Who may sign a valuation report in Tanzania? A registered valuer holding a certificate from the Valuers Registration Board. The Valuation and Valuers Registration Act makes it an offence to value without a certificate, and a report without the registered valuer's seal or endorsement is void. A provisionally registered valuer cannot endorse a report. Public officers acting in office are exempt.
What the law says
The Valuation and Valuers Registration Act, No. 7 of 2016, now Cap. 138 R.E. 2023, regulates valuers. The copy read for this guide was a third-party host of the Act text, not a government site, so section numbers should be checked on the Government Printer's edition. Contracts, stamping and evidence sit in the Law of Contract Act, Cap. 345, the Stamp Duty Act, Cap. 189 and the Electronic Transactions Act, Cap. 442. Drafting for reward sits in the Advocates Act, Cap. 341. Personal data sits in the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 and money laundering in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Cap. 423.
Fursa365 does not value assets, draft agreements or hold money. Its role is to match qualified offers and requests, with Zatra Consultants Limited screening the facts. The papers that follow are the ones the parties and their advisers prepare.
Who should read this
Owners offering land, buildings, plant, vehicles, stakes or stock. Buyers, hirers and investors who must rely on a figure. Directors who sign deal documents. Accountants and advocates who prepare the pack. Valuers, surveyors and engineers who are asked for a report.
Who may sign a valuation report?
As read, section 25(1) of the Act says no person or firm may undertake valuation without a certificate issued by the Board. Section 25(2) sets the penalty at TZS 5 million to TZS 20 million or two to five years or both for an individual, and at least TZS 20 million for a body corporate. Section 63 says a report must carry the registered valuer's seal or endorsement or it is void. Section 30(2) says a provisionally registered valuer cannot endorse a report, and section 38(1) lets technician valuers assist without being registered valuers. Section 62(2)(a) exempts public officers.
Individual registration needs a first degree in real estate or equivalent, with full registration needing three or more years of experience, exams and Tanzanian citizenship under sections 26 and 28, and temporary registration of up to one year for non-citizens under section 29. A firm must be incorporated or registered under the Companies Act or the Business Names Act with at least two principals who are registered valuers, under section 26(3). The title is "Valuation and Valuers Registration Act", not the "Valuers (Registration) Act".
Does a bank or buyer need a registered valuer's report?
For some purposes, in practice. Under the Act as read, no section requires a registered valuer's report specifically for bank security. Section 49(2)(g) lists a mortgage as a valuation purpose. The Land Act, Cap. 113 mentions a registered valuer in two places only, at section 31(3)(f), where a registered valuer's written open-market assessment is a factor in setting a premium, and section 33(4)(d), where rent may be based on a registered valuer's assessment. A general rule that every transfer needs a registered valuer or Chief Valuer approval was not found.
The Chief Valuer is appointed by the President and can approve or endorse valuation reports under the Act. The Valuation and Valuers (General) Regulations, 2018, Government Notice 136, set an approval fee of TZS 20,000 where the market value is below TZS 100 million, and 0.01% of market value above that, or 0.02% for a mortgage, disposition, sale or purchase (register ID F0471). Whether Chief Valuer approval is needed for every bank mortgage valuation was not verified, so ask the lender. The Valuers Registration Board's own website was not found, and one candidate site was blocked from automated reading.
What standards do valuers use?
The International Valuation Standards, published by the IVS Council, took effect on 31 January 2025, with earlier adoption encouraged. They set general standards for engagement terms, bases of value, approaches and reporting, and asset standards. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Red Book sets mandatory practice for its members. Neither is enforced by Tanzanian law on the sources read. A Tanzanian statute requires registration, not a particular standard.
A client can still instruct the valuer to follow IVS and say so in the engagement letter. A report should state the basis of value, the date of valuation, the assumptions, the inspection and the sources. No international or Tanzanian standards-body document was found for a due diligence report, so the scope of one is whatever the client's engagement letter states.
What about mineral resource statements?
No Tanzanian statute or Mining Commission guideline requiring a competent person or a recognised reporting code such as JORC or SAMREC was found. The Mining Act, in the 2019 text read, requires a feasibility study with a mining licence application and reserve details in special mining licence applications. It sets no technical code. No Geologists Registration Act exists, and a Geologists Management Bill to create a board was reported as submitted to the Cabinet Secretariat in September 2026, not enacted.
A buyer or investor who relies on a resource estimate should therefore name the code and the competent person it wants in its own engagement terms. The reasoning is contractual, not statutory. The unread final portion of the Mining Act and the Mining Regulations were not checked.
Must a deal agreement be in writing?
Not as a general rule. Section 10 of the Law of Contract Act, as read, says all agreements are contracts if made by the free consent of competent parties, and its proviso preserves any other law that requires writing, electronic form, witnesses or registration. A guarantee may be oral or written under section 78. So the question is whether another law demands writing for your deal.
The Land Act has headings on instruments of disposition, execution of instruments and writing required for enforcement of contracts relating to land, at sections 62 to 64 in the contents. The operative text was not read, so treat any land deal as needing a signed written instrument and take an advocate's advice. In practice, write every agreement. An oral deal is hard to prove, hard to stamp and hard for a lender to accept.
What must be stamped, and what happens if it is not?
Section 47(1) of the Stamp Duty Act, Cap. 189 R.E. 2019, as read, says no instrument chargeable with duty shall be admitted in evidence for any purpose unless duly stamped, subject to provisos, and also bars acting on or registering it. The cost of stamping is small and the cost of an unstamped instrument in a dispute is not.
| Instrument | Duty | Register ID |
|---|---|---|
| Agreement | TZS 2,000 | F0267 |
| Power of attorney | TZS 2,000 | F0267 |
| Lease, now including movable property | 1% of annual reserved rent | F0265 |
| Transfer of shares | 1% of the value approved by the Board | F0264 |
| Conveyance of land | Nil to TZS 20,000, then 0.5% of the first TZS 100,000 and 1% above | F0262 |
Stamping is due within 30 days of execution in Mainland Tanzania, or of first arrival if signed abroad. The Schedule item numbers could not be confirmed on the copy opened, so cite the register IDs and the TRA page.
Can documents be signed electronically?
Generally yes. The Electronic Transactions Act, Cap. 442 R.E. 2022, as read, says a data message is not denied validity merely because it is electronic, section 4, and an electronic form satisfies a writing requirement, section 5. A secure electronic signature meets a signature requirement under section 6, and parties may agree the method. Section 18 provides that evidence rules cannot deny admissibility of a data message solely because of its form. The Act text read contains no exclusion list for land or wills.
That does not displace a specific law that requires witnessing, a deed or registration, which is the effect of the Law of Contract Act proviso. A Tanzanian rule on electronic signing of land instruments was not found. For land, a lender's or the registry's practice governs, so ask an advocate before signing a land document on a screen.
Who may draft the documents?
Section 43(1) of the Advocates Act, as read in the 2019 consolidation, says an unqualified person must not draw or prepare for reward an instrument relating to movable or immovable property or to legal proceedings, the formation of a limited company or a partnership deed. Exceptions in section 43(2) cover public officers in the course of duty and persons merely engrossing. Section 43(3) excludes from "instrument" wills, an agreement under hand only that is not a deed under the Land Act, powers of attorney and plain share transfers. Only a person on the Roll with a practising certificate and a business licence may act as an advocate under section 39(1). The penalties in the copy read are pre-amendment and may have changed.
The practical reading is cautious. A term sheet or a simple agreement under hand may be outside the section. A deed, anything relating to land, and a company or partnership formation instrument are inside it. Zatra prepares files and structures; the advocate drafts and signs. Notarisation and the commissioning of oaths belong to an advocate or notary under the Notaries Public and Commissioners for Oaths Act, Cap. 12, which was read only through a secondary summary.
What does a data room do to personal data?
Staff lists, director identity documents, tenant and customer records in a data room are personal data. The Personal Data Protection Act, 2022, Act No. 11 of 2022, is cited in some press as Cap. 44. As read, section 14 requires a controller or processor to register with the Commission, registration lasts five years under section 16, section 27 requires safeguards, a data protection officer and breach reporting without undue delay, and sections 31 and 32 govern transfers abroad. Administrative fines are capped at TZS 100 million under section 47, and section 60 sets higher amounts for unlawful disclosure by a company.
The registration fee is TZS 100,000 for a small controller, TZS 200,000 for a medium one and TZS 1,000,000 for a large one, with renewal at TZS 50,000, TZS 150,000 and TZS 500,000 (register IDs F0719 and F0720). The Commission announced on-site inspections from 31 August 2026, covering registration, officers, storage, safeguards and transfers abroad, as Nation Africa reported. Redact or anonymise before sharing, and share inside a deal room under the NDNCA. Zatra Consultants Limited is the registered controller for Fursa365. See Zatra's note on foreign companies and PDPC registration.
What identity and ownership papers do parties need?
A reporting person under the Anti-Money Laundering Act must verify identity from official records, identify the person for whose ultimate benefit an applicant acts, keep records and report suspicious transactions within 24 hours, as read from the 2019 Revised Edition. Later amendments exist, so the numbers may have changed. Companies filing beneficial ownership changes use the Companies (Beneficial Ownership) Regulations, 2023, Government Notice 478, where, as Clyde and Co reports, a change must be notified within 30 days and the Registrar may refuse share or capital changes until filings are complete. Zatra's guide on beneficial ownership compliance explains the filings.
A good file therefore holds certified identity for each party and each beneficial owner, the company's incorporation documents and a current BRELA search. Fursa365 asks for these at screening and again before names move.
What licences sit behind an offtake or joint venture paper?
For minerals, the 2019 Mining Act text restricts possession, disposal and export to mineral right holders, licensed dealers, licensed brokers and import permit holders, with the dealer licence at section 74 and the broker licence at section 81. The fee register lists the dealer licence, which needs at least 25% Tanzanian ownership (register ID F0622). The Mining (Minerals and Mineral Concentrates Trading) Regulations, 2018, Government Notice 2 of 2018, and the 2024 gold amendment, Government Notice 539C, which sets aside at least 20% of gold for domestic sale with a Bank of Tanzania pre-emption, were read on law firm hosts. An offtake agreement is not itself a licence.
For meat, a Tanzania Meat Board clearance and a veterinary export permit are cited in secondary sources, with the Meat Industry Act citation in conflict between sources. Check each licence with the issuing authority.
A worked example: a warehouse and a lease pack
An owner offers a warehouse on Fursa365 and a hirer is matched. The owner instructs a registered valuer, who reports a market value of TZS 800 million. If the 0.02% rate applies to the full value, the Chief Valuer approval fee is TZS 160,000 (register ID F0471), subject to confirming the base. The lease is TZS 8 million a month, TZS 96 million a year, and stamp duty at 1% of annual rent is TZS 960,000 (register ID F0265). A power of attorney for a signatory is TZS 2,000 (register ID F0267).
The data room holds the title, the valuation and the lease draft. It also holds the tenant list of the owner's existing building, which is personal data and is redacted before sharing. The owner is a small controller and renews its PDPC registration for TZS 50,000 (register ID F0720). The advocate drafts and registers the lease. Government charges total about TZS 1.17 million, and Zatra's professional fee is separate. The figures are illustrative.
What to do now
- Instruct a registered valuer and ask for the seal, basis of value, date and standard in the engagement letter.
- Ask your lender or buyer whether it needs Chief Valuer approval or a particular standard.
- Write the agreement and have an advocate draft anything that is a deed or relates to land.
- Stamp within 30 days and keep the receipt with the original.
- Prepare identity and ownership papers for each party and each beneficial owner.
- Redact personal data before the data room opens and confirm your PDPC registration.
- Sign the NDNCA before names move, then sign the final documents on the route your advocate approves.
Key dates
| Item | Date or period |
|---|---|
| Stamping a Mainland instrument | Within 30 days of execution |
| Beneficial ownership change | 30 days, as reported |
| Suspicious transaction report | Within 24 hours, as read |
| PDPC registration | Five-year certificate; renewal fees at register ID F0720 |
| PDPC on-site inspections began | 31 August 2026 |
| International Valuation Standards | Effective 31 January 2025 |
How Zatra helps
Zatra Consultants Limited screens the facts, prepares the document checklist for each party and structures the pack that the client's valuer, accountant and advocate will use. Zatra does not value assets, issue valuation reports, give legal opinions, notarise documents or hold money. The Valuers Registration Board, the Registrar, TRA and the Personal Data Protection Commission decide their own matters, and Zatra does not decide or guarantee any authority's outcome. Disputes and formal opinions go to an advocate. Mainland law is described here. Zanzibar has its own rules on valuation, stamp duty and company documents, which a Zanzibar advocate should confirm. See the professionals panel and the verification standard.
Related pages on Fursa365 include the fees page, how Fursa365 works and regulatory boundaries.
Sources and status
Accurate as at 6 Nov 2026. Figures are from the sources below and from the Zatra government fees register, quoted with their register IDs so they can be checked line by line.
- Valuation and Valuers Registration Act, No. 7 of 2016. Policy Vault, third-party host of the 2016 Act text. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Stamp Duty Act, Cap. 189, amended to 2019. Tanzania Revenue Authority, Act amended to 2019. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- TRA stamp duty page. Tanzania Revenue Authority, undated page read 2026. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Law of Contract Act, Cap. 345. TanzLII, consolidated to 30 November 2019. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Land Act, Cap. 113. TanzLII, consolidated to 30 November 2019. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Electronic Transactions Act, Cap. 442 R.E. 2022. Ministry of Finance, Revised Edition 2022. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Advocates Act, Cap. 341. TanzLII, consolidated to 30 November 2019. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Personal Data Protection Act, 2022. Attorney General's Office, Act No. 11 of 2022. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Data protection regulator begins compliance crackdown. Nation Africa, 28 August 2026. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Anti-Money Laundering Act, Cap. 423 R.E. 2019. Ministry of Finance, Revised Edition 2019. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- International Valuation Standards. International Valuation Standards Council, page modified 29 January 2025. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- New law targets unqualified geologists. The Respondent Online, 16 September 2026. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
- Zatra Tanzania Government Fees Register 2026, tax, valuation and data protection chapters. Zatra Consultants Limited, 2026 edition. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.
Figures to confirm before you act
- Chief Valuer approval fee TZS 20,000, 0.01% or 0.02% of market value (register ID F0471); confirm the base on which the percentage applies
- Stamp duty rates (register IDs F0262, F0264, F0265 and F0267); Schedule item numbers were not confirmed on the copy opened
- Section numbers of the Valuation and Valuers Registration Act come from a third-party host of the text; confirm on the Government Printer's edition
- PDPC registration and renewal fees (register IDs F0719 and F0720) and whether the Act is cited as Cap. 44
- Advocates Act section 43 penalties are pre-amendment in the copy read
- No Tanzanian competent person or reporting code requirement for mineral resources was found; the final part of the Mining Act was not read
General information prepared by the Fursa365 deal desk, Zatra Consultants Limited. It is not legal, tax or investment advice and does not decide or guarantee any authority's outcome. Confirm current rules and fees with the authority named and your own advocate before you act. Mainland Tanzania is described; Zanzibar has separate laws and bodies.
Questions readers ask
Can an engineer or surveyor sign a valuation report?
Only if they are also a registered valuer. The Act makes valuation without a Board certificate an offence. Engineers and surveyors can provide technical reports, and a registered valuer can rely on them. Check the certificate before you instruct.
Is a valuation report void without a seal?
As read, section 63 says a report must carry the registered valuer's seal or endorsement or it is void. A provisionally registered valuer cannot endorse a report, so ask whether the signatory is fully registered.
Do I need Chief Valuer approval for every valuation?
Not on the sources read. The Chief Valuer can approve reports and a fee applies to approval. Whether a bank or a registry requires approval for a given purpose was not verified, so ask the lender or the registry first.
Is an agreement signed by email valid?
Generally yes under the Electronic Transactions Act, unless another law requires a deed, witnessing or registration. Land instruments need an advocate's advice. Always stamp the instrument within 30 days of execution.
What if I do not stamp an agreement?
As read, an instrument chargeable with duty is not admitted in evidence for any purpose unless duly stamped. That can leave you unable to enforce it. The duty on an agreement is TZS 2,000 (register ID F0267), so stamp it.
Do I have to use an advocate for a joint venture agreement?
The Advocates Act bars unqualified people from drawing certain instruments for reward, including those relating to property and company or partnership formation. A deed or land-related document is inside it. Use an advocate for anything beyond a simple term sheet.
Is sharing staff lists in a data room allowed?
Only as personal data law allows. The controller should be registered, share the minimum, redact where possible, protect the data and consider transfers abroad. Share inside a deal room under the NDNCA, and confirm your PDPC registration.
Does this apply in Zanzibar?
This guide describes Mainland law. Zanzibar has its own company documents, stamp duty and valuation arrangements. A Zanzibar deal should confirm each with a Zanzibar advocate before signing.
CPA. Tax compliance, VAT and withholding planning, financial governance and bankable business plans. Sixteen years in accounting and finance.
