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- What is a Lease Term?
- Subdivision Requirements
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- Leasing out Custom Land
- Lease Registration Checklist
- Lease Registration Process
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- Land Survey
- Survey Plan Process
- Maps for Sale
- What is a Survey?
- What is Zoning?
- Land Management
- Negotiator Certificates
- Preparing a Lease
- Forfeiting a Lease
- Building Permit Process
- Negotiator Certificate Process
- Lease Transfer Process
- Lease Surrender Process
- Rent Review Process
- Variation Process
- What is a Lease Term?
- Subdivision Requirements
- Land Registry
- Registering a Lease
- Land Registry Fees
- Lease Terminology
- Leasing out Custom Land
- Lease Registration Checklist
- Lease Registration Process
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- Land Tribunal Operation
- Lodging a Land Claim
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Leasing out Custom Land
Home › Lands › Land Registry › Leasing out Custom Land
What is a 'lease'?
A lease is an agreement made between a custom land owner and another person, which gives this other person the right to use the land in question.
This agreement often requires the lessee to pay some money to the custom land owner.
The custom land owner is the 'lessor'. The person who leases the gound is the 'lessee'.
Can custom land be leased?
Yes. A custom owner may lease a plot of land or a part of it to any person for a number of years.
Why should you lease a customary land?
Custom owners may receive money from the lessee under the lease agreement. Moreover, the custom owners might not know how to use the land they have leased for the full period of the lease term. The lease term may be set at up to 75 years.
The custom land owners may lease out their land to other people for a variety of uses such as:
- Building construction/estate development with many houses for sale.
- Starting a shop or other business.
- Farming cattle or other kinds of livestock.
- Gardening.
- Setting up a tourist resort.
How long is a lease term?
A lease may be set at up to 75 years but not all leases are required to run for 75 years. The lease term depends on the use required by the lessee and the number of years the lessor is prepared to let the land.
When a lease term has expired, the plot of land in question is returned to the custom owner.
However, customer owners need to be aware that quite often, lessees like to include conditions in the agreement that require land owners to pay for the cost of improvements carried out on the plot of land leased. These improvements include buildings, factories, houses, roads, electricity or water supply. This means that the custom owner will be required to pay a large sum of money to recover the land.
The lease may be renewed if mutually agreed on by both the custom land owner and the lessee.
What if the lease agreement did not include a lease term?
In such a case the lease will continue until the lessee ceases to pay the land rent. Such a lease is called a 'periodic tenancy' and does not need to be registered at the Department of Lands.
For instance, if a lessee pays a monthly rent, the lease would be called a 'month to month tenancy'. Each time the lessee pays the rent, the lease is renewed.
In such a lease, the custom owner and lessee may end the lease at any time. In order to terminate the lease, they must inform the other party of their intention to end the lease. This is called 'giving notice'. If the lessee pays a monthly rent, the lessor or lessee must give a one-month notice.
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