Policy in the international scene

3.4.1. Africa Land Policy Framework and Guidelines (ALPFG)

The Africa Land Declaration of Sirte July 2009 was signed by Africa head of states. The
ALPFG provides the guiding principles for land policy development and implementation in
Africa. It offers the following:
• A basis for commitment by African member states to the formulation and
operationalization of sound land policies as a basis for sustainable human
development that includes social stability through a joint land dispute management
strategy, maintaining economic growth and alleviating poverty and protecting natural
resources.
• A consensus for shared principles as the basis for securing access to land for all users,
enhancing agricultural productivity and sustaining livelihoods.
Furthermore, it underscores the need for popular participation in land policy
formulation and implementation so as to facilitate improved governance of land
resources.
• A basis for more coherent partnerships between states, citizens and development
partners in land policy formulation and implementation on the continent.

The guidelines emphasize regional convergence on the sustainable management and

utilization of land and associated resources shared by two or more member states in various
parts of Africa. Domestic enforcement of international and regional commitments will require
that the management of resources otherwise controlled by one member state takes into
account the needs of nationals of other member states.

Land policy development and implementation is one critical area in which domestic
legislation and institutions must provide avenues to facilitate the convergence of such
 30

interests and needs. The implementation of the framework and guidelines is monitored and
conducted by the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) hosted by UNECA.

Looking at the National Land Policy of 2004 that was passed by Rwanda, it is clear that all
provisions of the framework and guidelines were taken into consideration. Rwanda is among
few African countries that went through a very participatory process to produce a
comprehensive national land policy. More importantly, Rwanda is recognised by the high
political will to implement the policy through legal and institutional framework and
programmes such as systematic land registration through land tenure regularisation.

3.4.2. Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,

Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (FAO)
These Voluntary Guidelines seek to improve governance of tenure of land, fisheries and
forests. They seek to do so for the benefit of all, with an emphasis on vulnerable and
marginalized people, with the goals of food security and progressive realization of the right to
adequate food, poverty eradication, sustainable livelihoods, social stability, housing security,
rural development, environmental protection and sustainable social and economic
development. All programmes, policies and technical assistance to improve governance of
tenure through the implementation of these Guidelines should be consistent with States’
existing obligations under international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other international human rights instruments. These guidelines are voluntary to
any state, nation, region and international organisation.

In February 2013, FAO conducted a workshop to raise awareness of the guidelines in

Rwanda. It was mentioned that Rwanda was chosen because of the effort it has demonstrated
in terms of governance of land, fisheries and forests. Representative of FAO commended
Rwanda and requested countries in Africa to learn from its experience of good policy
formulation and how to transform a policy into action for the benefit of citizen.
 31

Chapter 4: LAND ADMINISTRATION

4.1. Introduction
Land administration is the way in which the rules of land tenure are applied and made
operational. Land administration, whether formal or informal, comprises an extensive range
of systems and processes to administer.
Traditionally, land administration functions may be divided into four components:
o Juridical,
o regulatory,
o fiscal, and
o information management.
These functions of land administration may be organized in terms of land registration,
including surveying and mapping, land valuation, land use and land development.

4.2. Land registration and ownership

Land registration generally describes systems by which matters concerning ownership,
possession or other rights in land can be recorded (usually with a government agency) to
provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions and to prevent unlawful disposal. In this part,
we shall look into land registration in general, the Torrens system of land registration, land
transactions, the condominium registration and the land registry, which is actually the data
base. Before going, however, into those details, we shall overview how the land is acquired in
our country.

4.2.1. Land acquisition

Any person is allowed to lease private State owned land, private parastatal’s owned land,
private City of Kigali owned land or private District owned land or to enter into transactions
with private land holders.
For the public land, the acquisition shall be done:
• Through an open competition.
• However, strategic investments can be exempted from the competition, when
authorized by an Order of the Prime Minister on a well defined land.
• And on approved business plan by a competent authority in accordance with the
importance and value of the investment.
On the other hand, Article 130 of the law nº 87/2013 of 11/09/2013 determining the
organization and functioning of decentralized administrative entities provides that the
 32

Executive Committee of the District shall be especially responsible for promoting land use
and organization and allotting plots in the District.

4.2.2. Land tenure typology and classification as per the land law and secondary
Existing tenure typology before the OLL:
• Freehold Title (certificate of freehold title/Titre de Propriete): Title of full ownership
given to land owner after they have developed their land by putting on buildings.
• Contrats de Location: this tenure type was granted for undeveloped land (urban and
peri-urban) after a deed plan is issued for parcel but before land is developed. Initial
contract was for 3 years but could be extended in 3 or 4 year terms up to 10 years
maximum. For now, the “contrat de location” was replaced by an emphyteutic lease
of 20 or 30 years according to usage or land use types in urban areas. This
emphyteutic lease is accompanied by a certificate of emphyteutic lease. It falls under
the category of individual private owned land in urban area.
• Emphyteutic lease: long term lease (20, 30, 49, 99 years according to land category
and land use) that gives real right to the land owner.
• Acte de Notoriete: occupancy permit primarily in urban areas with no fixed term, but
annual rent must be paid at 6% tax on value of land to government on registration. It
is a preliminary requirement to obtain emphyteutic lease during the process of
systematic registration (LTR) or even for sporadic registration. It falls under the
category of individual customary land in urban and rural areas
• Certificate of occupancy for Paysannat Land: considered as individual customary
land (land category) with Occupancy permit (or an acte de notoriete). During
systematic registration, this tenure typology changed and became Emphyteutic lease
of 99 years with Certificate of 99 years emphyteutic lease.
• “Cession gratuite” granted to religious confessions.
 33

The following table shows different categories of land with their correspondent typology of
tenure and the bundles of rights attached onto.
Category of land Typology of tenure Bundles of rights
Individual private Freehold title (certificate of full Absolute right to occupy; to use; to rent; to
owned land ownership) on real property transfer trough inheritance, sale, gift,
mortgage; to use as collateral for loan

Conditional free hold Conditional right to occupy; to use; to rent; to

transfer through inheritance, sale, gift,
mortgage; to use as collateral for loan. This
title
is usually issued to facilitate qualified
investors

Emphyteutic lease of 99 years with Real right to occupy; to use; to rent; to

Certificate of 99 years emphyteutic lease transfer the lease terms (remaining years)
trough inheritance, sale, gift, mortgage; to use
as collateral for loan

Emphyteutic lease of 20 years for With building permit as precondition, right to

residential land, with Certificate of 20 occupy; to use; to rent; to transfer the lease
years emphyteutic lease terms (remaining years) trough inheritance,
sale, gift, mortgage; to use as collateral for
loan

Emphyteutic lease of 30 years for With building permit as precondition, right to

commercial and industrial land, with 30 occupy; to use; to rent; to transfer the lease
years Certificate of emphyteutic lease terms (remaining years) trough inheritance,
sale, gift, mortgage; to use as collateral for
loan.
Private state and Emphyteutic lease of 49 years for Usufruct right to occupy; to use; to transfer
parastatal, Kigali agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry the lease terms (remaining years) trough
City and District and tourism inheritance; to use as collateral for loan prior
owned land to explicit request and approval by the
allocated for Minister in charge of land
investment or for
social purpose Emphyteutic lease of 30 years for Usufruct right to occupy; to use; to transfer
commercial, industrial, social and the lease terms (remaining years) trough
cultural Activities inheritance; to use as collateral for loan prior
to explicit request and approval by the
Minister in charge of land

Emphyteutic lease of 20 years for Usufruct right to occupy; to use; to transfer

approved residential activities and in the lease terms (remaining years) trough
marchlands inheritance; to use as collateral for loan

Usufruct right to occupy; to use; to transfer

Emphyteutic lease of 15 years for the lease terms (remaining years) trough
approved activities in waterways (like inheritance; to use as collateral for loan
fishing)
Public domain Certificate of ownership to public Real right to occupy and use.
(public Institution/administration
State land
 34

Disposal of large domain to public Real right to occupy and use.

institution (like Ministry of Defense, It is prohibited to transact the public domain
Ministry of Agriculture, Districts, unless it is transferred by the law to the
Municipalities, Ministry of private state owned land.
Infrastructure,
Public Universities, Agriculture
Research institutions…)
Table 4.1: Tenure typology in relation to land category and bundles of rights

4.2.3. Why is land registration important?

Land registration will benefit all Rwandans: men, women, children, families, and businesses.
And it will particularly protect the indigent population, notably widows and orphans.
Registration protects the rights of owners and those with interests in land, and so will help to
prevent future land disputes. It is important to you because it will provide:
• Protection of your rights – When your land is registered your rights in that land will
be secured. This means your land cannot be taken from you without first going
through certain legal processes;
• Clarity of your legal rights – Registration will make clear who owns the land, who has
a legal interest in the land, and those who have a legal right to occupy or use the land;
• Clarity of your boundaries – Disputes between you and your neighbours will be
minimized once your land is registered, since the boundaries of your land will be
demarcated as agreed by you and your neighbours;
• Security for loans – If you want to obtain a loan or mortgage from a bank, registration
will help you to use your land as security; and
• Ease of transferring land title – It will be much easier for you to transfer your legal
rights in the land to another person (for example, by sale, gift or inheritance) once
your land is registered.

4.2.4. Who must register?

Land registration is compulsory for every person who claims to own, have an interest in, or
right to use/occupy any piece of land in Rwanda. Every individual should be personally
responsible for ensuring that his/her rights are protected. For example, if a man and woman
are legally married and own land together, both the husband and wife should take individual
care to make sure their names are recorded against the land.
 35

Where members of the community are particularly vulnerable (poor, widowed, orphaned,
elderly, illiterate, etc.), other community members should assist in ensuring that their rights to
land are also registered.

4.2.5. Basic legal principles for land registration

In spite of the differences between the systems of the numerous countries operating a land
registration system (either deeds or titles), there are four basic legal principles that can
generally be recognized:

a) The booking principle implies that a change in real rights on an immovable property,
especially by transfer, is not legally effectuated until the change or the expected right is
booked or registered in the land register.

b) The consent principle implies that the real entitled person who is booked as such in the
register must give his consent for a change of the inscription in the land register;

c) The principle of publicity implies that the legal registers are open for public inspection,
and also that the published facts can be upheld as being more or less correct by third parties
in good faith, so that they can be protected by law.

Concerning the public inspection, it can be remarked that in various countries the land
register is open for inspection whether by anybody who wishes to do so (The Netherlands,
Belgium, France), or by anybody who has a legally recognized interest in what is published
(Germany), or by the registered owner or anybody who has a permission of the registered
owner (in England, until 1991). In the last case the privacy element is very dominant.
There is a need to open the registers, which were up to now more or less "closed" for
inspection by anybody. The register thus can not only assist in the simplification of
conveyancing but will also help in identifying the ownership of properties for other purposes,
such as conservation and development. Therefore the land register will be an important
component of a concept of a broad land information system. Evidence of this need can be
found in England, where the Land Registration Act of 1988 heralds the end of the privacy of
the register. This Act was brought into force in 1991.
 36

d) The principle of specialty implies that in land registration, and consequently in the
documents submitted for registration, the concerned subject (man) and object (i.e. real
property) must be unambiguously identified.

Depending on the nature and extend of involvement of the state in the conveyancing process,
which appears in activity or passivity of the state and which has the root in the "legal" history
(in Continental Europe Roman law and Germanic law), there exist two recognized systems of
land registration, the deed and the title registration system.

A deed registration system means that the deed itself, being a document which describes an
isolated transaction, is registered. This deed is evidence that a particular transaction took
place, but it is in principle not in itself proof of the legal rights of the involved parties and,
consequently, it is not evidence of its legality. Thus before any dealing can be safely
effectuated, the ostensible owner must trace his ownership back to a good root of title.

Deed registration, whether the "basic" or the "improved" one (=based on a survey and on
documents of competent notaries as well as on an active role of the register) is usually
applied in countries which are mainly based on the Roman law (in Europe: France, Spain,
Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands) and also in countries that were influenced by the former
ones in earlier times (South-America, parts of North-America, some African and Asian
countries).

A title registration system means that not the deed, describing e.g. the transfer of rights is
registered but the legal consequence of that transaction i.e. the right itself (=title). So the right
itself together with the name of the rightful claimant and the object of that right with its
restrictions and charges are registered. With this registration the title or right is created.
So one could say that deed registration is concerned with the registration of the legal fact
itself and title registration with the legal consequence of that fact. In other words, the relation
between deed and title registration is similar to the relation between legal facts and legal
consequences.

Concerning the effect of a land registration system, especially a title registration, three
principles are sometimes upheld namely the mirror principle, which means that the register
is supposed to reflect the correct legal situation; the curtain principle, which means that no
 37

further (historical) investigation beyond the register is necessary except overriding interests;
and the insurance or guarantee principle, which means that the state guarantees that what
is registered is true for third parties in good faith and that a bona fide rightful claimant who is
contradicted by the register is reimbursed from an insurance fund of the state.

This classification is rather arbitrary, but it is largely geographical and tends to reflect
differences in land law rather than differences in registration principles.
The cartographic/mapping/surveying aspect differs between the 3 groups i.e. the English
group makes use of large scale ordnance survey maps, the German group of parcel-based
cadastral maps, and the Torrens group makes use in principle of incidental survey plans.

A better attempt to categorize title registration systems on more realistic points would be:
• Whether or not registration carries a state guarantee;
• Whether rectification of the registration on ground of error, fraud or adverse
possession is allowable;
• On differences in maps and survey and in the methods of initial compilation.

Regarding the Torrens system, it can be remarked that Sir Robert Richard Torrens introduced
it in 1858 in South Australia. Under his name, this system was spread throughout Australia
and to some other parts of the world. Robert Torrens appears to be influenced by the German
land registration in Hamburg and by the German shipping registration. Referring to the book
"Transfer of Land in Victoria" by S.

Robinson 1979, he chartered Dr. Hübbe from Hamburg to assist in developing the Torrens
system in South Australia.

Sometimes a deed registration system is indicated as to be synonymous with a negative or a

passive system and a title registration system with a positive or active system.

Usually in a deed registration system recording does not automatically guarantee the
concerned right. Such a system is negative and as a consequence passive in analysing the
documents. A title registration, as we have seen, guarantees the title, gives positive legal
force, and as a consequence the state has to be active in analysing the documents in order to
 38

avoid damages and compensations. The more guarantee by the state there is, the more
investigation has to be done by the state, or, in other words: the more positive a system is, the
more state activity is required.

4.2.6. Land registration and cadastre

Cadastre is related to the principle of specialty as indicated before. A main task of the
cadastre can be seen the setting down - on the basis of the existing or expected legal situation
- of parcels, which are represented on a large scale map with a parcel identifier. This
identifier is used in the land register to indicate the legal object in a special, short and
unambiguous manner (specialty). As already mentioned, this identifier (parcel number)
connects the legal part with the cartographic, surveying one.

Besides the map or the geometrical part there exists also a descriptive or alphanumeric part of
the cadastre: a register which contains physical attributes of the parcel i.e. identifier, local
location, area, kind of use and abstract attributes like data for land tax such as value,
proprietor and/or taxpayer. Usually there exists also a reference to the land register. One can
say that the task of a cadastre is mainly geometrically oriented i.e. fixing and representing the
parcel.

As the heart of a cadastre is the parcel, it is necessary in this context to pay attention to some
relevant aspects:

a) Generally - whether for legal use or for ecological applications - a land parcel can
be defined as a continuous area of land within which unique and homogeneous
interests are recognized.
On behalf of legal cadastral purposes such a parcel reflects a homogeneity in legal
interest and on behalf of land use purposes such a parcel reflects a homogeneity in
use.
Usually these parcels are surveyed and mapped by a closed line and indicated by a
number (parcel identifier) on the map.

b) In relation to the parcel boundaries the question on what data can be relied on plays
a role. The English system relies mainly on physical boundary features, man-made or
natural. The precise position of the boundary within these physical boundary systems
 39

is known as a "general boundary system". The system provides, however, for the
precise surveyed boundaries to be "fixed" if desired by the owners. After entering the
precise survey data in the land register the boundary is "legally" fixed for everybody
and guaranteed. Without registering the precise survey data, these boundaries are not
legally fixed and have the legal effect of "general boundaries". The term "general
boundaries" originates from the English land recording system.

The choice between "general" and "fixed" boundaries depends on the pace of creating
or updating the system, the existence of physical features, disputes to be expected, the
amount of necessary security and the costs. A cost/benefit analysis is of course
necessary.

c) Concerning the identification of the parcel is remarked that this has to be simple
and easy to understand, unambiguous, reliable and flexible (compatible with various
parcel oriented information systems). There is a tendency towards using also
identification by coordinates. This is done on behalf of coupling with other systems
and of cartographic representation of various land recording data.

4.2.7. Land registration maintenance and up date

4.2.7.1. Land Tenure Regularisation (LTR) and Land Tenure Regularisation Support
System (LTRSS)
Rwanda has been working on a Land Tenure Regularisation (LTR) programme since 2005
(with trials till 2008 and full implementation since 2008) with the objective of all rightful
landholders in Rwanda receiving legally valid land title documents and minimising disputes
preventing the issue of land titles.

The Land Tenure Regularisation (LTR) programme has been using general boundaries
demarcation, marked on ortho-photos (ortho rectified aerial photographs) or enlarged satellite
images, with claims being assessed in the field in a highly participatory system.
It has been a very ambitious but also very successful systematic land registration programme.
Indeed, by end March 2012, 10 million parcels had been demarcated and 2.8 million
certificates of title had been provided; less than 100,000 parcels have yet to be demarcated
and the deadline for terminating the LTR operations is still December 2013.
 40

To support the programme, two computer systems were developed to record and process the
land claims information. The Land Tenure Regularisation Support System (LTRSS) contains
textual details of land parcels and the Geographic Information System (GIS) maintains the
spatial details of land parcels. The two systems are linked through a Unique Parcel Identifier
(UPI).

Although the LTR has been a success, there is a need to maintain the system in terms of the
information on parcels, rights and right owners that is regularly changing due to different
types of transaction on land (sale, inheritance, sub-division/merge of parcels, servitudes,
expropriation, corrections, etc.). Without a fully functioning maintenance system, with time
the information collected by the LTR will becomes more and more out of date, until
eventually it will become a not accurate and not useful record of land, rights and right
owners.

4.2.7.2. Land Administration Information System (LAIS)

In order to ensure proper land management and land administration and specifically the
maintenance of land certificates issued to landholders during land registration, a Land
Administration Information System (LAIS) has been developed. LAIS is a web based land
registration tool that is developed based on procedures and processes that are provided for by
the Ministerial Order Determining Modalities of Land Registration.

The core of the LAIS, comprising the data store and the main processing capacity, are held
centrally with the users being able to interface with the core using the web browsers over the
internet. Changes to land rights will be notified to the system through administrative
documents. Administrative documents will be received at district offices, checked and details
entered to the database via an intranet using a web browser. Deputy Registrars located in
zone’s offices will check and approve the work undertaken by district officers. The spatial
component (GIS) of the LAIS will soon be incorporated into the system.

LAIS has been introduced as a way of moving from analogue to digital way of dealing with
various land transactions but most importantly to create a more efficient, cost effective, quick
and transparent land registration processes.
 41

4.2.7.3. What are the most frequent land transactions?

If you own your land, you can legally transfer your right to the land to another person in
different ways: sale, exchange, donation/gift, sublease, legal marriage, inheritance and
succession. It can also be subject to restrictions benefiting to third parties. In this part, we
shall not analyse all of them; we shall only look into those most frequent with a big social
impact.

a. Changes of land information due to legal marriage

A legal marriage is a marriage that is recognized by law. Since 1979, civil ceremonies are
required by Rwandan law. There are three categories of legal marriage:
• Community of Property Regime
This is the most common regime. If you both choose this regime, you will jointly own all of
your land and other property and share all of your debts on a 50/50 basis. This includes all
assets and debts that were acquired before or during your marriage. If you were married
outside Rwanda, the community of property regime will apply to any property you own in
Rwanda, unless you have an agreement to the contrary. If you are married under the
community of property regime, both you and your spouse have equal rights over the property.
This means, among other things, that your spouse’s consent is required before you sell,
donate or otherwise transfer your property.
• Separation of Property Regime
This regime will allow you and your spouse each to own land, property and debts separately
from each other. This means you each separately own any property you have before your
marriage and any property you acquire after your marriage. You must contribute to household
expenses according to each of your abilities to do so. If you and your spouse bought land
together, you will both own the property in proportion to the amount you each paid. In this
case, you and your spouse will both be listed on the Contract of Emphyteutic Lease as co-
lessees. The separation of property regime can only change by court ruling.
• Limited Community of Acquests Regime
Choosing this regime means that on the day of your marriage, you and your spouse must
decide which of the property you currently own will be owned jointly (as community
property). Any property you do not select to be shared will be the individual property of the
one who purchased it. Personal debts will not be part of the community property, so you will
each be responsible for your own debts. However, any property or land acquired after the
marriage will be community property.
 42

Only the first and the third regime do have an impact of land ownership.
b. Inheritance without a will
• The principle: succession order
The following chart sets out the order in terms of who will inherit your property when you
die without a Will:
1. Your children recognized by you. If one or more of your children
are dead, their share is inherited by any living children they have.

2. If you have no children or grandchildren who are still alive, then your
parents inherit your property.

3. If your parents are not still alive, then your full sisters and brothers
inherit your property. If one or more of your full sisters or brothers are
dead, their share is inherited by any living children they have.

4. If you have no full sisters or brothers or full nieces or nephews who

are still alive, then your half brothers and sisters inherit your property.
If one or more of your half sisters or brothers are dead, their share is
inherited by any living children they have.

5. If you have no half sisters or brothers or half nieces or nephews who

are still alive, then your aunts and uncles inherit your property. If one
or more of your aunts and uncles are dead, their share is inherited by any
living children they have.

6. If none of the people above is still alive, your assets go to the state.

Figure 4.1: Succession order

 43

Details
If you have no Will, how the things you own will be distributed upon your death will depend
on whether or not you are legally married, whether your legal husband/wife is still alive, and
whether you have children. The most common types of scenarios are set out below:
o You are legally married
For the following examples, it is presumed that the community of property regime, which is
the most common regime, has been chosen. If you have not chosen the community of
property regime, you should ask a legal expert how your regime will apply to you.

Example 1: You are legally married, you die (husband or wife), and you have biological
and/or legally adopted children together

o Your spouse has the right to administer 100% of your estate

but must also continue to raise your children (if they are below
the age of 21) and give assistance to your parents who are in
need. This means your spouse can continue living on the land
you owned together and using your property.
o Your property is usually only distributed among your children
or other heirs once your spouse dies, remarries or has children
with a new partner.
o If your spouse does not fulfill the duty to assist your parents,
the family council may give part of your estate to your parents.
o If your spouse does not fulfill the duty to raise your children
who are under the age of 21, your estate can be divided so that
¼ (25%) is inherited fully by your spouse, and the remaining ¾
(75%) will be divided by your children in equal shares.

Example 2: You are legally married, you die (husband or wife), and you have no
children
o Your spouse will have the right to remain in your home and on
your land which you shared together and use the land and its
contents until s/he dies or remarries.
o However, everything you own when you die, including your
land, will be divided into two equal parts.
o Your spouse will own ½ (50%).
 44

o Your heirs will inherit the remaining ½ (50%). Your heirs are
those people shown on the Inheritance by Law chart, above.

Example 3: You are legally married, you die, you have children, and your spouse
remarries (legal marriage) after your death

o Once your spouse remarries, your estate will be divided. Your

spouse will get ¼ (25%) of everything you own. Your children
under the age of 21 will get full ownership of the remaining ¾
(75%) in equal shares, but your spouse will administer this for
them because they are still minors. The family council may
allow your spouse to keep using the family home if it is in the
best interests of the children. Once your children reach the age
of 21, they will gain full ownership rights over their share of the
inheritance.
• If your spouse chooses the community of property regime in the next legal marriage,
the ¼ (25%) share of your estate will become part of the community property with
his/her new spouse.
• If your spouse remarries after your children have become adults, your estate will be
divided in half. Your spouse will get full ownership of ½ (50%) of your estate. The
other ½ (50%) will go to your children in equal shares.
Example 4: You were legally married, both you and your spouse have died, and you are
only survived by your biological and/or legally adopted children which you shared
together

• Your children will inherit 100% of everything owned by

you and your spouse.
• Your children have an obligation to assist their
grandparents.
 45

Example 5: You were legally married, both you and your spouse have died, and you
have no children

• Everything you and your spouse own will be divided into two equal
parts.
• Your heirs will inherit ½ (50%) and your spouse’s heirs will inherit the
remaining ½ (50%) according to the law on separate property: your
parents; failing that, your full brothers/sisters; failing that, your full
nephews/nieces; failing that, your half brothers/sisters; failing that,
your half nephews/nieces; failing that, your aunties/uncles of your
father/mother; failing that, your cousins who are children your
aunties/uncles; or in the absence of all the above, it will go to the State.
Example 6: You were legally married, both you and your spouse have died, and
you each have children but you did not have those children together

• Everything you and your spouse own will be divided into two equal parts.
• Your children (or your grandchildren if your children die first) will inherit ½ (50%)
of everything you owned.
• The remaining ½ (50%) will go to the children of your spouse.

Everything you own with your spouse will be divided into two
equal parts.

½ (50%) of your property will go to your children and ½ (50%) will
go to your spouse’s children.

Where the children have both you and your spouse as their
biological or legal parents, they will inherit from both of you. In
this way, they will end up having a bigger share than the children
who inherit from only one parent outside the legal marriage.

In this example, there are three children from the legal marriage,
and the husband and wife each have two other children of their
own.

The assets will be divided into two, so that ½ (50%) goes to the
wife’s five children, ½ (50%) goes to the husband’s five children.
 46

The four children born outside the legal marriage will receive 1/5
(20%) of their single parent’s 50% share, amounting to 10% of the
combined estate. The three children from the legal marriage will
each receive 20% of the total estate (1/5 from the mother’s 50%
share and 1/5 from the father’s).
• You are informally married
The following examples apply if you are not legally married but you and your partner live
together informally.
Example 8: You are informally married or in a relationship with someone (man or
woman), you die, and you have children recognized by you

o Your partner does not inherit anything from you on your death
since you are not legally married.
o Your children will inherit everything you own in equal shares.
o If you and your partner have children together, and those
children are below the age of 21, your partner will have a
parental authority over them. Your partner will have a duty to
administer your children’s inheritance, and so will be able to
use your land and property, but only for the benefit and in the
best interests of the children.
o If your partner has children who are not recognized by you as
your children, those children will not inherit anything on your
death.
Example 9: You are informally married or in a relationship with someone (man or
woman), you die, and you do not have children
o Your partner does not inherit anything from you on your death
since you are not legally married. S/he will not be able to
continue living in your house or using your land.
o Everything you own goes to your heirs, according to the law on
separate property: your parents; failing that, your full
brothers/sisters; failing that, your full nephews/nieces; failing
that, your half brothers/sisters; failing that, your half
nephews/nieces; failing that, your aunties/uncles of your
father/mother; failing that, your cousins who are children your
aunties/uncles; or in the absence of all the above, it will go to
the State.
 47

c. Donations/gifts
A gift or donation is an act by which a person transfers property to another while still alive
for no payment. You have the right to give away your property so long as it is not more than
you actually own (for example, if you co-own any land, you cannot give away more than
your share of that land). If you jointly own property (for example if you are married under
community of property regime) you will need to get the written consent of the person with
whom you jointly own the property. Again, you may not give away more than 1/5 of your net
assets (value of all your assets minus your debts) if you have children, or 1/3 of your net
assets if you do not have any children.
• How do I make a gift or donation?
You can give away your assets in four different ways:
by inter vivos gift;
by ascending partition;
by legacy; and
by promised gift.
In all cases, you can make your donation by written contract, by agreement, or simply by
handing the property over to the recipient.
However, if it is land that you want to give away to someone, you must do this by authentic
deed. This transfer of land must then be registered at the District Land Bureau in order for it
to have legal effect.
• Inter vivos gift
This is the most common type of gift. You can give your property to another person who
accepts it. Once you have given away your land or property through inter vivos gift, you
cannot take it back unless that person: tries to take your life; has been found guilty of
physically injuring you or insulting you; or refuses to help you when in need.

• Ascending partition
An ascending partition is slightly different from the traditional Rwandan umunani. To be a
valid ascending partition, you must distribute assets to all of your children (both sons and
daughters) equally. Distributions must be made in equal value, which may not necessarily be
equal in quantity. The ascending partition allows you to transfer and distribute some of your
land or other property to your children or descendants when you are still alive. This donation
 48

is irrevocable. If you give away your land or property in this manner, you may not take it
back.
• Legacy
A legacy means you can make a gift while you are alive, but it will not change hands until
your death.
• Promised gift
Promised gifts are gifts that you promise for the future (though are not dependent on you
dying) but are only allowed between you and your spouse, you and your future spouse, or
between you and your children or their descendants. Such gifts will be valid even after you
die.
• How can I donate my land, or part of my land to my informal spouse?
Where you have not had a civil ceremony, you will not be recognized under the law as having
had a legal marriage. Your informal spouse will have no rights to your land or anything else
you own. If you are unable to have a civil ceremony, the only way of granting him or her
rights to your land is by donation (by authentic deed).

If you jointly own your land with your legal spouse, you must first get her consent, which
must be notarized under oath, before making a donation. If the donated property is part of an
existing land parcel then it will be necessary to demarcate the portion of land that your
informal wife will take. She will then be the legal owner of that piece of land and her legal
title should be registered at the Office of the Registrar of Land Titles. The changes to the size
of your smaller piece of land that you own with your legal wife should be given to the
District Land Bureau. If the land cannot be demarcated (most likely because splitting the
parcel would be contrary to the law which states that agricultural land cannot be divided into
parcels of less than one hectare), then your informal wife will have a legal interest in the land
and this interest should be added to the Land Title and registered at the Office of the
Registrar of Land Titles. This will allow her to use and enjoy the portion of land and her
consent will have to be obtained before the land is sold or leased.

d. Leasing agricultural land

You can rent or lease your land for agricultural production but you can only do so by written
contract. Otherwise, any agreement made by you will be invalid.
 49

You should seek assistance from a lawyer to help you write the contract. A lease will expire
at the end of the term set by you. However, if your tenant remains on the land after the lease
has expired and you do not oppose this or serve him with an eviction notice, the lease will be
automatically renewed. As the landowner, you can end the lease early by giving your tenant
written notice, but you must give the tenant enough time for him/her to harvest the crops, or
you must compensate the tenant for the value of the crops s/he would have harvested.
Your tenant is not allowed to sublet the land to another person without your consent.
He will also be responsible for conservation of your land and informing you about the
security of your land (for example, your tenant will have a duty to inform you if someone
tells him that he disputes your ownership rights, although it will be your responsibility to
resolve any such disputes). If your tenant fails to inform you of these issues and you suffer
financial loss, or your land is destroyed, the tenant will have to compensate you.
If your tenant dies, the lease will pass to the tenant’s heirs, and you will not be able to end the
lease early unless you have expressly agreed to this in the written lease.
However, the heirs of the tenant can terminate the lease within one year, by giving three
months’ notice.

e. Other land transactions

Subdivision, expropriation, annotation, sporadic registration, change of use, voluntary sale,
transfer ordered by the court, servitude, forced transfer, confiscation, requisition, seizure,
caveat, modification of land tenure, change on persons, rectification, replacement of a
certificate, exchange, …..

4.2.8. Cadastral developments and land management

4.2.8.1. In the World

The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG, 1995) defines a cadastre as a “parcel based
and up to-date land information system containing a record of interests in land (e.g. rights,
restrictions and responsibilities). It usually includes a geometric description of land parcels
linked to other records describing the nature of the interests, ownership or control of those
interests, and often the value of the parcel and its improvements. It may be established for
fiscal purposes (valuation and taxation), legal purposes (conveyancing), to assist in the
management of land and land-use control (planning and administration), and enables
sustainable development and environmental improvement”.
 50

However, the concept of Cadastre is difficult to identify:

• It may be designed in many different ways, depending on the origin, history and
cultural development of the region or country.
• Basically, a cadastre as such is just a record that identifies the individual land
parcels/properties.
• The purpose of this identification may be taxation (as was the reason for establishing
the European cadastres) or it may be security of land rights (as was the case when
establishing the Torrens systems in the new world such as Australia).

Today, most cadastral registers around the world are linked to both the land value/taxation
area and the area of securing legal rights in land.
Therefore, it makes sense to talk about Cadastral Systems or Cadastral Infrastructures rather
than just Cadastre. These systems or infrastructures include the interaction between the
identification of land parcels, the registration of land rights, the valuation and taxation of land
and property, and the control of present and possible future use of land. This is shown in the
figures below (Enemark, 2004).

Figure 4.2: Cadastral systems provide a basic land information infrastructure for
running the interrelated systems within the areas of Land Tenure, Land Value, and
Land Use
 51

Even though cadastral systems around the world are clearly different in terms of structure,
processes, and actors, they are increasingly merging into a unified global model: the multi-
purpose cadastre.

This is due to some global drivers: globalization and technology development. These trends
supports establishment of multifunctional information systems with regard to land rights and
land-use regulations. A third global driver is sustainable development with its demand for
comprehensive information on the environmental conditions in combination with other land
and property related data. The identification of land parcels in the cadastral system provides
the basic infrastructure for running the interrelated systems within the areas of Land Tenure,
Land Value, and Land-Use. As a result, the traditional surveying, mapping and land
registration focus has moved away from being primarily provider-driven to now being clearly
user-driven. However, each of those systems includes tasks and processes that impose quite
different demands on the cadastral system. The success of a cadastral system is a function of
how well it internalizes these influences and achieves these broad social, economic and
environmental objectives.

4.2.8.2. In Rwanda

a. Traditional cadastre
• Individualization boundaries using trees and plants, stones, trenches, ect, ….
• Defining size by tape measures…
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Figure 4.3: Traditional cadastre

b. Modernization: ITRF (new reference frame)
• For the mapping purpose, coordinates are projected:
o using:
• Transverse Mercator formulas,
• GRS 80 ellipsoid and the ITRF reference frame
With the following parameters:
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• Central Meridian (CM) 30°E

• Scale factor at CM 0.9999
• False Northing (FN) 5 000 000 m
• False Easting (FE) 500 000 m
• Reference ellipsoid in GRS 80
• Semi-major axis 6 378 137 m
• Flattening 1/298.257222101
Implementation of the ITRF:
• Monuments, GPS measurements and computations completed
• Establishing a network of permanent reference stations is to be done

Figure 4.4: Cadastral deeds

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Figure 4.5: Orthophotos

c. Development of cadastral data base

• Using Arc-cadastre (software), the City of Kigali developed, in 2002, a cadastral data
base for tax collection
• From 2007, Rwanda is developing a multipurpose (tax, mortgage, land use
monitoring, registration, ….) national cadastral data base concurrently and through
the SLR exercise. The main steps for its construction are: p-mapping and digitization.
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Figure 4.6: P-mapping

Figure 4.7: Once demarcated, plots are digitized and put into the national spatial
database

d. Characteristics of the Rwandan cadastral System

• Based on the Torrens System: mirror principle, curtain principle, insurance principle
• Administration
o Surveyors:
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Civil servants in some Districts

Private practitioners, mainly in the City of Kigali and in some Districts
o Cadastral unit:

Cell for p-mapping

Planed areas for urban areas
o One Institution for cadastre, mapping and land registration
• Processes: participatory (adjudication)
• Area provided: fixed boundaries or general boundaries
• Maintenance after first registration Decentralized
• IT based
• Complying with regional and international standards

e. Relationship under land ownership

• Subject-Object-Right

Figure 4.8: Relationship under land ownership

• UPI that:
o Links Person - object – right
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Figure 4.9: Person-object-right

o Links also to all land stakeholders: RRA, insurance, courts, bailiffs,

District, land use monitoring, RDB, Banks, etc, ….

Figure 4.10: UPI’s role

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Chapter 5. GENERAL CONCLUSION

The content of this manual was drawn from various Rwandan legislation related to land
management and international literature. This manual should be considered as a living
document since Rwandan legislation keeps changing to suit the realities of the time. Hence
all guidelines and processes and procedures that are described in this manual reflect the
situation as of its date of production (May 2014).

Comprehensive land management in Rwanda is still at young stage, it is important that judges
from all levels are equipped with basic knowledge in land management since most of
developmental activities happen somewhere on land parcel which is administered, managed
and planned for.

While Rwanda wants to achieve its Vision 2020, this manual should contribute to good
service delivery that is paramount to have a good performance in GDP growth rate of 11.5%
as stated in EDPRS II.

Rwanda has clear national land policy which has set, on one side, institutions in charge of
land management, those institutions are being strengthened and capacity building is one of
the priority for those institutions. On another side, there is a set of comprehensive legal
instruments related to land management and administration. A systematic land registration
programme was conducted through land tenure regularisation and 10.3 million parcels were
demarcated with 8.4million land titles issued. A national land use and development master
plan has been prepared and adopted which lead to the ongoing preparation of District land
use plans. Rwanda has put in place a modern geodetic reference network (CORS –
Continuous Operation Reference Stations) and has a new digital base-map. All these
endeavours are to enable good land management and administration, which lead to argue that
Rwanda is the most prepared country in Sub-Saharan Africa to deal with challenges of land
issues.
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Reference
National Land Policy, Rwanda Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forests, Water and Mines
(MINITERE), February 2004

RNRA, Land tenure regularization sustainability strategy, 2012

MUVARA P., NGARAMBE V., La situation foncière au Rwanda, in Rencontres Foncières,
Bujumbura 28-30 Mars 2011, under the coordination of Thinon P., Rochegude A., Hilhorst
T., available also online: www.cooperationsuisse. admin.ch/.../resource_fr_200

MINIRENA/RNRA, Draft Surveyor’s manual, October 2012

RNRA, Land administration system manual, 2012

MINECOFIN, Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2013 –2018, April
2013

Vision 2020, Rwanda Ministry of Finances and Economic Planning, July 2000

Procedures and Process Manual, Land Administration Information System, V0.6, RNRA, 22-
11-2011.