Revenue from property rates to secure Assemblies

Revenues from property rates could reduce the over-dependence of Municipal and District Assemblies in the Volta region on the District Assemblies Common Fund.

Mr Jonathan Kwabla, Head, Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission in the Volta Region said this at a monitoring and evaluation interface meeting on the Land Administration Project (LAP) in Ho.

Mr Kwabla said the MMDAs in the Region were not taking advantage of the Land Valuation Division to rake in high dividends from the potentially lucrative property market within their jurisdictions.

He said property rate revenues would more than pay for the cost which the Assemblies would incur to get properties in their districts assessed.

Mr Nicholas Addae-Tweneboah, Registrar of Lands at the Volta Region office of Lands Commission, advised landowners in the region to get lawyers to prepare, draft or endorse their indentures because as a legal document, those indentures would be crucial in any land litigation.

He said many people other than lawyers were preparing indentures in the region where an overwhelming number of those indentures were being endorsed by a particular lawyer.

Mr Addae-Tweneboah explained the differences between land title registration being undertaken in Accra and some parts of Kumasi, and deeds registration being done in the rest of the country.

He said deeds registration was conclusive and did not entail any investigation unlike land title registration which involved further verification such as surveying to ensure proper and accurate demarcation.