STANDARDIZED PROPERTY
Property value: 9,619,795
City: Bamako

Registration Requirements:

 
Procedure 1. Verify the real identity of the proprietor and the situation of the title
Time to complete: 1 day
Cost to complete: 3,500 FCFA
Comment: The buyer should perform due diligence before entering into a sale agreement with the owner of the property. Due diligence can simply be done by requesting from the buyer the number of the property lot. With the given number, the buyer can personally go to the Land Registry and ask the register clerk to provide him with a certificate called "Réquisition Foncière". This is done very promptly by searching the property lot number and making a copy of it.
The information included in the certificate relates to property's area, its exact location, the name of its actual owner (and all previous ones). It also includes all information relating to potential mortgages or liens encumbering it. The certificate engages the state's responsibility and is more important than the deed of ownership presented by the seller. The deed can indeed be outdated and not reflecting the true actual situation or it might be a fake.
 
Procedure 2. Obtain an Assessment of the True Value of the Property
Time to complete: 3 days
Cost to complete: 10,000 FCFA
Comment: It is the practice in the country that the potential buyer hires a price expert to assess the true value of the property before the sale agreement. These are commonly called "courtiers informels de l'immobilier".
After investigating the place and the building these facilitators provide a range of acceptable prices for a fixed fee that varies with cases but can be estimated to be around CFA 10,000.
 
Procedure 3. Notary prepares sale agreement
Time to complete: 3 days
Cost to complete: notary fees (subject to 18 % VAT) according to the following scale: Property value (in FCFA) Notary fees Less than 2.500.000 7 % of the property value Between 2.500.001 and 10.000.000 3,5 % of the property value More than 10.000.000 1 % of the property value 
Comment: The law requires that the sale agreement be notarized.
It is the practice that parties ask the notary to draft the sale agreement himself.
The notary's fees are regulated by a decree number 93/056, following the regressive schedule shown above. This scheme makes the notary very wary to reflect the right price of sale in the sale contract. This is because parties may tend to understate the true value of the sale to avoid paying the right amount of tax. The parties should also pay 18% of the notary's fees as a VAT for the state.
 
Procedure 4. Register the sale agreement with the Tax Authorities ("Service des Impôts")
Time to complete: 7 days
Cost to complete: 15 % of the property value
Comment: The sale agreement should be registered with the tax authorities.
The registration fees are 15% of the property value. There are, however, discounts if the sale is financed in certain ways. In case the property is bought from a Real Estate promoter Company "Opération de Promotion Immobilière" or in case the sale is financed through a real estate loan "Pret Immobilier", the registration rights are reduced as follow:
1. for a property worth less than CFA 5,000,000, the registration rights will be 2% of the property value
2. for a property worth between CFA 5,000,001 and CFA 10,000,000, the registration rights will be 5% of the property value
3. for a property worth more than CFA 10,000,000, the registration rights will be 10% of the property value.
These lower fees has been established to encourage land and house sales in the country, following the government stated goal: "A house for all Mali Citizens".
 
Procedure 5. Final transfer of the property title with the Land Registry ("Bureau de la Conservation Foncière")
Time to complete: 7 - 30 days
Cost to complete: 0.90 % property value + 45.000 FCFA (stamp duties) + 5.000 (publication fees)
Comment: The transfer fees are 0.90% of the value of the property divided as follows: 1) 0.60% for the state and 2) 0.30% for the Registry employees as part of their salary.
The parties should also pay stamp duties. Stamps cost CFA 3000 per page for approximately 15 pages. The parties should also pay a fixed registry tax of CFA 5,000.
*Before doing the final transfer, the land register forward the whole file to the verification commission ("Commission de Verification") that checks whether the price stated in the contract of sale corresponds to the commission's price criteria. In case the commission contests the price, the parties are requested to come back to the Land Registry and pay the difference in taxes. The parties can choose to contest the commission decision by going to court. In the later case, delays are substantial. If the commission does not object to the stated price, the application proceeds and the director of the Land Registry makes the final transfer of property. The Registry will then issue a final deed of property in the name of the new buyer.
 
 
Note: Procedures sometimes take place simultaneously. Instances of this are marked with an asterisk (*).