A Real Property Register to Support the Property and Credit Market in Uganda

Abstract: An efficient property and credit market can be used by a government of a country to empower its citizens to achieve sustainable development. To improve the property and credit market government needs to ensure that its land records contain information that is beneficial to the actors in both the property and credit market.Studies have shown that land records in Uganda experience problems which have affected the property and credit market. The Government of Uganda has had attempts to solve these problems and one of the recent efforts include computerization of the land records. However the aspect of the information content and its adequacy for the property and credit markets has not attracted much attention. Therefore this research investigated the content of the real property register in relation to the requirement of the property and credit market in Uganda. The main aim of the research was to develop a model of a real property register that supports both the property and credit market in Uganda. The research established the needs of the different actors in the property and credit market. Based on the analysis of the needs of the property and credit market in Uganda, the gaps in the information provided by the current real property register were identified. The research methods included literature review, interviews, and questionnaires. Furthermore the registers were inspected at the different land offices. A conceptual model of a real property register was designed based on the information needs of actors and gaps in the current real property register. The study revealed that the basic information required by the property and credit market included information on size of the property, location, occupancy rights, easements, regulations among others. Although things such as location and size are there, easements, occupancy rights and public restrictions are not there. This has impacted negatively on the property and credit market by contributing to land speculation, insecure rights, high transaction costs, prolonged transactions, high information costs, principle agent problems, land grabbing, land conflicts among others.  The study recommended that the current register should be remodelled to include the vital information such as easements, occupancy rights and public regulation that is needed by actors in the property and credit market. The register should be dynamic and create incentives to have people register the land.