LAND TENURE notes

LAND TENURE

Land tenure is the possession of the legal rights to the use of land. In Uganda land is either owned by individuals, community or by the state.

TYPE OF LAND TENURE SYSTEMS

1. INDIVIDUAL OWNERSHIP

This is also known as freehold land tenure/ landlordism / private ownership of land.

The individual land owner ( landlord) can register the land and get a certificate called the land title deed which allows him/ her to won and utilize land as he/ she wishes.

Landlord may have acquired land through inheritance from parents or purchasing it.

The landlord is free to sell or transfer the land title to another person.

The landlord can rent land or part of it to other people who are then referred to as tenants, and are expected to pay land rent to the landlord.

Advantages of individual ownership of land.

1. The landlord feels secure and is free to set up long term developmental projects on that land.

2. The landlord uses land with care so as to conserve its productivity.

3. The landlord can use the title deed as security to get loans from banks.

Disadvantage of individual ownership of land.

1. The landlord may fail to pay back the loans and end up losing the land and its title to the bank

2. Some landlords lack capital to set up projects on the land hence leaving the land to stay idle or undeveloped.

3. Landlordism encourages unfair land distribution among the people, as some have plenty of land and others nothing. People who do not have land at all are likely to encroach that of the landlord.

4. Land disputes are likely to come up between tenants and landlord in case they fail to pay the land rent, or the landlord decides to sell the land to another person.

2. COMMUNAL / CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE.

Under this system, the land belongs to a clearly defined group of people eg., clan or the whole community in specified areas such as Karamoja. All .members of the clan or community have rights to use that land according to the rules and regulation governing its use.

Advantages of communal land tenure.

1. Every member of the community has access to the land, thus there are no landless people.

2. There are no serious land disputes, since the regulations of occupancy are very clear to every member of the community.

3. There is no land fragmentation since no individual is allowed to demarcate part of the land for his/ her own use.

Disadvantages of communal land tenure.

1. Land users have no interest in developing or maintaining the productivity of such land since it does not belong to any individual.

2. It is difficult to register and acquire a title deed for communal land, which makes it impossible to use such land to acquire loans from banks.

3. Control of animal parasites and diseases may be difficult as animals belonging to different farmers mix freely

3. LEASEHOLD LAND TENURE.

This is a system where the state or landlord gives land to an individual to use for specified period of time.

The leaseholder pays land rent to the government or landlord.

When an individual leases land from the government, the lease period is usually effective for 49, 99 and 999 years. When the lease period expires, the lease can be renewed.

Advantages of leasehold land tenure.

1. The leaseholder feels secure to invest in long term projects, such as growing perennial crops and setting up industries.

2. No land disputes are experienced since the state or landlord allocates land.

3. The system gives an opportunity to those who are unable to purchase land to rent land for farming and other activities

4. This system enables the government and landlords to earn income in form of rent from the land the would otherwise remain idle.

5. Since the leaseholder is given a lease certificate, he/ she is able to obtain loans from money lending institutions.

Disadvantages of leasehold land tenure

1. Sometimes the state or landlords can refuse to renew the lease when it expires, and the leaseholder loses the property if he/she invested heavily on the land.

2. The state can terminate the lease before it expires, and then decides to compensate the leaseholder.

4. STATE OWNERSHIP OF LAND

Here the land belongs to the state and no person can claim ownership. People are allowed to settle on such land but can as well be displaced any time the government wishes to set up developmental projects on that land. The government may or may not compensate them.