In several countries, a certificate of occupancy is a legal document that gives the holder certain rights to land. These can be a part of

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

processes. In Tanzania, for example, they are equivalent to 33-year

leases A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

and grant the holder the ability to

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

the property. In Nigeria, all land is vested in the government under the Land Use Act of 1978, and certificates of occupancy are equivalent to 99-year leases entitling the holder to occupy the land. Mechanisms similar to certificates of occupancy include temporary occupancy permits (

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

), certificates of land use (

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

), and preemptive certificates (Thailand).{{Cite book, last1=Farvacque, first1=Catherine, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M773kDLqAboC&q=certificate+of+land+occupancy+developing+country&pg=PA100, title=Reforming Urban Land Policies and Institutions in Developing Countries, last2=McAuslan, first2=Patrick, date=1992, publisher=World Bank Publications, isbn=978-0-8213-2092-1, pages=100, language=en

References

See also