Can foreigners own land in Ghana?

What the law says

Article 266 of the 1992 Constitution governs land held by non-citizens. Clause (1) says no freehold interest in land in Ghana may be created in favour of a person who is not a citizen, and clause (2) makes any agreement, deed or conveyance that tries to do so void. Clause (4) says a non-citizen may not be granted a leasehold “for a term of more than fifty years at any one time.”

The Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) restates both rules in section 10, and adds two points that matter to buyers abroad. Marriage to a Ghanaian, or a partnership with one, does not open the door to freehold (section 10(9)). And a company counts as a non-citizen if more than forty percent of its shares or ownership is held by non-citizens (section 10(10)), so holding a parcel through a foreign-owned company does not change the position.

A registered lease is a recognised interest in land under the Act, not a share in a pool. Once registered it is recorded against the parcel at the Lands Commission, where anyone who searches the land can see it.

Renewal

The fifty-year limit applies “at any one time”. It does not prevent a lease from being renewed, but for a foreign leaseholder renewal is not automatic. Section 50(17) of the Land Act says a fixed-term lease granted by a Ghanaian to a non-Ghanaian is not subject to renewal unless the lease expressly provides otherwise. Section 50(18) says that when a non-Ghanaian exercises an option to renew, the renewal is on the terms the parties agree.

In practice, a renewal right is only as strong as the words in the lease. The renewal provisions of the Sekhet Nebu lease are written into the lease itself, so you can read them before you sign. Any renewal still depends on those terms, the law in force at the time and any approvals required, and nobody can promise today what the terms will be in fifty years.

A further limit we check for every parcel

Section 22 of the Land Act sets maximum terms for grants of farming rights over stool, clan or family land: twenty-five years for poultry farming or the cultivation of cereals, and fifty years for ranching or tree crops. It also caps the area of a single grant. How these limits apply depends on who holds the root title and how the estate's own lease is structured. That is one reason the title chain, the consents and the lease structure are reviewed by Ghanaian counsel before any parcel lease is signed.

How a lease is registered, step by step

The sequence below follows the Land Act. Beside each legal step is the record we keep for you, so the paper trail for your acre builds up in one place: the leaseholder document vault.

1. 01

   Search the land

   What the law requires

   Anyone may apply to the Lands Commission for an official search of a parcel. Where the title-registration system applies, the Commission issues its search report within fourteen days of payment of the fee (Land Act, s.130). In October 2026 the Commission also opened online searches at onlineservices.lc.gov.gh for a number of regions.

   What we provide

   A search is run against a site plan. Your parcel plan is in your document vault, so you or your own lawyer can order the search independently of us.

2. 02

   Survey the parcel

   What the law requires

   A plan attached to an instrument for registration must be drawn by an official or licensed surveyor and approved by the Director of the Survey and Mapping Division (s.208).

   What we provide

   Each acre is surveyed, numbered and fixed by GPS coordinates. The surveyed plan and the GPS boundary are filed with your parcel record.

3. 03

   Confirm the root title and consents

   What the law requires

   No stool land may be disposed of unless the Regional Lands Commission certifies that the disposition fits the area's development plan (Constitution, art. 267(3)). The Land Registrar may not register a large-scale disposition of stool, skin, clan or family land, which for agriculture means more than twenty hectares, without the consent and concurrence of the Regional Lands Commission (s.102(3) and (4)).

   What we provide

   Your acre is carved out of the estate's own title. Before you sign, we show you the documents that title rests on in the controlled document room.

4. 04

   Sign the lease

   What the law requires

   A transfer of an interest in land must be in writing and signed by both parties, or it confers no interest at all (s.35). A conveyance may only be prepared by a lawyer qualified under the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (s.33). For a non-citizen the term may not exceed fifty years.

   What we provide

   You sign two documents: the parcel lease, and a separate farm-management agreement. The signed lease goes into your vault the day it is executed.

5. 05

   Stamp the lease

   What the law requires

   An instrument that has not been duly stamped will not be registered (s.207(2)(d)). Stamp duty is assessed by the Lands Commission's Land Valuation Division under the Stamp Duty Act, 2005 (Act 689).

   What we provide

   We lodge the lease for stamping and add the stamped copy to your vault.

6. 06

   Register the lease

   What the law requires

   The stamped lease is lodged with the Land Registration Division together with the approved plan and the consents it needs. Where title registration applies it should be presented within three months of signing; late presentation carries an extra fee (s.133).

   What we provide

   The registered lease, and any land certificate issued, are filed in your vault. Until then, the vault shows where registration stands.

What a search costs

Lands Commission search fees are modest. These are the official amounts on the Commission's published fee schedule, checked on 26 October 2026. A lawyer's or surveyor's own charges are separate.

The schedule does not state an effective date and fees can change. Confirm the amount with the Commission, or through the online portal, when you apply.

Protecting yourself from land fraud

Most land fraud relies on a buyer paying before checking. A few habits close that gap. Search the parcel yourself, against the site plan, before you commit. Ask to see the title the lease is granted out of, and the consents it needs. Read the lease and the farm-management agreement as two separate documents. And pay only to the account named in your signed agreement. Sekhet Nebu takes no payment online, and account details are never changed by email.