Property
About 88% iTaukei land, inalienable and leased through the TLTB
The defining feature of Fijian property law: roughly 88% of land is iTaukei (indigenous) land held communally and inalienable. It cannot be bought. It is leased, and only through the iTaukei Land Trust Board.
Key rules
- Deadline — Dealings in leasehold must be registered at the Registrar of Titles to bind third parties
- Deadline — Consent of the TLTB is required before any transfer, mortgage or sublease of iTaukei leasehold
Governing law
- iTaukei Land Trust Act 1940 (s. 4)
- Land Transfer Act 1971
- Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act 1966
- State Lands Act 1945
In practice
Land falls into three classes: iTaukei land vested in the landowning mataqali and administered by the iTaukei Land Trust Board, state land, and a small freehold remnant of roughly 8% created before the protective legislation. A foreign buyer is therefore almost always acquiring a LEASE, not a title, and that lease needs TLTB consent for each subsequent dealing. Two further traps: freehold residential purchases by non-residents are restricted, and agricultural tenancies under the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act carry their own renewal and compensation regime that does not follow ordinary lease logic. Verifying the class of land and the remaining lease term is the first step in any transaction, not the last.