Cameroon Cuts Urban Land Survey Fees 48%, but Costs Remain Nearly Four Times 2023 Level

Cameroon has cut the regulated cost of surveying a three-hectare urban plot by 48.1% to CFA675,000 in 2026, partially reversing a steep increase that the government acknowledges had made land formalization prohibitively expensive for some applicants.

The 2026 Finance Law reduced the fee for each additional are beyond the first 5,000 square meters from CFA5,000 to CFA2,500. For a 30,000-square-meter plot, the first 5,000 square meters still cost CFA50,000 to survey. The remaining 25,000 square meters, or 250 ares, cost CFA625,000.

The total therefore comes to CFA675,000, down CFA625,000 from the CFA1.3 million charged under the 2024 and 2025 rates. The reduction comes two years after the government sharply increased surveying fees. The 2024 Finance Law raised the charge for each additional are from CFA500 to CFA5,000, a tenfold increase. That change drove the surveying cost for the same three-hectare urban plot to CFA1.3 million.

The government now acknowledges that the increase had unintended consequences. In the explanatory memorandum to the 2026 Finance Law, the Directorate General of Budget (DGB) said costs had reached levels that were “difficult for taxpayers to sustain.”

According to the DGB, the higher charges discouraged some landowners from pursuing procedures to formalize their property rights and contributed to a contraction in the base for state property and cadastral fees.

Still Nearly Four Times the 2023 Cost

The 2026 reduction, however, does not restore the rates that applied before the 2024 increase.

In 2023, the fee schedule charged CFA50,000 for the first 5,000 square meters and CFA500 for each additional are. Surveying a three-hectare plot therefore cost CFA175,000: CFA50,000 for the initial area and CFA125,000 for the remaining 250 ares.

At CFA675,000 in 2026, the same operation costs CFA500,000 more than in 2023, an increase of 285.7%. The bill is 3.86 times its 2023 level. The explanatory memorandum to the Finance Law contains a minor discrepancy in its own calculation. The DGB states that surveying a three-hectare plot previously cost “about CFA150,000” and that the increase to CFA1.3 million amounted to nearly 800%.

Applying the legal fee schedule in force in 2023 produces a figure of CFA175,000 instead. The increase from CFA175,000 to CFA1.3 million amounts to 642.9%.

Surveying Is Not the Full Cost of a Land Title

The CFA675,000 figure should not be confused with the total cost of obtaining a land title. It covers only the surveying of a three-hectare urban plot. A land registration procedure carries additional statutory fees and other expenses.

For direct registration of first-category national land, for example, the fee schedule includes a charge of CFA10 per square meter in urban areas. For 30,000 square meters, that adds CFA300,000.

Combined with the CFA675,000 surveying charge, the identifiable statutory base already reaches CFA975,000. That still excludes other potential expenses, including costs associated with the consultative commission, the purchase and transportation of boundary markers, land clearing and additional work. Applicants are responsible for installing the boundary markers.

The difference with rural land is substantial. Outside urban areas, surveying a plot of five hectares or less costs CFA25,000. For a three-hectare rural plot subject to direct registration, land-title establishment fees amount to CFA150,000. Including surveying, the identifiable statutory base therefore stands at CFA175,000 before other expenses.

Cameroon’s Ministry of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure is also trying to bring greater clarity to these costs. A ministerial instruction dated March 16, 2026, sets out procedures for covering expenses related to the officials and members of consultative commissions, as well as certain costs associated with land registration. There is still no single official price for obtaining a land title. The final cost varies according to the size and location of the property, the procedure used, the composition of the commission and the work required.

At a land conference held on September 1, 2026, participants recommended the adoption of a joint order to better codify fees associated with consultative commissions.

Baudouin Enama