Buying in Zanzibar: The Purchase, Step by Step

The Zanzibar purchase sequence in one pass#

A purchase in Zanzibar runs in six steps, and most of them are anchored in a statute the principal can open. First the seller and the scheme are verified. Then the sale agreement is read against the documents a developer must hand over. Then value is cleared and stamp duty is paid, the approval for a lease cession is obtained and the transfer is registered. Where the buyer signs abroad, the signature is legalised before the signed instrument is used. The texts reopened here do not fix the order between stamping and the approval. This article gives the order and the sources. It is not a legal opinion.

The instrument that gates the money is the certificate of no objection. Certificate of no objection is the term the Stamp Duty Act, No. 7 of 2017, uses for a certificate issued by the Commissioner of the Zanzibar Revenue Board, in the Act's wording, to certify the value of property intended to be sold. Section 4 of that Act says that no transfer of any property or instrument of ownership in Zanzibar 'shall be applied by any person' until the Commissioner has issued it. Grade, measured from the consolidated text of June 2023, reopened on 17 October 2026.

What is owned is a separate question, and it sits in a separate article. What a foreigner can own in Zanzibar explains the rights, the leases and the limits. This piece starts after that decision is taken. It asks what happens, in what order, between a signed intention and a name on the register. A missing step is cheapest to find before money moves, and most expensive at the registry counter.

Every step below carries a grade for how firm its source is. Statute text read from an official publication is graded measured. Anything taken from an embassy page, a law-firm article or a consultant guide is graded directional and labelled practitioner-reported. Where the law is silent, the article says so and does not fill the gap with a rule of thumb. The weak points are collected in the last section.

Step one, verify the seller and the scheme in Zanzibar#

The first check is who is entitled to sell, and in which capacity. For a foreign buyer in Zanzibar the interest sold is typically a lease granted under the Land Tenure Act 1992 (Act No. 12 of 1992), so the identity of the lessor and the terms of the lease matter. The principal asks for the instrument under which the seller holds, its parties, and any approval already given. A seller who cannot produce that chain has not yet shown that there is anything to sell.

The second check is what the unit or plot is in law, because the paperwork differs. A plot sold as a plot follows the lease route. A unit in a multi-unit building follows the Zanzibar Condominium Act, 2010 (Act No. 10 of 2010), which applies only to property expressly made subject to it (section 2). Section 8(2) deems a condominium, for the purposes of a unit or joint, to be a parcel and, for all purposes of the Act, to be land. Which regime applies decides which documents exist at all.

The third check is the scheme itself, read from registers and not from the sales deck. Where a registered condominium is claimed, the principal asks for the condominium plan. Section 6(2) deems a plan registered on the date the Registrar registers the application and a serial number is assigned and notified in the land register. A scheme sold as a registered condominium without a plan serial number raises a question that the brochure does not answer.

Public project pages are a starting point for any developer and not a substitute for the registers, and this article treats Victaura's the same way. Victaura's Nungwi project, Secret Zanzibar Hotel & Villas, is in active development, and its public project page is the reference for it. Nothing in this article adds to that page or comments on it. The checks above apply to every scheme the principal looks at, the author's included.

Step two, the Zanzibar sale agreement#

The contract is where the statutory documents are tied to money. For a unit sold by a proprietor or developer, section 22(1)(a) of the Condominium Act requires that the sale agreement contain the matters prescribed in the regulations. Those matters are not reproduced in the Act itself. The principal's counsel needs the regulations in force, and this article has not opened them. That is a gap, stated here and again in the last section.

The currency of the price decides the duty base, so the contract states it. Section 23 of the Stamp Duty Act says that where an instrument is chargeable with ad valorem duty on money in a foreign currency, the duty is calculated on the value of that money on the day of the instrument, at the current rate of exchange. A price fixed in a foreign currency is therefore converted into shillings on the signing date for duty purposes. The wider exposure is treated in the FX layer of a foreign-denominated purchase.

An off-plan contract can be assigned, and the Stamp Duty Act prices that case. Section 16(2) covers a person who has contracted to buy property, has not obtained a conveyance, and contracts to sell it to another. If the property is then conveyed immediately to the sub-purchaser, the conveyance is chargeable on the consideration for the sale by the original purchaser to the sub-purchaser. An allocator who models an exit by assignment reads this section before modelling, because it fixes which price carries the duty.

The contract should also say who bears which cost, and the statute allows the parties to decide. Section 7(1) makes the person named in the First Schedule liable, which for a conveyance is the purchaser. Section 7(3) says nothing in the section prohibits an agreement between the parties on how the duty is shared. Section 7(2) lets the person who paid recover the amount from a party bound by agreement or other law to bear it. A cost-sharing clause is therefore lawful, and it is drafted, not assumed.

What must a Zanzibar developer hand over before a unit is sold?#

Under section 22(1) of the Zanzibar Condominium Act, 2010, a proprietor or developer must hand over eight items before selling or agreeing to sell a unit or proposed unit. They are the sale agreement, the proposed rules, the proposed management agreement, the proposed sale agreement, a copy of the lease of the parcel if the parcel is held under a lease, a certificate of title for the unit or proposed unit, any charge or proposed charge that may affect the title, and the condominium plan. The Act lists the sale agreement and the proposed sale agreement separately.

Where a charge exists, section 22(2) adds a written notice. The notice must state the maximum principal amount under the charge, the maximum monthly payment if any, the amortization period, the grace period if any, and the pre-payment terms if any. For an allocator this is the disclosure that brings a mortgage over the parcel into view before the deposit moves.

The statute gives the buyer a cooling-off right and a timing trap. Section 22(3) lets a purchaser rescind the sale agreement within ten working days after its execution, without liability. Section 22(4) removes that right if all the section 22(1) documents were delivered to the purchaser not less than ten days before execution. Section 22(5) requires the developer to return all money paid within ten working days of written notice of rescission. Timing of delivery therefore decides whether the right exists, so the principal records in writing the date each section 22(1) document was received.

Resales follow section 23, which moves the disclosure to the seller of a used unit. A co-owner or other person who is not a proprietor or developer must furnish the declaration of financial statement, a certificate stating the assessments for common expenses against the unit, the amount of any unpaid common expenses, and any other fees or charges (section 23(1)). A purchaser is not liable for common expenses, assessments or fees above the amounts shown in the sales certificate (section 23(2)).

The Act separates condominium consent from land approvals. Section 16(1)(b) says a unit owner may transfer a unit without the approval of any other unit owner, by sale or in another manner permitted by the Act and other laws. Section 28 of the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendment) Act 2023 (Act No. 6 of 2023) replaced the words 'the Board or' in that clause with 'Registrar', and the same Act deleted the definition of the Board. That sentence settles who inside the building must consent. It does not say that approvals required under other laws fall away, and the next sections set out what is known about them.

What does stamp duty cost on a Zanzibar purchase, and who pays it?#

Stamp duty on a conveyance or transfer in Zanzibar is 1%, and the purchaser is the person liable. The Zanzibar Revenue Authority publishes the First Schedule of the Stamp Duty Act, No. 7 of 2017, on zanrevenue.org, with the rate and the person liable for each instrument. The same page lists a land lease at 1%, payable by the lessee. Grade, measured from the authority's schedule, reopened on 17 October 2026. The page says the schedule is taken from the consolidated 2025 edition of the Act, while the sections cited in this article are read from the June 2023 consolidation that the same page links, so counsel checks them against the 2025 edition. A later Finance Act can change a schedule, so the rate is re-read at the time of use.

The value is the consideration, or the average market value where none is paid. Section 15(1) sets the base. Section 15(6) says that where property moves between related parties the value is determined at arm's length. Section 5(5) directs the Commissioner, for the purpose of collecting duty, to ascertain the market value of any property chargeable with duty. A price below what the Commissioner judges to be market value is therefore not a safe base for the principal's cost model.

Clearance comes first, and stamping is how the duty is denoted. Section 4 says that no transfer of property shall be applied by any person until the Commissioner has issued the certificate of no objection. Section 8 says payment is denoted by an adhesive or impressed stamp, and section 13 requires the stamp to be cancelled in the prescribed way. An instrument that is not duly stamped is unstamped under the Act's definitions, and the Act's own index lists a rule that instruments not duty stamped are inadmissible in evidence (section 50, title read, text not reopened).

Missed stamping is expensive by statute. Under section 7(4), a person liable for duty on an instrument who fails to stamp it as required, or who makes use of an unstamped instrument, is liable to pay double the duty and in addition a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand shillings, save as otherwise provided. The principal treats stamping as a closing condition and not as a chore after closing.

The duty reaches documents signed abroad. Section 6(c) makes chargeable an instrument mentioned in the First Schedule that is executed outside Zanzibar, relates to property situated in Zanzibar, and is received in Zanzibar. Signing in another country does not take the instrument outside the Act. Grade, measured from the consolidated text, and a primary fact the principal can check in minutes.

Which approvals does a Zanzibar lease transfer need?#

The approval a lease cession needs is set by section 47 of the Land Tenure Act 1992 as currently amended, and this article could not reopen that text. The Land Tenure Act is published as a very large scanned file and was not reopened. The 2022 amending Act was read in the Government Gazette. Its section 29 replaced the words 'Land Transfer Board' in section 47(3) with 'Commission', which its section 26 defines by reference to the Commission for Lands Act, No. 6 of 2015. The principal's counsel opens section 47 in its current wording, and not an older guide. The approval is a gate separate from stamp duty and separate from registration.

The terms of a public-land lease sit in section 47, and this article does not restate them. The text could not be reopened for this reading, so no term, ceiling or granting authority is given here from it. Whether a given seller's lease fits the statutory frame is a question about documents, which counsel answers from the file.

The Land Transfer Board no longer exists, and guides that name it are out of date. The Land Transfer Act of 1994 created a Land Transfer Board, and section 3 of that Act said no permanent transfer of land or long term lease should take place until the Board had reviewed and approved the transaction. The Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendment) Act 2022 (Act No. 5 of 2022), assented to on 21 July 2022 and in operation from assent, repealed the 1994 Act, with a saving for anything already done under it (section 34, inserting a new section 28 in the Commission for Lands Act 2015). Section 32 gave the Commission for Lands the function 'to regulate transfer of non-registered land rights or interests'. Grade, measured from the Government Gazette of 25 August 2022.

The current investment statute is the Zanzibar Investment Act, 2023 (Act No. 10 of 2023), and the 2018 act is no longer in force. An investor-side guide that quotes the 2018 text is out of date. The thresholds for strategic investment status are in the 2023 Act and not in the Tanzania Investment Act 2022. Which route a given buyer takes, a new lease or a cession from an existing lessee, is a question of facts for counsel.

Step five, registration under the Registered Land Act#

Registration is the step that puts the buyer's name against the parcel. Section 84 of the Registered Land Act, No. 10 of 1990, provides for the transfer of land, a lease or a charge in the prescribed form. The transfer is completed when the transferor is removed from the register, the transferee is entered as owner and the instrument is filed. Grade, directional, because the scanned text should be reopened by counsel.

Registration does not override the approvals. Section 4 of the Act leaves the requirements of other laws in place. A registered transfer that skipped a land approval required under the Land Tenure Act is a registered problem and not a cured one. The allocator therefore reads the register as the last record of the sequence, and not as proof that the earlier steps were taken.

A practitioner guide describes the registry's check in the same order as the statutes. One consultant guide reports that the registry examines the instrument, confirms stamp duty and fee payment, and records the transfer against the title. This is practitioner-reported. It is consistent with the Stamp Duty Act, under which no transfer of property may be applied until the certificate of no objection exists. The Zanzibar Revenue Authority's registration FAQ, written for business registration, likewise asks for a copy of a title deed or lease agreement on which stamp duty has been paid.

The statutes give a workable order, though not a complete one. Clearance of value comes first under section 4 of the Stamp Duty Act, and registration comes last under section 84 of the Registered Land Act. In the texts reopened, nothing fixes the order between stamping and the approval of the cession. Counsel confirms the order with the registry before the first payment.

Can a Zanzibar purchase be signed from abroad?#

An apostille alone does not complete the chain for a signature given abroad, because Tanzania does not appear in the Apostille Convention's status table, and the form the registry accepts is not established here. The Hague Conference's table, last updated on 30 June 2026, lists 130 Contracting Parties, and the United Republic of Tanzania is not among them. An apostille issued in the signing country is therefore not the end of the chain. Grade, measured from the table as opened on 17 October 2026.

Embassies describe what legalisation looks like in this country. The German embassy in Dar es Salaam states that apostilles cannot be issued for Tanzanian documents and that they are legalised instead, after pre-certification by the Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which for Zanzibar documents takes place first in Zanzibar and then in Dar es Salaam. The Czech embassy in Nairobi describes two stages, certification by the foreign ministry of the issuing country and then legalisation at the embassy. The Polish mission's consular page for Tanzania says the consul legalises only documents already authenticated by the competent local authority. All three are practitioner-reported and written for documents leaving Tanzania, so the direction is opposite to a purchase.

For documents coming in, one law-firm article cites the Evidence Act. It reports that a private document executed outside Tanzania and intended as evidence in Tanzanian courts must be notarised and legalised in the country of execution. That is practitioner-reported, it concerns courts and not the Zanzibar land registry, and it is directional for a purchase. The principal's counsel asks the registry which form it accepts before anything is signed.

A power of attorney is the instrument a remote buyer would reach for, and the Stamp Duty Act defines it. The Act's definition of a power of attorney includes any instrument empowering a specific person to act for and in the name of the person executing it. Whether a given registry accepts one signed abroad, and in which form, is not stated in the statutes reopened for this article. A consultant guide mentions an attorney acting under a power of attorney only in the check on the seller's capacity. The article does not know the answer, and says so.

Where a Zanzibar buyer needs a lawyer#

Counsel is needed wherever the text turns on a word, and in this sequence there are four such places. The first is the regulations behind the sale agreement in section 22(1)(a) of the Condominium Act. The second is section 47 of the Land Tenure Act in its current wording. The third is the order between stamping and approval. The fourth is the form of a remote signature. None of the four is resolved by a consultant guide, and none is resolved by this article.

A lawyer is also needed to confirm facts that no statute supplies. Whether the seller's lease exists, whether the parcel carries a charge, whether the plan is registered and whether the approvals were granted are facts about a file. The Condominium Act forces some of them into the open through the section 22 documents. In the texts reopened for this article, a plot sale has no comparable forcing rule, so the burden of asking sits wholly with the buyer.

The principal asks counsel for each answer in writing and in terms of the section. An answer of the form 'this is how it is done' is practitioner-reported at best. An answer that cites the section, the version of the text and the date it was read can be checked. The difference matters in Zanzibar because the land texts that govern approvals could not be reopened for this article, so an answer that cites the section is the only check available.

This article is not legal advice, and it gives no personal recommendation. It explains how the sequence reads, with sources. It does not say that a buyer should proceed, that a given seller is sound, or that any property is worth a given price. Allocators decide, with their own counsel, on their own facts.

Weak points, honestly disclosed#

The first weakness is access to the texts. The Stamp Duty Act and the Condominium Act were opened and read for the sections cited. The Land Transfer Act 1994 was opened for section 3, and the 2022 amending Act was read in the Government Gazette. The Land Tenure Act and the Registered Land Act are published as very large scanned files that were not reopened for this article. The article therefore gives no term or ceiling from section 47, names its approving body only as far as the 2022 amendment does, and its reading of sections 4 and 84 of the Registered Land Act is directional until counsel has read the text.

The second weakness is the regulations. The contents of the sale agreement under section 22(1)(a) of the Condominium Act and the prescribed forms for registration sit in regulations this article did not open. A step the regulations require may therefore be missing from the sequence above.

The third weakness is practice at the counter. Statutes give the sequence, and practitioner sources describe how offices behave. The two can differ, and offices change. The practitioner-reported items here are the registry's check order, the legalisation chain and the Evidence Act point.

The fourth weakness is the currency of the law. Laws change, and a schedule can move with a Finance Act. This reading is dated 17 October 2026. The stamp duty rate, the wording of section 47 and the 2023 investment statute should be re-read at the time of use.

The fifth weakness is scope. The article does not cover tax on rental income or on a gain, financing, insurance, the protection of deposits paid off-plan, planning consents, or what a foreigner can own, which has its own article. It also grades nothing about the value of any property, and it gives no price, yield or timing for any scheme.

Skin in the game disclosure. Victaura, through its parent Greystone B.V. (Netherlands), develops projects on Lake Como (Italy), in Nungwi, Zanzibar (Tanzania), on Gili Air and in Uluwatu, Bali (Indonesia), and holds an off-plan capital position on Al Marjan Island, Ras Al Khaimah (UAE). Readers should assume commentary may be influenced by, or benefit, these positions. This document is classified as marketing material under MiFID II Article 24(3). It is not investment advice.