From Village Attestation (Attestation Villageoise) to Land Title (Titre Foncier): The Definitive 2025 Guide

The mirage of the village attestation

For decades, the village attestation (attestation villageoise) served as the reference document for buying undeveloped land in Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), particularly on the outskirts of Abidjan. Drawn by prices per square metre far below those of the titled market, many investors, both local and in the diaspora, settled for it: a "paper" signed by a village chieftaincy, and the deal seemed done.

Yet the village attestation is not a title of ownership. It protects you neither against double sales, which are frequent in this market, nor against inheritance disputes within the selling family.

The ADU reform: the end of an era

The documentary framework has changed. Since July 1, 2024, the ADU (Attestation de Droit d'Usage coutumier, customary right-of-use attestation), drawn up by the Ministry of Construction in the SIGFU and then handed over by the village chieftaincy, has replaced the village attestation. It is free of charge (MCLU, August 2024). And since January 1, 2025, the ADU has been the only document accepted in support of an application for an ACD (Arrêté de Concession Définitive, the definitive concession order), filed with the GUFH (Guichet Unique du Foncier et de l'Habitat, the one-stop land and housing office). The MCLU (Ministère de la Construction, du Logement et de l'Urbanisme, the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Urban Planning) had provided a transition period, extended until March 31, 2025, for holders of village attestations already recorded in the land database. That period is now closed.

Buying customary land today without organising this documentary transition therefore exposes you to serious financial risk. To see what an unapproved subdivision can lead to, read our analysis on demolition risks and illegal subdivisions.

Step 1: moving to official documentation

If you hold land under a village attestation in an older subdivision, the first priority is to leave the informal sphere. Three prerequisites condition everything else:

• verify that the subdivision has been officially approved by the MCLU;
• obtain a site plan and a technical file prepared by a licensed chartered surveyor;
• have the transaction signed before a notary, as an authenticated deed rather than a private agreement.

Step 2: the ACD (Arrêté de Concession Définitive)

The ACD is the administrative act by which the State transfers ownership of an urban plot to you. It extinguishes customary rights, brings the parcel into the State's private domain, and then assigns ownership of it to you.

What this changes in practice: the Ivorian State formally recognises you as the owner, the parcel can carry a mortgage, which opens the possibility of obtaining a bank loan backed by the land, and subsequent customary claims no longer have any hold over your right.

Obtaining the ACD involves unavoidable costs: transfer fees, topographical work, taxes. To put figures on them before you commit, use our land acquisition cost simulator.

Step 3: registration in the Land Register

Many buyers believe that once the ACD has been obtained, there is still a Land Title (Titre Foncier, TF) to go and collect elsewhere. The procedure does not work that way. The land title is created by the CPFH (Conservation de la Propriété Foncière et des Hypothèques, the land and mortgage registry), which reports to the DGI (Direction Générale des Impôts, the tax directorate), at step 3 of the ACD procedure, even before the ministerial signature. What remains to come is the registration in the Land Register, at step 7: it makes your right enforceable against everyone. An ACD registered in the Land Register is the registered land title. The same act, two successive administrative stages, not a hierarchy between two titles.

Until that registration has taken place, a signed ACD remains valid without being enforceable against third parties. Once registered in the Land Register, it is unassailable and imprescriptible: even if the administration made an error when establishing it, your ownership right can no longer be challenged. An aggrieved party may claim financial compensation, but the land remains yours.

Conclusion

Moving from a village attestation to a right registered in the Land Register remains a long journey, at once administrative, technical and legal. The apparent discount on untitled land most often conceals deferred costs and a file that must be rebuilt piece by piece. Capital Foncier supports you along this path, from verifying the subdivision through to the ACD, with the objective of reducing the risk of capital loss. Before signing for a parcel held under an attestation, have the subdivision approval and the plot's domain status verified.

Official sources:

• servicepublic.gouv.ci: ACD (100,000 FCFA per lot for an individual), CMPF or Certificat de Mutation de Propriété Foncière (15,000 FCFA), domain status report (5,000 FCFA), land status report (3,000 FCFA)
• construction.gouv.ci: MCLU, GUFH (Tel: 27 20 21 74 78), subdivision database going back to 1960
• idufci.construction.gouv.ci: IDUFCI, Identifiant Unique du Foncier de Côte d'Ivoire, decree No. 2019-221 of March 13, 2019; SIGFU, Système Intégré de Gestion du Foncier Urbain, decree No. 2021-862 of December 15, 2021
• dgi.gouv.ci: Conservation Foncière, land wealth tax (Impôt sur le Patrimoine Foncier, IPF)
• Ordinance No. 2013-481, urban land domain
• afor.ci: AFOR (Agence Foncière Rurale, the rural land agency), certification, contracting
• Law No. 98-750 (PDF): rural land domain
• PRESFOR: 3,353 villages, 16 regions, free certification
• Decree No. 2019-263, delimitation of village territories
• Decree No. 2019-266, investigating commissioners and Village Rural Land Management Committees (Comités Villageois de Gestion Foncière Rurale, CVGFR)