A tripartite normative interaction in land registration: inheritance and land information updating

In trying to identify the underlying factors that account for the low incidence of land registration in the global south, commentators tend to focus on administrative limitations inside of land registration organizations. Whereas lack of efficiency, complex procedures, bureaucracy, high transaction cost and long transaction times have been mentioned as problematic internal administrative features, little is known about how external socio-cultural practices factor into the reasons for the registration and non-registration of real property. We studied the socio-cultural practices of real property inheritance and registration in Ghana, and found that the eventual decision/ability/willingness of a successor of real property to report transfers for registration is influenced by the social norms of society, the formal rules of land registration and the practicalities of registration. However, the second and third influences only happen when the social norms allow room for personal appropriation of property.