HARARE / BULAWAYO – Thousands of homeowners in Glen View and Budiriro in Harare, and in Cowdray Park in Bulawayo, could soon move closer to owning their homes on paper. According to The Herald, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has announced that the Presidential Title Deeds Programme will be extended to the three suburbs. The plan follows the model first used in Epworth.
For Zimbabwe's property market, this matters. Many families have lived in their homes for years without registered title deeds. That weakens their legal rights and makes buying and selling harder. Under the rollout, Government plans to identify the rightful occupants, give them securitised offer letters, and then help them get title deeds.
How The Process Will Work
The programme follows three main stages:
- Finding the rightful occupants. Government will check who lives in each home and look at their records. This step matters in older suburbs, where houses may have changed hands through private deals, inheritance or repeated allocations.
- Issuing securitised offer letters. Verified occupants receive offer letters. This is an important step, but an offer letter is not a title deed.
- Issuing title deeds. Once the remaining paperwork is done, qualifying homes move to registered title. Buyers should note the difference. A home with an offer letter does not yet have registered title.
Epworth Was The Starting Point
President Mnangagwa launched the Presidential Title Deeds and Settlement Regularisation Programme in Epworth on 22 April 2023. Since then, it has been rolled out to areas including Chitungwiza, Southlea Park and Gimboki in Mutare.
The scale is large. In 2024, the Permanent Secretary for National Housing said about 1.5 million housing units in Zimbabwe had no title deeds. That makes this more than a paperwork exercise. It is an attempt to bring a huge number of homes into the formal property market.
Cowdray Park: The Work Is Already Underway
Unlike Glen View and Budiriro, Cowdray Park has already started. The Bulawayo suburb is one of the biggest in the country and has become a key test site for the Kwangu/Ngakwami programme.
In November 2025, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Zhemu Soda reported that:
● 8,000 securitised offer letters had been issued, out of 13,000 beneficiaries.
● 1,571 properties were ready for title transfer.
● The ministry's target for 2025 was 2,000 title deeds.
These numbers show progress. They also show the gap between handing out offer letters and finishing title deeds. The programme is run through the Kwangu/Ngakwami Trust, which also helps coordinate roads, water and sewer work in some suburbs.
What Title Deeds Could Mean For Property Values
Formal ownership changes how a home can be sold, financed and passed on. Four things stand out.
1. Stronger ownership. A title deed is recorded in the Deeds Registry. Under the Deeds Registries Act [Chapter 20:05], land is transferred through a deed of transfer registered by the Registrar of Deeds. An allocation letter or private agreement does not give the same legal protection.
2. Possible access to loans. A registered property can be offered as security for a mortgage or other loan. This could help families and small-business owners raise money to build, renovate or grow a business. But a title deed does not guarantee a loan. Banks still look at income, valuation and their own rules.
3. More confidence in sales. Buyers may feel safer in suburbs where sales used to rely on council records and private agreements. Estate agents should clearly separate homes with title deeds, homes with offer letters and homes still waiting. These are not the same, and they should not be marketed as if they were.
4. Possible changes in value. More legal certainty could attract more buyers. In some places, that could lift prices. But title alone does not raise a price. Location, condition, services and what buyers can afford still matter most.
Cowdray Park's US$38 Million Infrastructure Question
Cowdray Park also shows how title and infrastructure are linked. In April 2026, CITE reported that residents in Ward 6, Segment 8B, had agreed to partner with Kwangu/Ngakwami on an infrastructure project worth about US$38 million. The plans include:
- Tarred roads and bridges
- Water reticulation
- Sewer networks
- Stormwater drainage
A later CITE report showed how much work remains. Bulawayo City Council said water reticulation was about 98 percent complete, sewer infrastructure 33 percent and roads only 4 percent. Council put the cost of finishing the work at about US$38.94 million.
There is a cost to residents too. Kwangu/Ngakwami's finance officer told residents that those who pay upfront pay no interest. Those who pay over time are charged 12 percent, because the trust borrowed from a development bank at 10 percent. Residents should know exactly what they are signing up for before they pay anything.
What Homeowners Should Do Now
- Residents in Glen View, Budiriro and Cowdray Park can start preparing while they wait for official guidance.
- Keep your records. Keep original allocation letters, offer letters, council receipts, payment records and any purchase agreements.
- Check your details. Make sure names, ID numbers, stand numbers and boundaries match the records. If you bought from the original owner, keep the transfer papers.
- Prepare inheritance papers. If you inherited the house, you may need death certificates, wills and estate documents.
- Use official channels only. Confirm the official registration process and payment methods. Do not pay agents who promise "guaranteed" or fast-tracked title deeds.
- Get legal advice before selling or buying. An offer letter is not a title deed. Speak to a registered conveyancer before you sign or pay.
What This Means For The Property Market
The programme could slowly change how high-density suburbs fit into the formal property market. For Glen View and Budiriro, the chance is to turn long-standing occupation into legal ownership. For Cowdray Park, the task is to finish what has started while fixing the roads and sewers that still hold the suburb back.
For agents, developers and investors, better paperwork and honest listings will matter more. The biggest gain may not be higher prices. It may be that homes which were hard to sell formally become assets with clear owners.
Propertybook Bottom Line
The real test will not be the number of offer letters handed out. It will be the number of homeowners who end up with registered title deeds and can use them.
For homeowners, the message is simple: protect your documents, check your records and follow the official process. For buyers and agents, paperwork is now part of the price. A house with an offer letter, a house waiting for title and a house with a title deed are three different things, and the market should price them that way.
Sources
- The Herald – Government extends title deeds programme to Glen View, Budiriro and Cowdray Park, 7 November 2026. heraldonline.co.zw
- The Herald – 8,000 Byo homeowners get offer letters, 24 November 2025 (via Bulawayo24). https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-259984.html
- ZBC News – Agreement to roll out Presidential Title Deeds Programme signed, June 2024. https://zbcnews.co.zw/?p=24716
- NewsDay – Cabinet approves title deeds for informal settlements (launch date 22 April 2023). newsday.co.zw
- CITE – Cowdray Park residents back US$38m infrastructure upgrade, 20 April 2026. https://cite.org.zw/cowdray-park-residents-back-us38m-infrastructure-upgrade/
- CITE – BCC says Kwangu/Ngakwami programme offers hope for Cowdray Park service delivery woes, 2026. https://cite.org.zw/bcc-says-kwangu-ngakwami-programme-offers-hope-for-cowdray-park-service-delivery-woes/
- Deeds Registries Act [Chapter 20:05]. zimlii.org
