Govt to register, licence land brokers in new real estate law

Government is planning to register and regulate all land brokers across the country to streamline the sector and curb land grabbing.

The regulation is contained in the Real Estate Bill, 2024 which the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, has drafted and is now awaiting Cabinet approval before it’s presented to the floor of Parliament.

Speaking to Monitor on Friday, the Ministry of Lands spokesperson Mr Dennis Obbo said that the Real Estate Bill will address critical issues in the sector that has been infiltrated by fraudsters, especially land and property brokers.

“Government understands problems that are caused by land brokers which have resulted in persistent land grabbing and that is why their regulation is among the critical issues we have listed in the Bill,” he said.

All land and other property brokers in the country, according to Mr Obbo will be registered and issued with operating licences that will enable the government to know them and where they operate from.

Mr Obbo was responding to several real estate developers who appealed to the government to regulate land brokers who have become big facilitators of land grabbing.

Speaking at the C-Suite Executive Breakfast with Vusi in Kampala on Friday, Mr Brian Kayongo, the chief executive officer of Concept Real Estate said that brokers should be regulated if land conflicts are to be managed.

“All brokers (from the seller and buyer), should have a licence which must go on the title deed of the purchased land so that if there is any issue with the land transaction, we shall start with the brokers since they can be traceable unlike now when you deal with a broker only for them to disappear in case of any problem,” he said,

About the Bill

Lands Minister Ms Judith Nabakooba presented the Bill to Cabinet in October last year where the latter approved its principles but tasked her to expound on consultations and benchmarking in a few countries on how they are running their real estate services.

The CEO of the National Housing and Construction Company Eng. Kenneth Kaijuka said that the Real Estate Bill will solve many problems that the real estate, especially the private sector, has been grappling with.

Mr Obbo said all stakeholders including the real estate developers, financiers, and brokers among others will be consulted during discussions in Parliament.