Buying property in Botswana

Check the asking price against genuinely comparable recent sales in the same place and area, not just similar-looking listings elsewhere in the country.

Confirm the property's tenure and title status early — which tenure applies changes what due diligence you need (see the land due diligence guide) — and engage a conveyancing attorney before you're committed to a specific offer, not after.

A deed transferring registered property must be prepared and lodged by a practising attorney acting as conveyancer, and it is only registered — not the signed sale agreement — that actually moves ownership at the Deeds Registry.

Until that registration happens, treat the property as still legally the seller's, whatever has been agreed privately or paid as a deposit.

Transfer duty is payable to the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) on the purchase price or the property's market value, whichever is higher, and must be settled before the Deeds Registry will proceed — normally your conveyancing attorney handles the declaration and payment on your behalf.

Rates differ for citizens and non-citizens and have changed before by policy decision, so get the current rate confirmed in writing by your conveyancer rather than relying on a figure from an older source.

Banks operating in Botswana offer mortgage bonds to qualifying buyers. A bond is registered against the title as part of the same conveyancing process, so factor bond approval timelines into any offer deadline you agree to.