The Law includes 146 articles divided into seven Chapters: General Provisions (I).

The Act provides for a system for the disposal of national lands, i.e. lands held by the Government. National lands can be disposed of through lease (sect. 7) or sale (sect. 13). Leases are granted against payment of rent, arrears of which are recoverable in court (sect. 10). Applicants for leases in excess of 500 hectares must file an Environmental Impact Assessment, prior to the grant and every five years thereafter. The Minister has authority to impose this same requirement on applicants for leases covering a lesser land surface (sects. 9(4) and (5)).

The Land Reform Act determines the bases for restructuring relations regarding land (land reform). Based on the continuity of rights of former owners and the interests of current land users that are protected by law, and to establish preconditions for more effective use of land, the objective of land reform is to transform relations based on state ownership of land into relations primarily based on private ownership of land.

This Act provides for the allocation of Maldivian land for different purposes and uses, for the issuing of land and state dwellings for residential purposes and for the sale, transfer and lease of Maldivian land.The Ministry of Home Affairs, Housing and Environment will be responsible for maintaining land records of the Maldives.

This Law shall have as its purpose to set legal grounds for lease in agriculture, and to establish rights and duties of lessors and lessees. The Act consists of nine Sections divided into 29 articles: (1) general provisions; (2) right of lease; (3) rights and duties of the contracting parties; (4) lease fee and sublease of agricultural land; (5) use of rented agricultural property; (6) lease of public agricultural land; (7) lease of agricultural assets; (8) liability; and (9) conclusive and transitional provisions.

Article 3 shall be supplemented with a new wording: “land taxes for agricultural land shall be established in accordance with 2 reduced by factors specified in the Annex 5.” Part one on the Article 20 shall acquire a new wording: “The grounds for the calculation of land taxes shall be the state land deed, land certificate of provisional land tenancy, decision of the local self-government on the allotment of a plot of land or annual declaration submitted by the local land survey service to the taxation authority specifying allotment and quality of the allotted land.”

The amendments of the Rota Agricultural Homestead Act concern the designation of homestead areas by the Board of Public Lands. Designated lands shall be allotted to qualified persons for purposes of farming. Those persons shall have the right to acquire title upon the fulfilment of conditions prescribed in the principal Act.

Amends: Rota Agricultural Homestead Act of 1990 (P.L. 7-11). (1990-10-24)

This Regional Law establishes plenary powers of regional state bodies and local government of municipal units in the sphere of turnover of agricultural land. Maximum land area of agricultural land that can be owned by a single natural or legal person shall not exceed 20 percent of total available land area on a given territory at the moment of concession or purchase of such plots of agricultural land. Minimum lease period of agricultural land shall be 11 months.

This Regional Law establishes maximum and minimum land area of the plots of public or municipal land allotted to citizens in ownership for farming, gardening, horticulture, stockbreeding, subsidiary smallholding and individual housing construction. Total land area of agricultural land that can be owned or held in tenancy or lease by citizens carrying out subsistence farming and subsidiary smallholding shall not exceed 10 hectares.

This Regional Law regulates relations concerning ownership, tenancy and disposal of land parcels and land shares of agricultural land located on the regional territory. State bodies and local government must perform rational land-use planning of agricultural land and protection thereof with a view of: (a) ensuring the right of citizens to favourable environment; (b) ensuring sustainable land tenure; (c) improvement of soil fertility; and (d) ensuring sustainable economic development of the producers of agricultural commodities.

This Law makes provision with respect to registration of title in land and effects of registration and provides for a wide variety of matters regarding specific title in land such as leases, charges, transfers, co-ownership and partition, trusts and transmission on death.The Law establishes a Land Register and requires the Governor to appoint a Land Registrar, the functions and powers of which are defined by this Law. The Land Register shall consist of a register of parcels adjudicated under the Land Adjudication Law and a register of each lease required by the Law to be registered.

This Regional Law shall be applicable to turnover of agricultural land pertaining to public or municipal property. Privatization of agricultural land pertaining to public and municipal property can be performed 49 years after the date of entry into force of this Regional Law. Distant pastures shall be excluded from privatization. Agricultural land parcels can be expropriated from the owners if it remains unused or non-purposefully used for the period of three years.