October 9, 2026
10 min
· Rédaction Imonga
If you want to buy land in Kara, Togo, the first question is not the price but the title: is the plot registered in the land register (livre foncier)? Togo's Land and State Property Code (Law No. 2018-005 of 14 June 2018) makes any transfer of ownership conditional on that registration and requires a notarial deed. A titled plot can be checked with the land registrar. An untitled plot means a licensed surveyor, a cadastre check and a registration procedure. We found no official source for price per square metre in Kara, so this guide tells you what to check, not what to pay.
Togo has a single land regime: registration (immatriculation). Article 5 of the Code states that the land regime in force in the Togolese Republic is that of registration of immovable property. Three articles then frame the sale. The Code is in French, and the translations below are ours:
Article 256 explains why the title matters: « Le titre foncier est définitif, intangible et inattaquable, sauf en cas de fraude ou d'erreur » (the land title is final, intangible and unchallengeable, except in cases of fraud or error). Under Article 52, real property rights only take effect against third parties once they have been made public in the forms set by the Code. Until your purchase is entered in the land register, it does not protect you against another buyer.
In practice, many plots still change hands on a simple sale receipt. The director of Cadastre and Land Conservation at the Office Togolais des Recettes (OTR) himself described a four-step path in a republicoftogo.com article of 28 November 2024: get a sale receipt, have a licensed surveyor certify the boundaries, check at the cadastre that the land is not an administrative reserve, a road or a flood-prone area, then register. The letter of the Code (register first, then sell) and that path do not fully match. If the seller has no land title, ask the notary how the sale will be regularised before you hand over any money.
Rural land adds two checks. Article 648 of the Code says any acquisition of land for value or by gift must be approved beforehand by the communal or municipal council of the place where the land lies, after a reasoned opinion from the land management commission. Article 650 adds that any sale of rural land that has not obtained the visa of the Agence nationale du domaine et du foncier, or the pre-emption notice, is null and void (« nulle et de nul effet »). Ask the town hall in writing whether the plot is classified as rural.
Article 317 covers sales between a Togolese citizen and a foreigner: the deed must, on pain of nullity, be submitted for prior authorisation by the public authority. If you are from the diaspora and now hold another nationality, raise this with the notary at the first meeting.
Run these five checks, in this order, before paying any deposit. Each one has a specific contact.
| What you check | Who to ask | What the source says |
|---|---|---|
| That a land title exists, and what charges are registered | Land registrar (conservateur de la propriété foncière) | Article 314 of the Code: anyone may obtain, free of charge, the information recorded in the land registers, following the rules the Code sets. |
| That the seller is the registered owner, and the only one | Notary | Article 178: the sale of jointly owned property is not void, but it cannot be enforced against the other co-owners. For family land, you need every co-heir's agreement. |
| Boundaries and surface area | Licensed surveyor (géomètre agréé) | Article 230: a boundary survey carried out with the neighbours present (bornage contradictoire) is mandatory for land being registered. |
| The nature of the land | Cadastre services | Not an administrative reserve, a road or a flood-prone area, according to the OTR (28 November 2024). |
| The status of untitled customary land | Town hall, then notary | Articles 628 to 633: customary holders can have their rights recorded through a procedure before the mayor, but the resulting document only has the value of a private deed (« acte sous seing privé »). It is not a land title. |
The surveyor's plan now goes through the internet. Since Monday 17 August 2026, surveyors no longer file parcel plans at the OTR counter but online, through the Guichet foncier unique (the single land desk), according to Togonews, carried by AllAfrica on 18 August 2026. The OTR also announced a Numéro Unique Parcellaire (NUP), described as a mandatory identifier for each plot of land, from 1 August (republicoftogo.com, 29 July 2024). Ask the seller for the plot's NUP and have your surveyor check it.
The Kara region has its own land notices. For example, the supplement to Official Journal No. 19 quarto of 16 March 2023 publishes 45 registration applications (réquisitions 06390/RK to 06434/RK) signed by the land registrar, for plots located in Kara, Bafilo, Pagouda, Kantè, Niamtougou, Guérin-Kouka and Bassar, among others. These notices open a three-month period for objections. The Directorate of Cadastre, Land Conservation and Registration posts these journals online by year and by region, including Kara for 2025 and 2026. If a seller says the title is "in progress", ask for the réquisition number and find the notice.
Transfer costs are paid upfront and in full. Article 223 of the Code requires the applicant to deposit, with the application, a provision equal to the estimated cost of the procedure as assessed by the registrar. In a notice dated 12 February 2025, the OTR stated that from 1 March 2025 the filing of applications for publication in the land register, including full transfers (mutation totale), is conditional on payment of a provision covering the entire cost of the procedure.
We give no amounts. We could not read an up-to-date official schedule of registration and land conservation duties, and notary and surveyor fees are quoted case by case. Have the registrar or the notary put a figure on the provision, in writing, before you sign.
On timelines, an interministerial order of 8 August 2019 sets 180 days for a land title and 10 days for a full transfer, according to the summary published by Professor Akodah Ayewouadan in L'Essentiel Droits africains des affaires (January 2020). Reality can be slower: the Ligue des consommateurs du Togo reports waits of up to two years, and seven years in some cases (Togonews, 20 January 2026). Buying a plot that is already titled shortens the process considerably.
Listings for the country are grouped on the Togo property page. For comparison with the capital, see land for sale in Lomé. Three pages, in French, give local context: the Kara property guide, the note on property prices in Kara and the guide to land status in Togo, which helps you read a seller's papers. These rules apply to Togo only. They differ in other countries: see the general land precautions before buying a plot (in French).
A receipt proves a payment, not ownership. Article 161 of the Land and State Property Code makes any transfer of ownership conditional on registration of the land, on pain of absolute nullity of the contract, and Article 163 requires a notarial deed. If the seller only has a receipt, see a notary before paying.
Ask the seller for the land title number, then put the question to the land registrar. Article 314 of the Code lets anyone obtain, free of charge, the information recorded in the land registers, under the rules it sets. Also check that the registered name is the seller's own.
No. The procedure in Articles 628 to 633 of the Code lets customary holders have their rights recorded, but the resulting document only has the value of a private deed. It helps prepare registration. It does not replace the land title, the only document Article 256 calls final, intangible and unchallengeable.
The Code calls this stellionat. Under Article 703, it covers anyone who knowingly transfers a title of ownership they know is not theirs, and anyone who knowingly accepts that transfer. Article 702 refers to the penalties of the Criminal Code. A conviction does not return your money: checking before you pay remains your best protection.
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The advice above is worth most when applied to a specific property. 119 listings are online, viewable without an account.