Before ultimately cashing in on any piece of real estate property, please, please, ensure to thoroughly and critically verify property seller legitimacy and ownership details. This point ought to be treated with extreme caution and the seriousness it deserves before releasing any of your own hard earned kwachas or dollars....!
PLEASE, READ THROUGH WITH YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION FOR YOUR OWN GOOD......😁
Moreover, ensure to eliminate ANY signs of property fraud or scam related risks or danger ⚡ signs early enough by doing or implementing the following proper, effective and/or airtight due diligence counter-measures:
a) Request Proof of Ownership: Title deed, offer letter, or developer allocation letter.
b) Cross-Check Personal and Property Details: Match the name on the title deed with ID or National Registration Card (NRC);
Further, on this very point, regarding conducting proper, effective and/or airtight due diligence when it comes to verifying of the alleged property seller's personal details and title deed documents, ensure to properly cross-check such documents to avoid being deceived through forged or stolen Identity Card details or National Registration Card (NRC) and/or title deed details of the original property owner or seller whose particulars may have been stolen or forged without you knowing or realizing it.
Currently, there is a new and growing fraud trend of stealing personal details of property owners or sellers and their title deed documents by criminals who first of all pretend to be serious buyers of properties when in fact not.
What these criminals do is that they pretend to be potential buyers of real estate and then pretend to be seriously interested in a particular property. And once they convince the original property owner or seller that they are interested in the particular seller's property, they will then ask the original property seller to avail them with copies of both his original title deed document and his or her National Registration Card (NRC) so that they may go and do their own independent due diligence at Ministry of Lands deeds registry office for verification of the original property seller's credentials. The moment the original property seller avails these criminals with these very copies of documents, these criminals then vanish and stop answering calls from the original property seller.
These criminals then go and reproduce seemingly looking original duplicate copies of the original property seller's national registration card and the title deed document for the subject property.
Regarding the personal details of the original property seller, they maintain all the personal details on the forged seemingly looking original duplicate national registration card (NRC) document. The only item they change on the forged seemingly looking original duplicate national registration card (NRC) for the original property owner or seller is the passport size photo and replace it with the face of the new person who pretends and/or represents himself or herself as the original property owner or seller of the subject property to you when these criminals start marketing the said subject property to unsuspecting members of the general public.
Normally, when marketing or selling the subject property to unsuspecting members of the general public - yourself included - these criminals will identify a different property in either the same locality or a nearby locality not too far away from the original property whose property details or title deed documents they have forged so as to appear convincing to unsuspecting new potential property buyers like yourself.
When you eventually declare interest in the different property they have shown you with forged title deed documents and the NRC of the original property seller, they will willingly avail you with the copies of the seemingly looking original documents bearing the same personal details of the original property owner or seller with a different face on it and the same title deed number for you to go verify at Ministry of Lands deeds registry office. And truly when you go to physically verify at Ministry of Lands deeds registry office, you will surely find that the details of the property in question and the particulars of the person masquerading himself or herself as the property owner or seller will come out correctly convincing you that the property being sold to you is actually genuine when in fact not.
And based on this seemingly true but false information, you may willingly want to transact with such criminals eventually loosing your hard earned money in the process.
Therefore, learn from our many years of experience in this industry on how to spot and stop fraudsters from defrauding you of your own hard earned money by being on the look out for such new and shrewd ways real property criminals are currently using in scamming people and become an "Intelligent Home Buyer" of real estate and prevent yourself from easily loosing your own hard earned money in this way as explained above and be more smarter and intelligent than 95% of the population who do not have access to this novel and privileged information!!!!!
Then next, apply and/or use the following added airtight due diligence steps:
c) Check or verify If the subject property You are currently considering has any encumbrances whatsoever: Make sure that the subject property isn’t mortgaged, disputed, or if the subject property is held under joint ownership which requires that all the concerned parties having any interests or rights in the property at hand must give consent or agree before the property in question is sold to any third party as was highlighted in the Zambian Court of Appeal Case of Dr Banda v Bestile Phiri and Others - Appeal No 113 of 2018 where the court held among other things that customary land in Zambia always has other interests from family members who should be consulted before converting the same to leasehold tenure.
The Court further held that "customary land can only be alienated, but cannot be bought or sold. Only land under leaseholds tenure can be bought or sold,” the Judges in the above cited case ruled. Moreover, the Court of Appeal in the above cited case also opined thus:
From the facts of this case, it is evident and we have no doubt that at the time the Appellant was dealing with the 1st Respondent, he was fully aware that the land was customary land and should have known the implications of transacting in customary land,” the Judges said.
Therefore, from the above cited court case, the following are the key lessons to take note of:
1. The sad and real life reality is that many people in Zambia are still currently selling and buying customary land when in fact this is against the law as it is now.
The case cited above illustrates the fact that you must be careful when dealing in customary land as it is supposed to be guarded as communal land but with the right of usage by the person/s currently occupying it under the authority of the chiefs in whose jurisdiction the land is situated;
2. Customary land is held in trust for the people by chiefs or traditional authorities and therefore cannot be sold or bought as it is said to have no monetary value at the moment even though currently in real life and actual practice in Zambia this is not the case.
However, when the same is converted to leasehold, it loses its relationship to the chiefs or traditional authorities.
3. Make sure that whenever you are tempted to buy customary land - whether a very small piece of land or a huge one - from any person whatsoever for whatever reason/s, ensure that you consult all the interested parties that might have any interest or rights in the said land in question before you release your own hard earned money to any one trying to sell you such land in order to avoid regrets and loosing your own hard earned money afterwards as highlighted from above Zambian court case;
4. After this, ensure to obtain consent only from the area Chief in whose chiefdom the land in question is situated as only the area Chief is lawfully permitted to issue or sign such consent to enable you validly convert such customary land into leasehold tenure as was highlighted in another Zambian Court of Appeal case of Duncan Silembo v Roman Shaloomov / Sekelelea Farm (Appeal No. 44/2018) and Judgement delivered in June 2020.
In this case, the Court, once again emphasized on the need for proper and airtight legal due diligence when dealing with land issues. Had the investor in this case followed the due process, he would have discovered that the area Chief did not sign himself the approvals and that there was no full Council meeting that was held by councilors.
FURTHER, in another Zambian Court Case of Mapompo Investment Limited v ZESCO Limited - 2023/HP/0660, the court held among other things before determining the matter, and asked a question whether the mining Company in this case had surface or land rights over the customary land it claimed to own for it to sue Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO).
The court in this case opined thus:
It is trite law that mining rights do not automatically entitle one to land or surface rights,” the Judge stated in this case , adding that under customary land only the chief had powers to grant those rights.
The court went further and opined:
It is not disputed that the subject land falls under the jurisdiction of Chieftainess Nkomeshya. It follows that for the Plaintiff Company to show or prove land rights, it must show necessary consent was received from the Chieftainees , the Judge ruled.
The Court further noted that the plaintiff Company had a purported consent from an area Headman who did not have powers or authority to grant land rights on behalf of the area Chief and without going through the proper traditional process.
The Judge in this case further noted that the Headman used the official stamp to grant consent for land rights without lawful permission from the area Chief.
The Judge went on and ruled thus:
I find as a matter of fact that the Plaintiff Company does not hold land or surface rights over the subject land,” the Judge ruled and threw out the claim against ZESCO Limited.
Therefore, according to the court in this case:
Having found that the Plaintiff Company does not have surface rights, it follows that its alleged possession of the subject land was in itself without lawful license, the Court said.
The Court ultimately ruled and guided that the current law particularly Statutory Instrument Number 89 of 1996, sections 2 to 3 demands that ONLY the Chief in customary land areas plus the local authority should grant consent in writing for such land rights before one can start mining.
KEY LESSON FROM THIS COURT CASE:
This court case decision underscores the importance of obtaining written consent ONLY from traditional leaders (Chiefs) and not Headmen or Head-women for surface rights even when government has granted you mineral rights under customary land. Surface/land and mineral rights are two distinct rights which ought to be granted differently!!!!!
In addition, the Zambia National Land Policy Document of May, 2021, in Chapter 5, provides that local area traditional authority establishments be empowered to issue official customary land documentation to persons owning customary land where such persons owning such land decide not to convert such land into state titled land or leasehold tenure so as to enable such persons use the said land as collateral for loans.
Therefore, Chapter 5.1.3 of this same Zambia National Land Policy Document provides thus in summary:
The Lands Act of 1995 offers discretion to the Chiefs in allocation of customary land. The Chiefs shall therefore provide for allocation of land to individuals, families, and investors for their use in line with customary land area integrated development plans; collaborate with government in the identification of land for investment; document all land rights and maintain a land register for own area; superintend the use and allocation of land rights to communal land; and carry out dispute resolution in their Chiefdoms.
See also the "Urban and Regional Planning Act, No. 3 of 2015, particularly sections 25 to 27 of this very Act of Parliament for further reading and/or reference on this very point!!!
Hope you found this content highly educative and/or beneficial to you!!!
Therefore, having read this far and if you happen to have found real value from reading this post, why not GET or Subscribe to the "Intelligent Home Buyers Guide e-Course" today and learn and protect yourself from real property fraud or scams.
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Comments (1)
Oscar
11 September 2026Thank you very much for sharing this critical and highly valuable information with some of us who are amateurs or novices in the field of real estate investment. Please continue sharing such valuable and empowering content with the general public. Will definitely share and recommend this blog to my friends, relatives, and business colleagues!!!
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