Govt consulting on Sectional Title Bill

Deputy Minister of Lands Deus Gumba has disclosed that consultations with stakeholders on the Sectional Title Bill are at an advanced stage.

He was speaking in Lilongwe on Friday during a press briefing on new land laws, which became effective in March 2022.

The Bill seeks to address shortage of land by allowing more than one person to hold title deeds on the same piece of land.

Said Gumba: “This is where you have one land where more than one person owns different apartments within a building.

“This is mostly common where people use flats, where they may construct one building but each one has a deed for a room or section as the landlord.”

He said once the Bill becomes law, it will significantly improve land economics and save more land in the wake of the growing population.

“Our population growth rate is high, so we need to start being economical with the available land; otherwise, our children in future will suffer,” he added.

Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare chairperson Saviel Kafwafwa said the law will solve many social challenges.

“The advantage of this law is that there will no longer be headache when sharing landed deceased property such as buildings. If it’s an upstairs building, each beneficiary can be given a floor and own it as a landlord,” he said.

Kafwafwa also said it will make easier purchase of housing or commercial buildings because people can team up to buy a building then each one registers their own section deed which they can resale without seeking permission from others.

Under the current law, once the property holder dies, the beneficiaries are forced to sell the building and share the money, because the building cannot be transferred to more people at once.

Gumba also said his ministry is conducting a land audit to establish and revoke land which was allocated more than two years ago, but the owners have not started developing it.

Section 39 of the Land Act empowers the minister to revoke land if the holder leaves it idle for a minimum of two years and either give it back to government or reallocate it to another person.

“Where a holder of private land under freehold title has not commenced development of the land within two years from the commencement of this Act, the minister may without prejudice on any other powers conferred on him by this Act or any other Act may demand voluntary surrender of the land by the person within a period of 90 days. Failing this, the minister may enter the land and register freehold title,” reads the Act.

Chapter 37 of the new land laws further prohibits selling or granting of land to people who are not originally from Malawi except investors who are required to apply through the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre.

However, Gumba arrayed fears that the new land laws are stripping chiefs of their authority over management of customary land, saying rather they enable and empower people to own registered land.