Angola: One-Stop Shop Platform for Land Rights

23/4/2025

OneLegal

Presidential Decree 84/25, of 16 April 2025, approved the Regulations on One-Stop Shop Platform for Granting Land Rights in Angola. This is one of the items included in the agenda of the Simplify Project approved by Presidential Decree 161/21, of 21 June 2021. Below is a summary of PD 84/25:

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Platform: The “One-Stop Shop Platform for Granting Land Rights” is a technological platform which aims to streamline the process whereby the state grants rights to land that is in its private domain. Public domain land and community land are excluded from this platform.
Entities involved: The One-Stop Shop platform aggregates all public entities and services that are involved in the land granting process.
Authority: The following entities are responsible for granting land rights:
1. The Minister of Territorial Administration – In case of the following land:
  - Rural land between 1.000 and 10.000 hectares;
  - Uban land above 2 hectares;
  - Semi-urban land above 5 hectares.
2. The Provincial Governor – In case of the following land:
  - Rural land between 100 and 1.000 hectares;
  - Urban land between 1 and 2 hectares;
  - Semi-urban land between 2 and 5 hectares.
3. The Municipal Administrator – In case of the following land:
  - Rural land under 100 hectares;
  - Urban land under 1 hectare;
  - Semi-urban under 2 hectares.

However, in all cases the application for obtaining land rights must be submitted to the Municipal Administrator.

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Process: After filing the application with the Municipal Administrator, the following steps take place:
1. The office of the Municipal Administrator makes a preliminary review of the application, collects the application fee and schedules an inspection of the land. Inspection is not necessary in allotted/subdivided areas;
2. The Municipal Urban Management and Land Registry department forwards the file to the Angolan Geographic and Land Registry Institute (Instituto Geográfico e Cadastral) to confirm that there are no pre-existing rights to the land;
3. The file is returned to the Municipal Management and Land Registry department which inspects the land, provides an opinion on the application and demarcates the land. Demarcation is not applicable in allotted/subdivided areas;
4. If the authority to grant the right belongs to the Minister of Territorial Administration or Provincial Governor, the file is forwarded to the competent authority. The application is then processed by the Angolan Geographic and Land Registry Institute (Instituto Geográfico e Cadastral);
5. The file is forwarded to the Tax Office for tax registration of the land;
6. The competent authority grants the land right.
Refusal: The application must be denied if:
1. The land is part of the state’s public domain;
2. The land cannot be used by a private person;
3. In case of community land;
4. In case of state’s land reserve;
5. If a pre-existing right exists.
Contract & Title: The land right is granted by way of signing a contract (“Land Rights Concession Contract”) and issuing a land title.
Registration: The land right is registered with the Real Estate Registry (Conservatória do Registro Predial) and a registry certificate is issued.
Pending applications: Applications pending at entry into force of PD 84/25 must be processed under the new One-Stop Shop platform.