Housing in Chad

Most urban households in Chad rent, while others share a concession, inherit or buy a plot, or build a home gradually. A concession is a shared compound in which several households may use the same courtyard, latrine, water connection and electricity supply. Self-building commonly uses fired bricks, mud mortar and a cement foundation, with extensions added as funds become available. Affordable serviced plots and reliable basic infrastructure remain limited. Land access combines formal and customary systems. Under Loi n°24/1967, formal ownership is generally established through immatriculation, the registration of land in the official system, followed by a titre foncier, the registered land title. A registered title is treated as final after entry in the register. The Conservateur de la propriété foncière and local land offices handle registration, mutations and recorded charges, while the Ministère de l’Aménagement du Territoire, de l’Urbanisme et de l’Habitat, known as MATUH, oversees national land, planning and housing policy. Customary rights, Islamic arrangements and informal transfers continue in practice, creating risks of disputed boundaries, double sales and conflicting inheritance claims. Before paying for land or a home, compare the title or register extract, boundaries, seller’s authority, inheritance or sale documents and any evidence of customary claims. Local advice is needed because no single nationwide portal, complete fee schedule or guaranteed processing period has been established in the available evidence. Renting is common, especially in N’Djamena, but leases are often agreed orally. A written bail, meaning a rental agreement, gives stronger evidence when it records the landlord and tenant, address, duration, rent, advance payment, deposit, additional costs, repairs, termination terms and handover condition. A uniform national rental contract and clearly evidenced nationwide notice or eviction periods were not identified. Foreign tenants may be asked for a passport, visa, employment contract, income evidence and a reference, subject to current case-by-case checks. Chadian citizens have constitutional freedom to choose their residence, while foreign ownership of property is subject to legal limits and possible approval requirements. Market indications from around 2022 placed a room in peripheral N’Djamena at about FCFA 30,000–150,000 per month. A living room and bedroom with water and electricity cost about FCFA 150,000–250,000 per month, while a modern studio or apartment in an urbanized district could cost around FCFA 300,000 per month. Sought-after N’Djamena areas reached about FCFA 400,000, and housing outside the capital was indicated at roughly FCFA 25,000–100,000 per month. These are market indications rather than official tariffs and should be checked locally. Water, sanitation and electricity can be unreliable in peripheral areas, and electricity, internet, moving and furniture may add to the monthly burden. Location affects safety and service access. N’Djamena has extensive unplanned development and flood exposure; the World Bank reported that about 14% of built-up land falls within a one-in-ten-year flood exposure area and 74% within a one-in-one-hundred-year exposure area. Check drainage, site elevation, roof and foundation condition, building materials, water access and electricity before moving in. Rural housing is more closely connected to customary landholding, self-building and agricultural or pastoral use. The BHT, or Banque de l’Habitat du Tchad, provides housing finance and guarantees aimed at lower- and middle-income groups, but affordability, bank eligibility, construction costs and the availability of a usable land title can limit access to credit. Humanitarian shelters provide a functionally comparable but usually temporary housing solution for refugees and internally displaced people. Access depends on status, registration, site allocation and programme coverage rather than ordinary private rental rights. UNHCR reported 32,000 emergency shelters serving more than 128,000 people and 1,080 hectares of site development in 2025; the proportion of refugee households with shelter rose from 77% in 2024 to 85% in 2025. Shelters can be upgraded with local materials, while changes of site or protection support are handled through government and humanitarian mechanisms. Housing ends or changes through an agreed departure, contract expiry, termination or forced displacement. Preserve rent receipts, payment records, photographs, repair communications and a signed handover record. A sale or inheritance should be followed by mutation or registration where the formal system applies. Informal customary transfers may continue without a registered title, leaving later heirs and buyers exposed to boundary or succession disputes. Expropriation for public utility requires prior fair compensation under the constitutional framework, but the practical process depends on the responsible authorities and circumstances.