Government has outlined clear procedures for property owners under the Title Deeds Validation and Digitisation Programme, a major reform aimed at curbing fraud, preventing document duplication and modernising Zimbabwe’s land administration system.
Under Statutory Instrument 76 of 2025, holders of old title deeds have a mandatory 24-month window to submit their documents for validation. After this period, only securitised and digitised title deeds will be legally recognised.
The programme is anchored on three key pillars: validation, securitisation and digitisation, ultimately producing a modern title deed printed on secure paper and embedded with advanced anti-fraud features.
Chief Registrar in the Department of Deeds, Companies and Intellectual Property, Willie Mushayi, outlined the step-by-step process property owners must follow.
“A title deed holder is expected to approach a conveyancer of their choice, who will upload the deed and its details, thereby initiating the validation process through the Registrar-General’s Office to check for authenticity. The process is expected to take approximately two days, after which a securitised deed will be issued.”
Beyond validating new submissions, the Government has already begun digitising existing records, with thousands of archived deeds being scanned to build a secure national digital database.
“We have already started scanning the deeds to prepare a digital archive. There is a need to expedite this process, and digitisation will go a long way in improving efficiency,” Mushayi added.
Stakeholders across the property sector have welcomed the reforms, noting that fraudulent and duplicated deeds have long posed serious risks to buyers, sellers and financial institutions.
Conveyancer Takudzwa Talent Shonhiwa said securitised deeds will streamline transactions in the conveyancing system, while Alex Chidindi, Registrar of the Estates Agents Council of Zimbabwe, noted that the strengthened verification framework will significantly reduce cases of fake title deeds.
The initiative is aligned with National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), which prioritises digital transformation, improved public service delivery and enhanced confidence in administrative systems across Zimbabwe.
