Register Mortgage Tanzania: Land Act, Registrar of Titles, BRELA and Zanzibar

To register mortgage Tanzania security properly, a borrowing company deals with three offices. TRA stamps the deed. The Registrar of Titles enters it on the land register. BRELA records it as a company charge. Miss one and the bank's security is weaker than the facility letter assumes, and the drawdown waits.

This guide covers the Mainland law, the costs with Zatra fee register IDs, default and sale, and the separate Zanzibar route. Where a point could not be confirmed from a primary source, we say so.

What the law says

All land in Mainland Tanzania is public land vested in the President as trustee. A company does not own land. It holds a right of occupancy, a derivative right or a lease, and it mortgages that interest. Four statutes do the work.

• The Land Act, Cap. 113. The mortgage Part sets out how a mortgage is created, the spouse rules for a matrimonial home, the notice of default, the lender's remedies and the power of sale. The consolidated text is on TanzLII (version of 30 June 2025).
• The Mortgage Financing (Special Provisions) Act, No. 17 of 2008. It amended the Land Act to make mortgage lending workable. The Ministry of Lands copy shows the notice of default period set at sixty days and the spouse disclosure duty.
• The Land Registration Act, Cap. 334. It runs the land register. Section 57 says a registered mortgage has effect as a security and does not transfer the estate. Section 60 ranks mortgages by order of registration. See the R.E. 2023 text on TanzLII and the Ministry of Lands copy.
• The Companies Act, Cap. 212 R.E. 2023. Part IV requires a company to deliver particulars of a charge to BRELA. Section 99 sets the 42-day period, and section 100 lists the charges that must be registered.

The Stamp Duty Act, Cap. 189 R.E. 2023 sits alongside them. Section 41 places the duty on a mortgage deed on the mortgagor unless the parties agree otherwise. The TRA copy of the Act carries that section.

On numbering: courts cite the mortgage sections in the 1999 numbering as amended in 2004 and 2008, while the consolidated text renumbers parts of the Act. We use the older numbers where a court or the 2008 Act did, and list the R.E. 2023 numbers to confirm.

Who should read this

• Finance directors of Tanzanian companies offering land or buildings as security for a bank facility.
• Foreign-owned companies that hold land through a TISEZA derivative right and want to borrow against it.
• Directors and shareholders who pledge a personal house to secure a company loan.
• Company secretaries who must file the charge at BRELA and keep the company's own register of charges.

Which laws and offices handle a land mortgage?

Each office records a different thing, and none replaces another.

For the BRELA side in detail, read our guide to registration of charges in Tanzania. For the valuation, see who may sign a property valuation.

Does a bank mortgage need the Commissioner for Lands' consent?

Usually not. The consolidated Land Act on TanzLII states the default rule in section 40(2): a disposition does not need the Commissioner's consent unless the Act or regulations say otherwise. A mortgage counts as a disposition under the definitions in section 2.

Section 41 then lists the dispositions that do need approval. The main one is an assignment of a right of occupancy granted less than three years before. Section 41(3) carves out loans secured by a mortgage from a prescribed lender. Those need no approval under section 41, whatever the value, but they fall within the Commissioner's supervisory powers in section 42. A disposition made without a required approval is inoperative under section 41(5).

Three limits follow. First, the carve-out covers only a prescribed lender, so check a related-company or foreign-parent lender against the list. Second, the Commissioner's general notification and endorsement process in section 40(3) to (5) applies to dispositions outside section 42. Confirm with the land registry whether it expects an endorsed notification for your mortgage. Third, the registry will look at the title's land rent position. Our guide to land rent and property rates explains how arrears follow the title.

Clyde & Co's 2021 note on securing land as collateral in Tanzania adds a condition from the 2008 amendments. A loan secured on undeveloped or underdeveloped land must be applied wholly or partly to developing that land, and the borrower reports on the use of the loan. Read the facility purpose clause against that rule.

How do you register a mortgage with the Registrar of Titles?

The land registry step is where the mortgage becomes a security against third parties. The Land Registration Act sets the rules that matter most to a borrowing company.

• Section 41. Every disposition of registered land is registered by the Registrar, and once registered it takes effect to create the interest.
• Section 57. A registered mortgage has effect as a security only. Title stays with the company.
• Section 60. Mortgages over the same estate rank in the order they are registered, not the order they are signed, unless the earlier lender agrees otherwise.
• Section 62. Implied covenants include repaying, insuring and not leasing for more than one year without the lender's written consent.
• Section 91. A deed is registered only if every party has signed it and the signatures are attested as the Act requires.

Section 60 is the reason to register fast. The Act sets no day count for presenting a mortgage, but a second lender that registers first ranks first. Banks therefore present the stamped deed as soon as stamping is complete.

The registry pack normally includes the original certificate of title, the stamped mortgage deed and copies, the board resolution and proof of the land rent position. We could not confirm the current prescribed form number online, so confirm it with the zonal registry.

What does spousal consent mean when a company borrows?

A company has no spouse, so a mortgage of company land is not a mortgage of a matrimonial home. The rule bites in two common situations. A director or shareholder offers a family house as third-party security for the company's loan. Or the title to the house stands in an individual's name although the family business uses it.

The Land Act as amended in 2004 made a mortgage of a matrimonial home valid only if the spouse living there signed or assented to it. That text is in the Land (Amendment) Act, 2004 on FAOLEX. The 2008 Act then replaced section 114(2). The mortgagor must disclose whether he or she has a spouse. The lender must take reasonable steps to verify the answer. A lender that relies on an affidavit or witnessed declaration of marital status is treated as having done so. Knowingly giving false information is an offence.

The Court of Appeal applied these rules in Hadija Issa Arerary v. Tanzania Postal Bank (2020), summarised by Clyde & Co on Mondaq. In a 2025 decision reported by FB Attorneys, the Court upheld a mortgage based on an affidavit of being single, relying on regulation 4(1)(c) of the Land (Mortgage) Regulations, 2005. It held that requiring the bank to search with RITA went beyond its duty.

For a company file, collect a sworn marital status declaration from every individual giving security, and spousal consent where there is a spouse. Commissioning the affidavit is an advocate's function.

Must a company also register the mortgage at BRELA?

Yes. A mortgage of land by a company is a charge on land, and Part IV of the Companies Act requires its particulars to reach BRELA within 42 days after creation. Section 99 of the R.E. 2023 text sets the rule. In the 2002 numbering the same rule sat in section 96, with the list of registrable charges in section 97, which explains why older guides cite those numbers.

A charge not registered in time is void against a liquidator, an administrator and the company's creditors, and the secured money becomes payable at once. Only the High Court can extend time under section 108. A BRELA filing does not register the mortgage on the title, and a land registry entry does not satisfy BRELA. The company also keeps its own register of charges and copies of the instruments under sections 110 and 111.

The 42-day clock runs from creation, so diarise it from the date the deed is signed, whatever the order of filings.

What does it cost to register a mortgage in Tanzania?

Government charges are fixed by instrument and paid to each authority against its own control number. The table uses the Zatra government fee register. Each authority's control number governs on the day of payment.

The stamp duty line needs care. Register line F0274 records the Schedule rate for a mortgage deed as 1% of the instrument, capped at TZS 10,000. The PwC tax summary says most instruments, debentures included, pay 1% of the consideration, without a cap. TRA's stamp duty page lists mortgages and debentures as chargeable but prints no rate for executing one. None of the online copies of Cap. 189 we could reach reproduces the Schedule. The primary text is therefore unconfirmed. On a large facility the difference is millions of shillings, so ask TRA to assess the deed under section 43 before signing. Our stamp duty guide covers the 30-day rule and late penalties.

Can a foreign-owned company mortgage its land?

Yes, but it mortgages a different interest. Section 19(2) of the Land Act limits a non-citizen, or a company mostly owned by non-citizens, to three routes. They are a right of occupancy for investment approved under the Investment and Special Economic Zones Act, a derivative right for that investment, or an interest under a partial transfer from a citizen for a joint venture.

TISEZA's land acquisition page describes the derivative right route. The certificate of occupancy is registered in TISEZA's name, and TISEZA grants the investor a derivative right, which is then registered. The investor's mortgage is a mortgage of that derivative right. Under register line NEW-05-22, TISEZA charges for consent to use a derivative right as loan security and for consent to charge immovable property. We could not confirm whether both consents apply to one ordinary bank mortgage, so confirm with TISEZA before quoting a budget.

A sublease is weaker collateral, since the bank lends against the remaining term. Our guides to derivative rights and investor leases and which instrument you hold explain the difference.

How does registering a mortgage work in Zanzibar?

Zanzibar has its own land law, registry and revenue authority. A Mainland title, registry entry or TRA stamp has no effect on land in Unguja or Pemba. Two Zanzibar statutes set the frame.

• The Land Tenure Act, No. 12 of 1992. On the FAOLEX text, section 8(2) says no interest is valid until registered under the Registered Land Act, and transactions must be recorded in the land register within sixty days. Section 12 lets the lending institutions listed in the Schedule hold charges. Section 13 lets a lender take possession on default, but under section 13(3) the right of occupancy never passes to the lender.
• The Registered Land Act, 1969 (Zanzibar). On the FAOLEX text, section 65 calls the security a charge, created by a prescribed instrument. It takes effect as a security only and is completed by registration as an encumbrance. Where no repayment date is set, money becomes repayable three months after written demand. The remedies, receivership and sale sections were not legible in the copy we read.

Zanzibar charge fees and stamp duty are not in the Zatra register; the Zanzibar authority assesses them on filing. A Mainland company with Zanzibar land still files its charge at BRELA, while a BPRA-registered company files with BPRA. Our guide to Mainland vs Zanzibar land rights covers how foreign investors hold land on the islands.

What happens if the company defaults?

Default does not let a Mainland lender sell at once. The 2008 Act replaced the notice of default provision, section 127 in the older numbering. The notice must tell the mortgagor what to do to cure the default. It must also say that the whole claim becomes payable and the lender may sell after sixty days following receipt of the notice. The 2004 text had set thirty days. The Court of Appeal applied the sixty-day period in Otaru v. African Banking Corporation (2024), and FB Attorneys describes the notice as mandatory before any sale.

Once the notice expires unremedied, Clyde & Co lists the lender's remedies as suing on the covenant to pay, appointing a receiver of income, leasing the land, taking possession, or selling it. The 2008 Act added a duty to give at least ten days' notice of a sale not made by public auction to the mortgagor and any registered third party.

The lender owes a duty of care on sale. Clyde & Co's February 2026 note on mortgage enforcement and valuation failures reads section 143 of the R.E. 2023 text as requiring the best price reasonably obtainable, a fresh valuation approved by the Chief Valuer, and a price not 25% or more below market value. At the registry, section 51 of the Land Registration Act suspends registration of a transfer under a power of sale for one month after notice to the owner.

A borrower that disputes a default notice, a valuation or a sale should instruct an advocate at once, because injunction applications are time-sensitive.

Worked example: a TZS 1.5 billion facility

Kilima Agro Ltd, a Tanzanian company, borrows TZS 1,500,000,000 from a commercial bank. Security is a mortgage over its warehouse plot in Dar es Salaam, held under a granted right of occupancy. The approved valuation is TZS 2,400,000,000. The figures below are government charges only.

Two sensitivities change this budget. If TRA charges 1% of the secured sum without the cap, stamp duty becomes TZS 15,000,000 and the total TZS 15,662,000. If Kilima Agro were foreign-owned and held a TISEZA derivative right, the consent to charge adds TZS 7,000,000 at the TZS 1.345bn to 2.69bn band (NEW-05-22), for a total of TZS 7,672,000. If TISEZA also charges the TZS 3,000,000 security consent, the total is TZS 10,672,000.

These are government charges at official rates. Zatra's professional fee is quoted separately in writing and never mixed into them.

What to do now

1. Search the title. Order an official search at the Registrar of Titles to confirm the holder, existing mortgages, caveats and the land rent position.
2. Confirm the lender and the consents. Check that the bank is a prescribed lender and, for a derivative right, apply for TISEZA's consent before signing.
3. Commission the valuation. Use a registered valuer and have the report approved by the Chief Valuer.
4. Collect marital status declarations. Get sworn declarations, and spousal consent where needed, from every individual giving security.
5. Pass the board resolution. Approve the facility, the mortgage and the signatories under the articles and section 41 of the Companies Act.
6. Ask TRA to assess the stamp duty. Present the signed deed and stamp it within 30 days, with the duty confirmed in writing.
7. Register at the land registry. Present the stamped deed and title promptly, since priority follows registration order.
8. File the charge at BRELA. Deliver the particulars within 42 days of creation and update the company's own register of charges.

Key dates and deadlines

How Zatra helps

Zatra coordinates the borrower's side of a secured facility. We run the title search, assemble the board resolution and declarations, ask TRA to assess the duty, track the land registry file and file the charge at BRELA within the 42 days. For foreign-owned companies we handle the TISEZA consent file through our TISEZA investor registration service. Company records and the register of charges sit with our corporate secretarial team.

Execution of the mortgage deed, attestation, commissioning of affidavits, legal opinions for the bank, and any dispute over a default notice or sale go to an advocate. Zatra works with the advocate and keeps the file moving, but Zatra does not decide or guarantee any authority's outcome. Government fees are paid at the official rate against each authority's control number, separate from Zatra's professional fee. To start, contact Zatra with the title number and the facility letter.

Sources and status

Accurate as at 13 November 2026.

• Land Act, Chapter 113, consolidated. TanzLII, version of 30 June 2025. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• The Mortgage Financing (Special Provisions) Act, No. 17 of 2008. Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, 2008 text. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• The Land (Amendment) Act, 2004. FAOLEX, 2004 text. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Land Registration Act, Chapter 334. TanzLII, version of 31 December 2023. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• The Stamp Duty Act, Cap. 189 R.E. 2023. Tanzania Revenue Authority, 2023 revised edition. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Land Acquisition. TISEZA, web page, 2026. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Otaru and Another v. African Banking Corporation (Tanzania) Ltd and Another, Civil Appeal No. 395 of 2020. Court of Appeal of Tanzania via TanzLII, 2 July 2024. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• The Land Tenure Act, No. 12 of 1992 (Zanzibar). FAOLEX, 1992 text. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• The Registered Land Act, 1969 (Zanzibar). FAOLEX, 1969 text. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Securing land as collateral in Tanzania. Clyde & Co, 24 March 2021. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Mortgage Enforcement in Tanzania: Valuation Failures, Undervalued Sales, and Risks to Bona Fide Purchasers. Clyde & Co, 2 February 2026. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Tanzania Court of Appeal Makes Judgement on Spousal Consent on Mortgages. Clyde & Co via Mondaq, 12 June 2020. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Legal Update, 4 March 2025. FB Attorneys, 4 March 2025. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.
• Tanzania: Corporate other taxes. PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, reviewed 9 September 2026. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.

Figures to confirm before you act

• Stamp duty on a mortgage deed: register F0274 shows 1% capped at TZS 10,000; PwC describes 1% of the consideration. We could not read the Cap. 189 Schedule online.
• The R.E. 2023 section numbers for notice of default, power of sale, the matrimonial home and the duty on sale.
• Whether the registry needs the Commissioner's endorsed notification for a prescribed-lender mortgage, and the current list of prescribed lenders.
• The prescribed mortgage form and the number of copies the zonal land registry requires.
• Whether TISEZA charges both the derivative right security consent and the consent to charge, and the value the band is measured on.
• Zanzibar registry fees, the ZRA stamp duty on a charge, and the BPRA period for registering a company charge.

This article is general information based on official sources available at the date of publication. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and notices change. Verify with the issuing authority or consult Zatra before acting.