The Lands Commission has begun legal procedures against lessees of state-vested lands who have failed to pay ground rent, with full enforcement expected to roll out in 2027.
The Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, Professor Anthony Owusu-Ansah, announced this in Accra on Tuesday at the “Progress Series” media engagement organised by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
He said the Commission had “initiated the necessary legal procedures against lessees who have defaulted in the payment of ground rent” and urged all defaulters to settle their outstanding obligations immediately to avoid legal proceedings and other consequences.
Prof. Owusu-Ansah stressed that the obligation to pay ground rent annually does not depend on the issuance or receipt of a rent demand notice from the Commission.
He also warned that lessees whose leases have expired should contact the Commission to begin renewal, since failure to do so may attract legal consequences. All Government lessees were encouraged to complete the online KYC form on the Commission’s website to update their records.
Revenue
As of August 2026, the Commission had collected GH¢40.7 million in ground rent, about 90.4 per cent of its annual target of GH¢45 million. The figure exceeds the GH¢32.02 million collected in 2025. A digital platform for ground rent collection is being piloted in selected estates in the Greater Accra Region.
Digitisation
The Executive Secretary said the Enterprise Land Information System (ELIS) had, as of September 2026, been enhanced in the Greater Accra Region and extended to nine more regions: Eastern, Western, Volta, Western North, Oti, Bono East, Savannah, North East and Ahafo.
The public can now apply online for official land searches, which has cut the turnaround time from about one month to an average of seven working days. ELIS will be launched at the Ashanti Regional Office before the end of November 2026, with full rollout across all regional offices expected by the end of 2027.
Policy and Law
A new National Land Policy to replace the 1999 policy is being prepared, following an inception workshop on October 6 and 7, 2026. The review is expected to be completed in 2027.
Revised draft Regulations for the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) have been sent to Parliament, and the Commission expects approval before the end of 2026.
Infrastructure and Surveying
The Commission is renovating and furnishing 36 district offices within selected Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies. As of September 2026, 51 Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) had been established and observed under the national geodetic network.
Regional office buildings in the Savannah, Upper East and Western regions are about 50 per cent complete, and work on the Central Regional Office has resumed. All are expected to be finished by 2027. The final phase of the Greater Accra Regional Office Complex is complete, and procurement to furnish it is ongoing. The Tema District Office project has received Commitment Authorisation from the Ministry of Finance.
The Commission is also handling land acquisition and compensation valuation for several projects. They include the Kumasi Outer Ring Road, the Suame Interchange, the GRIDCo corridor along Accra–Kumasi, the Petroleum Hub at Jomoro and Phase III of the Appiatse Resettlement Project.
SLARP
The Project Coordinator of the Strategic Land Administration Reform Project (SLARP), Mr Jones Ofori-Boadu, described the project as a nationally owned, sustainably financed reform programme with eight components.
These include improved maps, digitisation of records, decentralisation, systematic titling, boundary demarcation and land banks.
He noted that the country’s last topographic maps date from 1974, and that earlier mapping under the Land Administration Project covered only about 54,000 sq km of Ghana’s 239,000 sq km.
The government has released 100 per cent of the Commission’s revenue to it, with 67 per cent ring-fenced for the project. Projected revenue is GH¢1.8 billion up to 2030 and GH¢203 million for 2026. The project management unit has been in place since July 1, 2026.
By Kingsley Asiedu
