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If the parcel is available, the file is sent via the Registry to the Surveys Department, where
it is checked against a master map in the Property Registration Section (Plan Room), then given a
number and returned via the Registry to Folios for the number to be noted. This may take one month.
Folios then sends the file back to the regional office for presentation of the case to the Land Allocation
Committee (LAC), which meets weekly. The LAC will advise the commissioner who makes the final
decision. The new committee chaired by the deputy permanent secretary has taken over this function,
and makes its recommendations to the permanent secretary. (For "scheduled farms" listed in a
schedule or annex to the Agricultural Lands Act, the appropriate agency for the allocation would be
the Agricultural Lands Board, but this board no longer functions.) If the allocation is approved, the
regional office or headquarters then sends a letter of offer to the applicant by post, stipulating the
amount of the lease charges the applicant is expected to pay. This takes a minimum of two weeks, and
often much longer.
If State Land is involved, especially in a town, planning permission may be needed before an
offer can be made. If the council where the land is located is itself a Planning Authority, this will have
been handled earlier, but it may be necessary for the applicant to pay certain service charges to the
authority before he or she can get a certificate of title. If the council is not a Planning Authority, the
offer is an offer in principle and requires the applicant to obtain planning permission. Only when that
permission is obtained and communicated to the Commissioner of Lands will an offer be given. The
time to obtain planning permission will vary considerably depending on the particular planning
authority. The Lusaka provincial planning authority is quite prompt, but one also hears of other cases
in which the time needed could be as much as five months. It can be much longer if the land must be
repossessed before it can be reallocated.
If there is not a need to obtain planning permission, the applicant accepts the offer by paying
the lease charges. Unless there are special reasons for delays (such as the applicant having difficulty
finding the funds for the payment or confusion as to the roles played by different agencies, as when
the council is also the planner), this is usually accomplished about two months after the letter of offer
is mailed. Once the offer is accepted, the regional office requests the Surveys Department to prepare
a sketch plan for the lease agreement itself. Where the land has been surveyed, the regional office will
request a survey diagram rather than a sketch plan. On receipt of the plan, the regional office prepares
a lease agreement for the successful applicant and mails it to him or her to sign. Another two months
may elapse.
The applicant signs the lease and returns it to the regional office and sends it through the
Registry for the commissioner's signature. After signing, it is sent through the Registry to the Chief
Lands Officer, who witnesses the signature and returns it through the Registry to Folios. Folios
records the lease and then sends it on to the Lands and Deeds Registry for registration. There, the
lease is received by the Lodgement Desk and then forwarded to the registrar. The registrar reviews
the lease for completeness and, if it is complete, signs a processing schedule. The lease is entered in
the register. A title deed is prepared by the registrar and sent to the Commissioner of Lands, who
sends it to the regional office who mails it to the applicant. This process, after the applicant returns
the signed lease to the ministry, may take ten days.
The process is largely the same for the different categories of land, except that chief's
permission must be obtained for Trust and Reserve Lands and planning permission becomes an issue
in many State-Land contexts.