Verifying a land title in Senegal: the 11-point method
Practical checklist before you send any money
For buyers, including diaspora buyers acting from abroad, and for owners who want to check a property in Dakar. Method document. This document replaces neither legal advice nor an official check with the Land Registry (Conservation Foncière).
A title shown in a property conversation is a starting point, not a complete answer. Assemble a clear file for the notaire and qualified advisers before a payment decision is made. The aim is not to become a lawyer from a distance. It is to gather a file clear enough for qualified counsel in Senegal to examine what is actually on offer.
Do not transfer money, informal deposits, or “file fees” to an individual or an intermediary until points 1 to 9 have been documented in writing and the payment channel defined in point 10 has been confirmed in writing.
> Short answer. Before any payment: 1) identify the property in writing (references, area, plan); 2) name the type of right (land title, allocation letter, lease); 3) check the NICAD and have a licensed surveyor run a joint boundary survey; 4) verify the title at the Land Registry; 5) check the seller’s identity and authority; 6) go through a notary; 7) require a traceable payment channel. Missing document or pressure to pay: stop.
Sunlight Holdings SARL, RCCM SN-DKR-2025-B-19486 and NINEA 012146652, does not provide legal advice through this page. Our role is to make the documentary process more intelligible for diaspora buyers and owners, using a method developed while directing our own project from abroad.
1. How do you identify the property, not just the listing?
Connect three elements: the real address, the cadastral or title designation, and the plan or sketch of the plot or apartment. A photo, a neighborhood name, or a door number is not enough.
Ask for: title or deed references, surface area, boundaries and abutting properties, floor and co-ownership unit number if it is a building, and the NICAD where it exists. The NICAD does not appear in the same way on every title or in every municipality; your notary or surveyor will tell you whether it applies to the property in question.
Les Almadies illustrates why a district name cannot replace precision. At the western end of the Dakar peninsula, it is known for high-end residences, embassies and ocean frontage. Yet a reference to Almadies never confirms the documentation of a particular parcel or apartment. Location must be connected to the file, not merely to marketing language.
If the seller cannot designate the property except through an oral story, stop there.
2. Land title, allocation letter, or lease: what kind of right is it?
These three documents do not confer the same right. Treating them as equivalents is a common mistake. Senegal’s land-tenure framework distinguishes a registered titre foncier from occupancy permits and leases. NICAD is the cadastral identifier of the parcel. These terms may be used side by side in commercial discussions, but they do not mean the same thing. No isolated document should be treated as a final conclusion on an acquisition.
- Land title (titre foncier): a real right created by registration, in principle the most complete instrument under the registration system. The actual state of the right (co-ownership, charges, pending entries) cannot be read from an isolated copy: it is checked at the Land Registry.
- Allocation letter (lettre d’attribution): an administrative deed allocating or assigning land. It is not, in itself, equivalent to a definitive land title. Its transfer is in principle controlled by the authority that made the allocation; selling an allocation that has not been converted into a title is a recurring source of disputes, especially in diaspora files. Allocation regimes and conversion conditions vary; a notary or the allocating authority will specify them.
- Lease (bail): an ordinary lease grants a personal right; an emphyteutic long-term lease grants a real right, enforceable against third parties once the publicity formalities are completed. Always qualify the lease type before comparing anything. The tenant does not own the land on the same basis as a title holder. The exact distinction and publicity formalities are confirmed with a notary.
Require a readable, complete copy: for registered land, the duplicate of the land title (duplicata) and the cadastral plan attached to it. A blurry extract sent over chat is not a verification.
Can you sell an allocation letter? Only within the framework set by the allocating authority. Sold as if it were a land title, it is the classic trap.
3. Record the NICAD and bring in a licensed surveyor
The NICAD (cadastral identification number) ties a parcel to the cadastral layer. Record it exactly, with no “cleaning up”. It helps connect documents to that object, but does not determine ownership, the rights presented or the full chain.
Have the match checked between NICAD, surface area, location, and the name of the apparent holder. Exact counters vary; your notary or surveyor will guide you, including if a representative must present the papers.
Then have a licensed surveyor (géomètre agréé) carry out a joint boundary survey (bornage contradictoire) and match the plan against the ground. This is the check for surface area and encroachments, and often the only way to tie an older title to the parcel layer when the NICAD is missing.
A NICAD that is absent, crossed out, copied by hand onto loose paper, or that does not match the visited location is a stop signal. A mismatch between identifier, location and description should be clarified before the next step. See verify Senegal NICAD.
4. Where to verify the title: Land Registry and Cadastre
The copy handed over by the seller does not prove the current state of the right. Verification happens with the competent administration, not on the strength of a PDF received over chat.
Direct the check to the Land Registry (Conservation Foncière: status of the title, identity of the registered holder, entries) and to the Cadastre (plan, NICAD, boundary survey). Both services fall under the DGID (General Directorate of Taxes and State Property); they are not three parallel counters. Exact routes and counters in Dakar vary with the type of right (land title or allocation letter); your notary or surveyor will guide you.
Who can obtain a copy of the land title? Issuance conditions vary with the requester’s standing (holder, heirs, authorized representative, professional). Required documents and the form of issued records are confirmed with the competent office.
Ask, through an authorized professional or an identified representative: existence of the title, identity of the registered holder, surface area, and entries of charges where consultable. What is actually issued (charges, oppositions, co-ownership) depends on the requester’s standing and the rules in force.
Do not entrust this step to the person selling you the property alone.
5. How do you check the seller’s identity and authority?
If the seller is an individual: valid ID, name matching the registered holder, marital status and, where applicable, spousal or co-owner consent. Current rules on spousal consent and representation of co-owners are confirmed with a notary in Senegal.
If the property is sold by a representative: written, specific mandate, and the principal’s identity. A “cousin on the ground” without authority is not a party to the sale.
Any urgency to sign before this match is confirmed is a signal, not a sales argument. Sellers without verifiable title and pressure for advance payment are among the commonly documented risk patterns. The appropriate response is not an accusation. It is to decide that payment will not move forward until the file reaches the agreed level of coherence.
6. What do you check when the seller is a company?
Require: exact corporate name, RCCM, NINEA, registered office, articles of association, and the corporate decision authorizing the sale (general meeting, board, or the manager’s authority under the articles).
Cross-check RCCM and NINEA through the official channels available. Usable registries or portals, and the usual validity of an extract, are confirmed with your counsel.
A stamp, a bank slip, and a Facebook page are not a company’s identity. If the company on the title is not the company collecting the money, stop.
7. The notary: what they do, what they do not do
For registered land, the transfer passes through a notarial deed: that deed is what allows registration and transcription at the Land Registry, and therefore enforceability against third parties. For an allocation letter or a lease, the route differs. Whether a notary is mandatory depends on the type of right and the type of deed; counsel in Senegal will confirm.
The notary authenticates a deed and runs formalities. They are not your commercial intermediary. They do not remove the need to verify the property, the holder, and the charges before any transfer.
Ask in writing: documents already checked, documents still pending, any escrow of funds, and the schedule for registration and publicity formalities. Notarial escrow practice and the point at which funds become irreversible are confirmed with the transaction notary.
Beware of a “private deed is enough” claim for a property presented as titled, especially if you are pressed to send funds from abroad before any check. A private deed is often insufficient or unenforceable for registered land; a notary confirms this case by case.
Give the notaire an ordered file, people involved, chronology and unresolved questions. Our Senegal property notary due-diligence guide explains how to coordinate the exchange. Advisers’ roles and applicable formalities are to be confirmed with qualified counsel in Senegal.
8. Buying from abroad: a power of attorney, not a “cousin”
If you buy remotely, give a written mandate, not informal trust.
A power of attorney is executed before a notary or before the competent Senegalese consulate in your country of residence. It must target a specific purpose: signing a named deed for a named property, completing named formalities, within a time limit. Keep the original, tell the transaction notary it exists, and require written confirmation of every use of the power.
A general, unlimited power of attorney is a risk, not a convenience. Accepted forms and required wording for a property transfer in Senegal are confirmed with the notary or consulate.
That rigor also protects buyers considering a transformation. The flagship residence was acquired directly from the developer, delivered empty, and then transformed in-house. It created two distinct workstreams: understanding what was being acquired, then deciding what would happen after delivery. For a buyer, keeping these strands separate avoids treating design concepts as if they were already part of the acquisition.
9. Which signs mean stop: double sales and fake papers
Frequent stop signals, to be treated as facts, not vague suspicions:
- two buyers, two “reservations”, or a seller who refuses to let you speak to the notary of your choice;
- title, NICAD, or plan whose layout, stamps, fonts, or numbers are inconsistent from one page to another;
- surface area or boundaries that differ between the deed, the NICAD, and the visited plot;
- a seller who is not the holder and holds no authority;
- a request to wire funds to a personal account unrelated to the transaction;
- pressure: “another buyer from the diaspora will pay tomorrow”, “the price jumps tonight”, “send a large deposit to lock it in”.
Double sales and the circulation of non-conforming copies are known risks in this market. In a dispute: file a complaint (police, prosecutor’s office) and, where applicable, register an opposition at the Land Registry. Current remedies and the conditions for registering an opposition are confirmed with a lawyer or the competent office.
An on-site visit by an identified person, with dated photos of the location, the boundary markers, or the apartment, remains a minimum. It replaces neither the surveyor’s boundary survey nor the administrative checks. A “virtual” visit alone does not clear a double sale.
10. Below which documentary threshold should no funds move?
Minimum floor, to adapt with your counsel, but not to lower:
- the type of right named (title / allocation / lease);
- NICAD and designation cross-checked, or the missing NICAD explained in writing by a source other than the seller;
- a joint boundary survey by a licensed surveyor, or the plan matched against the visited plot and building, according to the state of the parcel layer;
- existence of the right checked with the competent office;
- seller’s identity and authority established (RCCM, NINEA if a company);
- a regular, purpose-specific power of attorney if you act through a representative (point 8);
- an identifiable payment channel: notary, escrow account opened with a bank established in Senegal (for example the Banque de l’Habitat du Sénégal, BHS), or an equivalent written mechanism; never a personal account unrelated to the transaction.
“Reservation fees”, “cash to speed up the title”, or “cash commissions” requested before these checks are stop signals, not practices to copy.
11. In which cases do you stop the transaction?
Stop, without negotiating the pace imposed by the seller, if any of the following appears:
1. the right presented is not the one promised (an allocation letter or a lease sold as a title); 2. the NICAD, the surface area, or the location do not match; 3. the competent administration does not confirm the stated status, or refuses the check; 4. the seller, the company, or the representative cannot prove their authority; 5. signs of double sale or forged documents remain after cross-checking; 6. you are asked to send funds to “unlock” the verification itself.
Delaying is not failing. Sending funds to yield to pressure is. A sound transaction can wait for the documents. A fragile one cannot.
Every material decision needs a written record and every visible item needs a date. Before you proceed, confirm the asset, the materials received, the unresolved mismatches, the competent review still required, and the precise condition that must precede any payment.
Limits of this document
Procedures, counters, and deed names can change. Points of detail are confirmed with a notary, a lawyer, or the competent administrative office before any decision. No fee, no statutory deadline, and no article number is asserted here. Page last updated: August 21, 2026.
Document prepared by Sunlight Holdings SARL, RCCM SN-DKR-2025-B-19486, NINEA 012146652, Immeuble Platinum Edge, Route de King Fahd, Les Almadies, Dakar. Official website: https://sunlightholdings.sn. Contact: contact@sunlightholdings.sn.
Return to the flagship guide for buying, building or renovating in Senegal from abroad for the full sequence. For help organising a file and project, see Senegal real-estate advisory for diaspora.