Over 100 private notaries cleared for land transfer services

More private land notaries are set to join Rwanda’s land administration system after the National Land Authority (NLA) released a provisional list showing that 122 applicants met the requirements to provide services related to the transfer of land rights. The provisional list, shared with The New Times, includes 167 applicants who sought authorisation to carry out private notarial services in land transactions. ALSO READ: Govt to expand land surveying capacity with two more stations The authority also published the names of applicants who did not meet the required criteria. To qualify for authorisation, applicants were required to submit a complete application file to the NLA, including a tax clearance certificate and a photograph of their office building indicating its exact location, including the village, cell, sector, district, province, and geographical coordinates. Former government employees who previously worked in land services were additionally required to provide a recommendation letter from the relevant Land Registrar, issued within the previous two weeks, requesting authorisation for them to practice notarial services in land matters. Applicants who met all requirements will be submitted to the Minister of Justice for final approval. ALSO READ: Land surveying faces backlog of over 50,000 pending applications “Applicants who do not see their names on the list despite submitting their applications, or those indicated as not meeting the requirements, have been asked to submit appeals before June 10, 2026,” the NLA said in a statement. Rwanda currently has 182 private land notaries supporting land transfer processes, a system introduced in 2022 to improve access to land services and ease pressure on public institutions. The recruitment of additional private notaries comes as the NLA seeks to improve service delivery amid concerns over delays in processing land files. According to the authority, more than 2,000 land-related applications are submitted daily, making processing time-consuming because each file requires thorough review. “The demand for land-related services has increased as more people become aware of the importance of land registration and land rights. We processed about 380,000 files in 2023, and today we are handling more than one million files annually,” said Grace Nishimwe, Director General of the NLA. She said the authority plans to increase staffing from July 2026 to reduce delays in service delivery. “In July, we will also increase the capacity of the land registry and bring in more private operators,” she added. When the land registry was established, it processed about 15,000 files annually. The number rose to more than 750,000 files in 2024 and has since surpassed one million per year. Nishimwe said handling the growing workload requires additional personnel and expanded land registry capacity. ALSO READ: Ten new changes reshaping land use, urban planning in Rwanda The Land Administration Information System (LAIS) requires at least 3,000 public and private operators to manage rising demand for land-related services, Bernadette Arakwiye, Minister of Environment, said in February 2026. According to a report by the Office of the Auditor General for State Finances, an audit conducted in February 2026 found 38,943 pending files awaiting review, some of which had remained unprocessed for between six months and two years. The report also revealed that more than 202,000 files experienced approval delays ranging from six months to two years, prompting the NLA to strengthen operations and accelerate service delivery. The approval of new private land notaries follows the deployment of about 50 private land surveyors earlier this year to support public surveyors in clearing a backlog of more than 55,000 applications. Lawyers working in District Land One-Stop Centres will also soon be allowed to approve land transfers as part of broader efforts to address growing demand for land-related services, a measure announced in April.

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Over 100 private notaries cleared for land transfer services