Housing in Madagascar

Local terms include logement, habitation and habitat for housing; maison individuelle or villa for a detached house; concession for a property or compound; and appartement or maison collective for a shared or multi-unit building. Common housing paths are renting, buying land or a dwelling, self-building, inheritance or co-ownership, staying with family or friends, employer-provided housing and informal occupation. Madagascar has no single nationwide housing provider or universal housing-benefit system. The National Housing Policy and related policy frameworks guide public action but do not automatically create an individual entitlement to a dwelling or rent support. Housing conditions differ sharply between urban and rural areas. In urban areas, rental housing and informal or unplanned settlements are widespread, and more than 60% of the urban population has been reported to live in such settlements. These areas may face insecure land rights and hazard exposure. Rural housing is more often owner-occupied without formal title. Across the country, the 2018 census found that 70.8% of floors, 71.9% of walls and 56% of roofs used precarious materials. In 2021–22, ownership with a title or deed accounted for 22.5% of households, co-ownership with or without a title accounted for 1.4% each, employer-provided housing for 1.5%, occupation anarchique for 0.9% and other arrangements for 0.3%. For a purchase or self-built home, check the land status before paying or building. A titre foncier is a registered land title. The cadastre records land information. A Certificat foncier documents private untitled land ownership, known as propriété foncière privée non titrée or PPNT, and can support a sale, gift, inheritance, lease, emphyteutic lease or mortgage under the 2022 land-law framework. Untitled land without a Certificat foncier has weaker documentation and greater transfer uncertainty. Informal petits papiers should not be treated as equivalent to a registered title or certificate. Request a Certificat de Situation Juridique issued no more than three months earlier and compare it with the seller, cadastral information, boundaries and any co-ownership or inheritance claims. The relevant public bodies include the Ministry of Land Management and Property, known as MATSF, the Direction Générale des Services Fonciers, or DGSF, communes and other collectivités territoriales décentralisées, local land offices and the fokontany, the local neighbourhood-level administrative unit. A notary or qualified real-estate agency can assist with a transaction, but their involvement does not replace checking the land evidence. Confirm the permitted use of the plot, urban-planning prescriptions, the building plan, flood and other hazard exposure, access roads and basic services. A construction permit is handled through the competent urban-planning or municipal office. Published Torolalana procedure guidance for a land purchase gives approximate processing times of about ten working days for a regular plan, two days for urban-planning prescriptions, 48 hours for the sale deed and five working days for registration. These are procedural targets rather than a nationwide deadline for every transaction. Fees and actual processing times vary by case and commune. Self-building is commonly financed through personal funds, informal finance, family labour or community support. A land certificate may also improve access to secured credit, but it does not guarantee loan approval. A rental agreement should identify the landlord, called the bailleur, and the tenant, called the preneur, as well as the dwelling, rent, called loyer, deposit, called caution, payment dates, duration, repairs and additional charges. Ordonnance 62-100 of 1 October 1962 provides a central special framework for residential leases. For a monthly lease of an unfurnished room, the caution and advance rent together may not exceed two months of rent. For an open-ended lease, the tenant's notice, called préavis, is at least one month, while the landlord generally gives three months' notice. A fixed-term lease normally ends at the agreed term subject to the contract and applicable law. Keep the signed contract, payment receipts, an état des lieux describing the condition at handover and records of repair requests. Formal disputes and eviction procedures involve the competent court and a huissier, a judicial enforcement officer; informal practices do not remove the need to follow the applicable legal process. During occupancy, housing quality cannot be inferred from ownership or rental status. In 2018, only 29.5% of dwellings had access to potable water, including 66% in urban areas and 19.8% in rural areas. Electricity reached 38.1% nationally, 71.5% in urban areas and 29.2% in rural areas. Safely managed toilets reached 9.3%, and adequate wastewater disposal 22.1%. Ask how water, electricity, toilets, wastewater, waste collection and repairs are provided, and check whether the arrangement is reliable throughout the year. JIRAMA may be involved in electricity and water services, but service availability and connection conditions vary by location. The national housing deficit has been estimated at about 1.73 million units. That figure describes a broad supply problem and does not itself establish a personal right to subsidized housing. A realistic housing assessment therefore combines tenure security, contract or ownership evidence, construction quality, service access, affordability, location risks and the practical ability to leave or transfer the arrangement.