ASSESSMENT OF STOOL LAND REVENUE

Regulation 13 and the Second Schedule to the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands Regulations, 2019 (LI 2377), among other pieces of legislation make provision for the assessment of the following stool land revenues.

  1. Annual Rent Payable under a Timber Concession (I.E., Ground Rent on Timber Concessions)

Pursuant to the Timber Resource Management Act, 1998 (Act 547) annual rent payable for a timber concession shall be:

  • Prescribed by the Minister responsible for Forestry (currently, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources) on the advice of the Forestry Commission.
  • It is imposed on a holder of a timber utilisation contract and paid to the OASL for onward disbursement to the beneficiaries in line with section 7 of the OASL Act, (Act 481).
  • OASL liaises with the Forestry Commission regarding the assessment of annual rent payable for a timber concession.
  1. Annual Rent Payable Under a Mineral Concession (Concession Rent)

Pursuant to the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), annual ground rent shall be:

  • Determined by the Minister responsible for mines (currently, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources).
  • It is imposed on a holder of a mineral right; and
  • Paid to the OASL for onward disbursement to the beneficiaries.
  • Pursuant to the Minerals and Mining (Ground Rent) Regulations, 2018 (LI 2357), the current rate for Large Scale mining is GH₵38 per Cadastral Unit. This amounts to GH₵3707 per squared kilometres or GH₵15 per acre.
  • For Small Scale Mining activities, the ground rent (concession rent) payable on their concession is GH₵50 per Cadastral Unit, which is GH₵15 per acre.
  1. Mineral Royalties
  • Pursuant to the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act, 2018 (Act 978), (popularly known as MIIF), the Mining Companies pay the royalties directly into MIIF.
  • MIIF disburses twenty percent (20%) of the royalties into the Minerals Development Fund (MDF).
  • Pursuant to the Minerals Development Fund Act, 2016 (Act 912), fifty percent (50%) of mineral royalties received by MDF, (which is actually 10 percent of the total mineral royalties paid by the Mining Companies to MIIF) is transferred to OASL for onward disbursement to the beneficiaries in accordance with section 7 of the OASL Act, (Act 481).
  1. Timber Royalties

Timber royalties for timber resources extracted from stool lands is to be collected by the Forestry Commission in accordance with the Timber Resource Management Act, 1998 (Act 547) and the relevant stumpage fee, which includes the forest management fee, is paid to the OASL for disbursement to stated beneficiaries in accordance with section 7 of the OASL Act, (Act 481).

  1. Ground rent
  • The ground rent is a fraction of the capital value of the land as determined by parties to a stool land transaction or as determined by OASL, where the parties to the transaction do not make any provision for ground rent.
  • The Office assesses ground rent based on the:
    • location of the land;
    • size of the land (i.e., acreage);
    • User, (i.e. use for which the land is be put e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, civic etc.); and
    • classification of the area where the land is situate. (First Class, Second Class, Third Class etc).
  • The land values for the determination of the ground rent are obtained from the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission.
  • For residential property, rent is usually reviewed every five (5) years or in accordance with the agreement between the Parties; while non-residential users are normally reviewed every three (3) years, or in line with the agreement between the Parties.
  1. Farm rent

The Office assesses farm rents based on several factors, including:

  • The cost of the inputs used or to be used on the farm,
  • The price of the produce or crop produced on the farm, and
  • Other relevant considerations

Farm rent is paid on commercial farms and not subsistence farms.

  1. Fees
  • A person granted permission by the Minerals Commission to enter onto stool land to carry out exploration or prospecting is required to pay an exploration or a prospecting fee to OASL.
  • The fees are determined by the Minister responsible for Mines (currently, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources).
  • The exploration or prospecting fee payable are single payments for the duration of the licence.
  • Pursuant to the Minerals and Mining (Ground Rent) Regulations, 2018 (LI 2357), the current rate is GH₵75 per Cadastral Unit. This amounts to GH₵32 per square kilometres.

PROCEDURE FOR COLLECTION OF STOOL LAND REVENUE

A revenue officer shall:

  • keep an up-to-date rent ledger;
  • ascertain the size of farm/plot (in acreages) by demanding land documents and or site plans;
  • apply the prevailing (determined) rate of farm rent or ground rent per acre;
  • issue a rent demand notice indicating the rent to be paid by a farmer or ground rent payer;
  • issue an official general counterfoil receipt to a farmer or ground rent payer indicating the stool and District Assembly where the revenue is coming from;
  • record/enter the payment into a cash book and update the ledger; and
  • lodge money at the bank, and demand the duplicate of the paying in-slip.

PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENT OF STOOL LAND REVENUE

  • The revenue payer on receipt of a rent demand notice by an accredited official of the Office shall ensure he is satisfied of the amount being demanded.
  • The revenue payer shall make payment to the officer demanding the revenue or to a designated revenue or collection point.
  • On payment of revenue demanded, the revenue payer should demand a general counterfoil receipt which shall be signed by the receiving officer and which shall indicate the amount paid both in words and figures; the name of the officer, the date of payment and the stool in respect of which the revenue is paid.
  • The revenue payer shall keep the receipt and shall make it available for verification process on demand by the Office.

 

For more information, please download the OASL Regulations click here.