Land registration in Morocco and Tunisia: titres fonciers, ANCFCC and the Conservation de la Propriété Foncière

Morocco: the 1913 dahir and law 14-07

The basic text is the dahir of 9 ramadan 1331 (12 August 1913) on land registration, as amended. A consolidated collection held by FAOLEX, the legal database of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, shows its current wording ¹. Article 1 was amended by dahir 1-11-177 of 22 November 2011 promulgating law 14-07, published in Bulletin Officiel n° 6004 of 15 December 2011 ¹. Law 57-12 completed the dahir and was published in Bulletin Officiel n° 6306 of 6 November 2014 ¹.

Under article 1, registration places a property under the regime of the dahir permanently. It works through a purge procedure that ends with a titre foncier. The title cancels all earlier titles and clears any earlier rights not recorded on it ¹. Later deeds that create, transfer, change or end real rights are entered on the title ¹.

Voluntary and compulsory registration in Morocco

Article 6 states that registration is optional. Once a réquisition d'immatriculation (registration application) has been filed, it cannot be withdrawn ¹. Article 7 makes registration compulsory where specific laws require it and in zones opened by order of the minister supervising the ANCFCC ¹. The order opening a compulsory zone is published in the Bulletin Officiel and posted at the local authority, the commune and the court of first instance ¹.

In compulsory zones, a notice of the deposit of the parcel plan is published in the Bulletin Officiel. Oppositions are then admissible for four months from that publication ¹.

Oppositions, the title and later entries

After a registration application is published in extract in the Bulletin Officiel, the conservateur de la propriété foncière (land registrar) issues a notice for the boundary survey ¹. Under article 24, any person claiming a right may file an opposition for two months from publication of the notice closing the survey ¹. After that, no opposition is admissible, save for the exception in article 29 ¹. An opposition filed in bad faith can lead to a fine paid to the ANCFCC of at least 10 percent of the property's value ¹.

Article 62 states that the titre foncier is final and cannot be challenged. It is the sole starting point of the real rights and charges on the property ¹. Article 66 governs when a real right in a registered property exists against third parties, tying it to entry on the title ¹. Entries are dated and signed by the registrar under article 75 ¹.

• Duplicata du titre foncier (copy of the title) for the owner ¹
• Certificat spécial d'inscription (special certificate of entry) for holders of other real rights ¹
• Replacement copies after loss, issued 15 days after a notice in the Bulletin Officiel ¹
• Electronic applications, titles, certificates and registers allowed under article 106 ¹

Tunisia: the Conservation de la Propriété Foncière

Law 2001-35 of 17 April 2001 rewrote several articles of the Code des droits réels ². New article 316 states that the Conservation de la Propriété Foncière (land registry) has a central administration in Tunis and regional directorates ². Its tasks are to establish titles in execution of judgments ordering registration, keep records of registered properties, enter rights and charges, keep titles up to date, issue titles and certificates, and draft deeds on registered properties ².

Each title carries an identifier made of a serial number and the name of the governorate where the property sits. The plan stays attached to the title ². A deed filed for entry must identify the parties. For a natural person this means identity per the civil status extract or national identity card, profession, address and nationality. For a company it includes the trade register number ².

Tunisia: updating titles through the land court

Law 2001-34 of 10 April 2001 deals with the mise à jour (updating) of land titles. Article 2 makes the Tribunal Immobilier (land court) the sole court for updating procedures ³. Any person with an interest may apply. The case goes to the seat of the land court for the area where the property sits ³.

The court works through two bodies ³. The chambre des titres gelés (chamber for frozen titles) hears requests to enter, cancel, change or correct entries and to set shares, plus requests arising from the dissolution of habous (religious endowments) ³. The juge du livre foncier (land book judge) handles regularisation of documents filed for entry and errors or omissions in them ³.

A government decree, n° 2000-2446 of 24 October 2000, sets the conditions for collecting owners' contributions to the cost of compulsory land registration operations ⁴.