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Capital: Addis Ababa
Official Language: Amharic

Table of Contents Relevant Contact Info Legal Process for Selling Land Procedure Required Documents Office Locations & Contacts Eligibility Validity Processing Time Instructions Required Information Need for the Document Information which might help Other uses of the Document/Certificate Constitution Notes Communication history

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Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO)

Mr. Ermias Yemanebirhan
Director General
Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Telephone: (251) 11 558 63 93
(251) 91 108 10 96
Website: http://www.eipo.gov.et/
Address: P.O.Box 25322/1000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

These are the procedures to follow when Purchasing a property in Ethiopia.

1.The first thing is to Obtain the property tax statement from the Tax authority in Ethiopia.

• Before you transfer of a property,
• It is required by law to obtain an official property tax statement from the Property Tax Authority office.
• This tax certificate is a part of the application at the Land registry based on national requirement of Law ACT.
• The purpose of this document is to serve as a proof that the property has undergone a tax assessment and is registered by the property tax authority.

2.Request for the registration form that was submitted by the buyer to the Real Estate Registry.

• After the negotiations and the agreement on all material terms of the contract,
• The buyer pays the seller the requested price,
• The buyer subsequently goes to the Real Estate Registry to request registration.
• At this point in time , the buyer pays the 10.000 Birr registration fee.
• The request is subsequently internally transferred to the Ethiopian Surveying Authority to complete a survey of the land.

3. Site inspection by the Ethiopian Surveying Authority is done.

• The Ethiopian Surveying Authority inspects the property and also conducts the survey of a property, and prepares the report of its findings on the property .
• The report is subsequently delivered to the Measurement Department.
• This is done within 15 day at no cost.

4. The next step is to Obtain the Measurement Departments approval of the inspection report and the Real Estate Registrys acceptance of the request for registration on the property.

• Following the Ethiopian Surveying Authoritys inspection, the report produced must be approved by the Measurement Department.
• The entire report is then internally transferred to the Real Estate Registry for acceptance of
  • the inspection report and
  • the request for registration.
• The Real Estate Registry also conducts an engineering and legal review of the request and grants approval by stamping the documents approved to be authenticated.
• The approved documents are then released to the parties that is the buyer and seller.
• At this stage, the parties also obtain a special, stamped form from the Real Estate Registry, on which they will subsequently print their contract agreement.
• This takes around 21 days at no cost.

5.The final contract is presented to the lawyers syndicate for verification and ratification

• The parties lawyer drafts contract, on the special form obtained from the Real Estate Registry.
• The parties/their lawyer subsequently deliver(s) the contract to the lawyers syndicate for verification:
• The lawyer who drafts the contract ascribes his syndicate identification number to the form, and the lawyers syndicate must verify/certify that the involved lawyer is indeed registered with the syndicate.
• This normally takes around 4 days at a cost 0.5% of the property value.

6.Obtain the Real Estate Registrys approval of the sale contract.

After collecting the contract from the Lawyer, the parties then deliver the contract to the Real Estate Registry for review and if it accepted, the documents will be stamped by the Real Estate Registry as approved to be registered.

This normally takes around 10 days at no cost.

Supplies paperwork relating to the title, boundaries,

• Planning permission,
• Building license,
• Furniture pack and rental guarantee option.
• In the case of purchases of the land, owner will handle the contract and renewing of a 99year lease to the buyer, and for this service the vendor pays 5% of the value of the contract when purchased.

Ministry of urban development housing and construction

P0 B0X 24134/ 1000

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel: +251115531688/ +251115131672

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.mwud.gov.et

Anyone who meets one of the following criteria:

1.Has Ethiopian citizenship and lives abroad

2. Foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin

3. Has Ethiopian parents -

4.If you are foreigner you must be having an entry visa in Ethiopia.

5.To be Eligible the lay down the conditions relating to the payment of the purchase price.

6. There must be signature of validity applied for in the land registry in the name of the new owner.

7.There must be signature of validity applied for in the land registry in the name of the new owner.

8. To be eligible land must be registered with the Government of Ethiopia or signed or approved to be authenticated

The document is valid for a long time

The process takes 3-4 months or more depending on the complexity of the matter.

• To obtain an official property tax statement from the Property Tax Authority office.
• Buyers must know that there is an extra fee known as 'buyers commission'.
• you will need to recruit a good Ethiopian lawyer at every stage.
• Contracts with the Lawyer should always be in English and Any Local language.
• If you are a foreigner you must have an entry visa.
• As this is needed to complete the residence procedure in Ethiopia to give your lawyer power of attorney to go to court on your behalf and register your property.
• You must also apply for residency Entry Visa which are usually valid for one year in case you are a foreigner.
• You are entitled to resell your property any time.

• Conditions relating to the payment of the purchase price.
• Official property tax statement from the Property Tax Authority office.
• Information from Real Estate Registry to confirm if the property was registered.

There are Freehold properties available in Ethiopia . There is also land for lease for 99 years in different parts of Ethiopia like in Adsa baba and if you are considering to buy a property in Ethiopia you should consider two issues

• To Buy a new Property "Off plan" or property Under construction and this is usually expensive.
• To buy an Old property buying from a new development, often prices are set with a room for negotiation. However,
• if purchasing property in in different parts of Ethiopia a resale, there is often room for negotiating on price.

A lot of Ethiopian property owners/ developers prefer 'cash' payments which is more beneficial to the buyer as it often means a discount on the sale of around 5% and/or can include longer term credit arrangements on repayments.

Under normal circumstances a foreigner is not permitted to buy land. If a foreigner is an investor they may own property in the name of the company.

All investors have rights to residency under the law and therefore can buy and lease property. Property may also be granted by the government depending on the business' needs. However in order to become an investor they must show capital of at least $100,000US with a bank statement. Land may also be gifted to a foreigner but no title (cart and plan) may be issued

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate. e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

ETHIOPIA LAND LAW

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source: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/destinations/ethiopia