A Legal Guide to Foreign Land Rights in East Africa
Why ownership, leasehold, concessions and investment rights do not mean the same thing across the region
A foreign buyer
may say, “I want to own land in East Africa.” The difficulty is that the word
“own” can describe very different legal positions. In one country a foreigner
may receive a registered lease for up to ninety-nine years. In another, the
investor may hold a derivative right created through an investment authority.
Elsewhere the State owns the soil and the private right is a concession.
Burundi goes further than several neighbours by allowing some foreign full
ownership, but not of agricultural or livestock land. The legal label matters
because it determines duration, renewal, transfer, mortgage, inheritance and
what happens when the investment ends.
The East
African Community now has eight Partner States, but it has not created a single
regional land title. The EAC Common Market promotes movement of capital and the
right of establishment, while the EAC itself explains that acquiring land and
property remains governed through the investment procedures and legal
frameworks of each Partner State. A Kenyan, Ugandan or Rwandan moving within
the EAC may therefore enjoy regional mobility rights without automatically
becoming a “citizen” for purposes of another State’s land law. For a foreign
investor from outside the region, the need to check national law is even
clearer.
Start with the legal
interest, not the estate agent’s vocabulary
Before
discussing price, ask what legal interest will actually be registered in the
buyer’s name. “Buying a house” may mean buying a building together with a
leasehold interest in the land beneath it. “Buying land” may mean receiving a
long lease, concession or derivative title rather than freehold. “Investment
land” may also carry conditions requiring the approved project to be developed
and maintained.
The document
should therefore answer five questions: who owns the underlying land; what
right is being transferred; how long that right lasts; whether a foreign person
or foreign-controlled company is legally eligible to hold it; and what consent,
investment approval or registration is required. If the seller cannot explain
the legal interest without relying on phrases such as “everyone buys this way”
or “the company structure solves it”, do not treat the transaction as ready for
payment.
Kenya: a foreigner’s
landholding is leasehold
Article 65 of
Kenya’s Constitution gives the starting rule. A non-citizen may hold land only
on leasehold tenure, and the lease may not exceed ninety-nine years. A document
purporting to give a non-citizen something greater is treated as giving a
ninety-nine-year lease and no more. The Constitution also closes an obvious
corporate shortcut: a body corporate counts as a citizen for this purpose only
if it is wholly owned by Kenyan citizens.
That does not
mean every ninety-nine-year lease is automatically available. Agricultural land
can trigger the Land Control Act, under which controlled transactions require
Land Control Board consent and foreign acquisition is significantly restricted.
Certain controlled land, including specified areas near borders and the coast,
can also require additional approval under the Land Act. The practical lesson
is to classify the land before agreeing to buy it. For an ordinary urban
property, the central question may be the remaining lease term and registered
encumbrances. For agricultural or strategically located land, eligibility
itself can become the first issue.
Uganda: non-citizens can
lease, but not hold mailo or freehold
Uganda’s Land
Act is similarly direct but operates within Uganda’s distinctive tenure system.
Section 41 allows a non-citizen to acquire a lease, requires a lease of five
years or more to be registered, and caps a non-citizen lease at ninety-nine
years. A non-citizen may not acquire or hold mailo or freehold land.
The definition
of non-citizen also matters for companies. A corporate body whose controlling
interest lies with non-citizens is treated as non-citizen, as are other
structures described in the Act. Incorporating a Ugandan company therefore does
not automatically transform foreign-controlled capital into a citizen
landholder. A foreign investor considering mailo or freehold property should
structure the transaction as a lawful lease and check the lessor’s title,
occupants’ interests, lease duration, renewal terms, development obligations
and registration before treating the land as an asset of the investment.
Rwanda: the right may be
an emphyteutic lease or concession
Rwanda uses a
different legal language. Article 16 of Law No. 27/2021 governing land states
that a foreigner may have an emphyteutic lease or a land concession, with those
rights allocated for investment, while other modalities may be established
under further rules. The National Land Authority’s current guidance adds an
important residential route: under the 2023 ministerial instructions, a
foreigner can hold an emphyteutic lease for a residential house. A foreigner or
a company with foreign shareholding may also possess land for investment under
an approved business plan, and larger or multiple residential holdings can
trigger that investment-plan requirement.
This means a
foreign purchaser should not translate “registered in my name” into “freehold
forever”. The registered right has a legal category, duration and use. Rwanda’s
Prime Minister’s Order No. 8 of 2022 also regulates durations and renewal of
emphyteutic leases and State land concessions. The practical due diligence is
therefore to check the land certificate and UPI, confirm the tenure and
remaining period, identify the permitted use, and determine whether the
proposed holding requires an approved investment plan before signing.
Mainland Tanzania:
investment access is built around derivative rights
Mainland
Tanzania is conceptually different again. The Land Act, Cap. 113, Revised
Edition 2023 states that a non-citizen is not to be allocated or granted land
unless it is for investment purposes under the investment framework. Land
designated for investment can be allocated through the Tanzania Investment
Centre, which creates derivative rights for investors. A company whose majority
shareholders or owners are non-citizens is treated as a non-citizen for this
purpose.
Tanzania
Investment Centre currently explains the position in practical terms: a foreign
investor cannot simply obtain the ordinary certificate of occupancy in the same
way as a citizen, but may access investment land through a derivative right or
a long-term lease. TIC guidance states that rights of occupancy and derivative
rights may run up to ninety-nine years and be renewable. A foreign investor
should therefore ask whether the proposed interest is a TIC derivative right, a
sublease or another legally permitted investment arrangement, and whether the
project satisfies the current investment process. This discussion concerns
Mainland Tanzania; Zanzibar has its own land and investment administration and
should be checked separately.
Burundi: some foreign
full ownership is possible, but purpose matters
Burundi
illustrates why a regional statement that “foreigners cannot own land” would be
wrong. Article 13 of the 2011 Land Code provides, subject to reciprocity, that
foreign natural and legal persons enjoy the same rights and protections as
nationals and may receive transfers or concessions of State land. It
nevertheless limits full ownership transfers to specified purposes such as
industrial, agro-industrial, commercial, social, cultural, scientific or
residential use. Agricultural and livestock land may not be transferred in full
ownership to foreign natural or legal persons.
The same Code
treats certain Burundian companies with majority foreign capital as foreign for
these rules. A foreign investor should therefore identify both the legal form
of the right and the legally recognised use of the land. A residential or
commercial project can sit in a different legal category from a farm. Where
State land is involved, a concession may be the correct vehicle. Reciprocity
and any applicable investment approval should also be checked rather than
assumed.
DRC: the soil belongs to
the State and private rights are concessions
The Democratic
Republic of the Congo uses a land concept that is easily misunderstood by
investors accustomed to freehold. The long-standing land framework makes the
soil the exclusive, inalienable property of the State and organises private
land use through concessions. Foreign rights historically fall within the
system of ordinary concessions rather than perpetual concessions reserved to
Congolese natural persons. This makes the concession and its certificate, not
an assumed freehold title to the soil, the central asset to examine.
The DRC also
changed its land framework recently. Law No. 25/062 of 30 December 2025
modified and supplemented the 1973 land law. The Ministry of Land Affairs says
the reform is introducing cadastral digitalisation, a National Register of Land
and Real Estate Titles, stronger title security and greater traceability of
transactions, and implementation continued during 2026. A foreign investor
should therefore verify the exact concession, certificate and transfer
procedure with the competent Conservateur des Titres Immobiliers under the
reformed framework rather than rely on an old internet explanation of the 1973
law alone.
South Sudan: a foreigner
can hold leasehold, not freehold
South Sudan’s
Ministry of Justice continues to publish the Land Act 2009 as part of the laws
of the Republic. Section 14 draws a clear nationality line: individual or
collective foreign entities may acquire leasehold or another interest for a
specified period, but not freehold, for residential, investment or other lawful
purposes in accordance with the investment framework.
The Act also
recognises access to land for investment and requires investment applicants to
provide information including the nature and duration of the project,
investment certification, nationality and environmental and financial
guarantees. For a foreign investor, “ownership” should therefore be translated
into the particular leasehold or other registered interest actually granted.
Community interests can also be relevant to investment land. Due diligence
should cover the competent land authority, the underlying tenure, community or
third-party claims, permitted project, duration and registration before capital
is committed.
Somalia: a long
investment lease is not the same as universal freehold
Somalia’s
current federal foreign-investment framework provides another model. Article 15
of the Foreign Investment Law 2015 allows incentives including long-term leases
of up to ninety-nine years for substantial investment, subject to the
applicable legislation. That is an investment right, not a statement that every
foreign buyer can acquire an unrestricted federal freehold title anywhere in
Somalia.
Land
administration must also be checked at the level that actually governs the
property. Federal Member State and municipal systems, older legal instruments,
customary claims and ongoing justice-sector reform can all matter. A foreign
investor should first identify the competent authority for the location, then
verify the chain of land rights and the legal basis for the proposed lease or
investment interest. The existence of a federal investment certificate does not
by itself cure an uncertain land title or settle competing local claims.
Investment approval and
land title solve different problems
One of the
easiest mistakes is to treat an investment licence as proof of land ownership.
Investment registration answers whether the project qualifies for investment
treatment or incentives. Land registration answers who holds the land right and
on what terms. Planning approval answers what can be built. Environmental
approval answers another question again. A sound project needs the necessary
approvals to align, but none should be casually substituted for another.
The same
caution applies to companies and nominees. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi
expressly use nationality or control tests in ways that can prevent a foreign
investor from avoiding land restrictions merely by incorporating locally. A
structure that looks local on the certificate of incorporation may still be
treated as foreign under land law. Beneficial ownership, shareholding and
control should therefore be examined before a company is used as the
landholding vehicle.
Before money moves, test
the transaction in the right order
A foreign buyer
should first identify the land’s legal category and the foreigner’s eligibility
to hold that category. The next step is to search the official land record and
verify the seller, lessor or granting authority. Then check the remaining term,
mortgages, caveats, occupants, community interests, permitted use and any
consent required for transfer. Only after that should the investor test whether
investment approval, company registration, environmental permission or sector
licensing is also required.
The contract
should use the same legal vocabulary as the land system. If the buyer is
acquiring a ninety-nine-year lease, it should not promise “absolute freehold
ownership”. If the interest is a derivative right or concession, the agreement
should identify the instrument, duration, project conditions, renewal rules and
consequences of default. Money should move through a process that makes
completion conditional on the registrable right actually being delivered.
The regional lesson
There is no
useful single answer to the question, “Can a foreigner own property in East
Africa?” Kenya and Uganda principally give non-citizens leasehold access.
Rwanda relies on emphyteutic lease and concession rules with specific
residential and investment routes. Mainland Tanzania links foreign land access
closely to approved investment and derivative rights. Burundi allows some full
ownership but draws a sharp line around agricultural and livestock land. The
DRC treats the soil as State property and works through concessions. South
Sudan allows foreign leasehold rather than freehold, while Somalia’s federal
investment law supports long investment leases within a land system that still
requires careful local verification.
That variation
is not a technical nuisance. It is the substance of the investment. The safest
foreign investor does not ask whether a property can be “bought” in ordinary
language. The better question is: what legally registrable land right can I
hold here, for how long, for what purpose, and what happens to that right when
the term or investment ends?
Sources and publication
note
Source note. This article was prepared from official and primary
materials reviewed on 2 September 2026, including the East African Community’s
Common Market and investment guidance; Article 65 of the Constitution of Kenya,
the Land Control Act and Land Act; Uganda’s Land Act as currently published by
ULII; Rwanda’s Law No. 27/2021 governing land, Prime Minister’s Order No. 8 of
2022 and current National Land Authority guidance; Mainland Tanzania’s Land
Act, Cap. 113, Revised Edition 2023, the Tanzania Investment Act framework and
current Tanzania Investment Centre guidance; Burundi’s Law No. 1/13 of 9 August
2011 revising the Land Code and current investment materials; the Democratic
Republic of the Congo’s land framework as modified by Law No. 25/062 of 30
December 2025 and current Ministry of Land Affairs reform guidance; South
Sudan’s Land Act 2009 as currently published by the Ministry of Justice; and
Somalia’s Foreign Investment Law 2015 and current federal investment materials.
Land eligibility can also depend on location, land classification, beneficial
ownership, sector, investment approval and later implementing rules. This is
general legal information, not legal advice for a particular acquisition.
Suggested citation:
Ronald Serwanga, “A Legal Guide to Foreign Land Rights in East Africa” East Africa Legal Insight (2 September 2026).