Buying off-plan in Ghana: the nine things to verify first

Off-plan is a large part of what we carry: 50 of the 138 homes on our catalogue are sold before completion. Apartments dominate — 25 of the 50 — followed by 13 townhouse schemes and nine gated communities. The appeal is simple: you pay today's price for a building that is not finished yet, usually in tranches, and if the developer delivers you are ahead on day one. The risk is equally simple. You are buying a promise, and the promise is only as good as the paperwork behind it.

1. The land title, not the land

Ask for the registered title or the lease, and check the registration at the Lands Commission yourself or through your lawyer. A site with a building on it is not evidence of good title. Confirm the unexpired term — a 99-year lease from 1968 is a very different asset than one from 2024.

2. The building permit, with the drawings that were approved

A permit is issued against specific drawings. Ask for both and check that the building being sold to you is the building that was approved. Extra floors added after permit are more common than they should be and they are the developer's problem until they become yours.

3. Who owns the escrow, and is there one

Deposits should sit in an escrow or stakeholder account, not in the developer's working capital. If there is no escrow, you are an unsecured creditor funding construction. That can still be an acceptable risk — but price it as one.

4. Milestone-linked tranches, not date-linked

Payment against construction milestones protects you; payment against calendar dates protects the developer. If tranche three is due in March regardless of whether the second slab is poured, the incentive structure is backwards.

5. The handover date, in writing

If the listing does not state one, ask for it — and for what the date depends on. If it states a target that has already passed, ask what the revised date is and why it moved. A scheme that has slipped once is not disqualified, but you should know before you sign rather than after.

6. The developer's last three projects, delivered

Names, addresses, and stated versus actual handover dates. Then go and stand outside one. A developer on their fourth building with three delivered close to target is a materially different counterparty than a first-timer, and the price should reflect it.

7. The specification schedule, in writing

Not "high-quality finishes". The actual schedule: tile ranges, sanitaryware brands, window systems, whether the generator covers the whole unit or just the sockets — and the floor area of the unit you are buying. Anything not written down will be substituted for something cheaper, and legitimately so.

8. The currency of every payment

Of the 36 off-plan listings on our catalogue that publish a price, 34 are priced in US dollars. If you earn in cedis, every tranche is exposed to the exchange rate between signing and handover. Confirm which currency each payment is due in, and whether a cedi equivalent is fixed at signing or on the day.

9. The exit

Can you assign the contract before completion, and at what fee? What happens if they are late — is there a defined remedy beyond a grace period? Circumstances change over a multi-year build. A no-assignment, no-remedy contract turns an investment into a trap.

The short version

Verify the title, the permit, the escrow, the handover date and the track record. If those are clean, the rest is negotiation. If any of them is unclear, walk — there is always another building.