Eight checks before you pay any developer in Ghana
Most diaspora losses we see were preventable in the first thirty minutes. The eight items below catch the majority of them.
We see the same pattern every quarter. A diaspora client meets a developer — at a wedding, on Instagram, through a relative — likes the renderings, wires a deposit, and discovers six months later that the firm cannot answer a basic title question. The eight checks below are the ones we run on every counterparty, in the order we run them. None of them require a lawyer; all of them can be done from your phone.
1. Registrar-General search
Every legitimate Ghanaian company is registered with the Registrar-General. The search is online, takes two minutes, and tells you the date of incorporation, current directors, and whether annual returns are up to date. A developer that is not registered, or whose returns are three years overdue, is a developer to walk away from.
2. REAC licence
Since the Real Estate Agency Act 2020, every firm representing properties in Ghana is required to hold a current Real Estate Agency Council licence. Ask for the licence number and verify it on the REAC public register. Many firms still operate unlicensed; they are the ones with the highest dispute rates.
3. GIPC registration (for cross-border deals)
If you are sending money in from abroad, the firm should be GIPC-registered. GIPC registration is what allows the firm to lawfully receive foreign currency for client work and to repatriate proceeds on resale. A non-GIPC firm cannot help you exit the position cleanly later.
4. Bank reference
Ask for a bank reference letter naming the firm's primary banker. Established firms can produce one inside a week. Firms that struggle to produce one are firms whose banking relationships are recent or unstable.
5. Site visit, in person, by someone you trust
If you cannot fly in, send a relative or a hired surveyor. Walk the boundary. Photograph the access road, the neighbouring plots, and any encroachment. The cost of an in-country site visit is small relative to the cost of buying a property whose access is disputed.
6. Title search receipt
A title search at the Lands Commission costs a few hundred cedis and takes a couple of weeks. Any developer worth working with has either run one already on the parcel they are showing you, or will run one and forward you the receipt before any deposit is paid. A developer that resists this step is telling you something.
7. Past-client references
Ask for the contact details of three clients whose units have completed in the last 24 months. Call them. Ask them whether the schedule held, whether the snag list closed, and whether they would buy from this firm again. The three calls take an hour and tell you more than any pitch deck.
8. Escrow arrangement
The single most predictive question: 'Will my purchase or construction money sit in a regulated trust account in my name, with you as co-signatory only?' If the answer is anything other than yes, you are talking to the wrong firm. There is no legitimate reason for a Ghanaian developer to hold client funds directly.
If a firm fails any of these
It is not a negotiation point. It is a stop sign. The firms that fail any one of these checks usually fail several, and the diaspora investors who proceed in spite of red flags are the ones we end up speaking to as a recovery client a year later.