Determination of Forgery Risk Indicators in Land Transaction Documents in Ghana

The multiplicity of land transactions takes place on the same land parcel coupled with myriad documentation efforts by both statutory and customary tenure systems. These are susceptible to fraud and concomitant land disputes. Land transaction documentation flaws are a significant cause of land ownership and boundary disputes in Ghana.  The research investigated current land transaction documents, and identifiable flaws, and explored probable means of altering genuine land transaction records with the intent of deceiving the innocent purchaser or unsuspecting vendor. An embedded mixed method of research approach was adopted for the study. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken to assess respondents’ knowledge of land acquisition and the acceptability of various land documents as authentic enough to legitimize one’s interest in land. Both cadastral plan and spatial planning extracts were key in identifying authentic land transaction records based on geometrical accuracies and the delineation of parcels. Results revealed that the availability of the affected parcel was barred from any encroachment and boundary disputes, and prospective buyers became forgery-risk-averse in ascertaining all other risk factors within the transaction attribute records. However, conflicting ownership, the absence of regional number-defaced seals on cadastral plans, site plans, and statutory declarations without legal authority were considered viable forgery risk indicators. It was recommended that the Government of Ghana should secure the creation and establishment of a multipurpose digital cadastre to ensure sanity in the Ghanaian land market.

The multiplicity of land transactions takes place on the same land parcel coupled with myriad documentation efforts by both statutory and customary tenure systems. These are susceptible to fraud and concomitant land disputes. Land transaction documentation flaws are a significant cause of land ownership and boundary disputes in Ghana.  The research investigated current land transaction documents, and identifiable flaws, and explored probable means of altering genuine land transaction records with the intent of deceiving the innocent purchaser or unsuspecting vendor. An embedded mixed method of research approach was adopted for the study. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken to assess respondents’ knowledge of land acquisition and the acceptability of various land documents as authentic enough to legitimize one’s interest in land. Both cadastral plan and spatial planning extracts were key in identifying authentic land transaction records based on geometrical accuracies and the delineation of parcels. Results revealed that the availability of the affected parcel was barred from any encroachment and boundary disputes, and prospective buyers became forgery-risk-averse in ascertaining all other risk factors within the transaction attribute records. However, conflicting ownership, the absence of regional number-defaced seals on cadastral plans, site plans, and statutory declarations without legal authority were considered viable forgery risk indicators. It was recommended that the Government of Ghana should secure the creation and establishment of a multipurpose digital cadastre to ensure sanity in the Ghanaian land market.