Clearing a Mortgage From a Title (Discharge)

How do I remove a mortgage from my land title?

You remove it by paying off the loan and getting the lender's release registered. The steps in order:

1. Ask the lender for a payoff figure in writing, valid to a stated date. It should include the balance, interest, and any costs the lender has properly incurred.
2. Pay the lender. Pay by bank transfer and keep the receipt. Do not pay cash to a loan officer.
3. The lender signs a release in the prescribed form. Under section 15 of the Mortgage Act, 2009 the release must be signed by the mortgagee and attested by one witness.
4. The release is presented at the registry with the prescribed fees. The Ministry of Lands cost sheet of May 2025 lists stamp duty of UGX 5,000 and a registration fee of UGX 10,000.
5. The registrar records the release on the original and the duplicate title. From then the land is no longer subject to the mortgage to the extent stated in the release.
6. The lender returns your duplicate title, which it normally holds while the loan runs.

Section 14 of the Act gives you the right: once the secured money, the other mortgage conditions and the lender's properly incurred costs are paid, the lender must release the mortgage at your request and cost. Any term that takes that right away, restricts it, or demands an unfair and unconscionable extra advantage is void. This is general information as of November 2026, not legal advice. The wider land law frame is in Uganda Land Law and Land Titles Explained.

What is the difference between the bank release letter and the registry discharge?

People mix these up, and it causes real losses. There are two separate steps.

A letter from the bank is not the same as a cleared register. The registrar acts on the registered release in the prescribed form. Until the register shows the mortgage released, the mortgage is still an entry on the title and a buyer can be caught by it. That is why the last step in any purchase is a fresh search, as set out in Encumbrances, Mortgages and Caveats on a Title.

How long does it take?

The Ministry of Lands service standards for FY2025/26 to FY2028/29 (published May 2025) give five working days to release a mortgage at the registry. In the same document, registering a mortgage is three working days, and removing an expired mortgage is 40 working days, which includes a 30-day statutory notice period, at a UGX 10,000 registration fee.

Two cautions. First, the Mortgage Act sets no deadline for the registry to record the release, so five working days is a service standard, not a legal guarantee. Second, the standard starts when a complete application reaches the registry. Add the time the lender takes to sign and witness the release, and any queue at the zonal office, and plan for weeks rather than days. Our guide to the transfer mailo land steps shows where discharge fits before the transfer is lodged.

How should a buyer sequence the payment when the seller has a loan?

The safest approach is for the purchase price to clear the loan first. This is our recommended practice, not a rule set out in the Act, and a lawyer should draft it into your agreement.

1. Search first. Get an official search at UGX 10,000 and confirm the mortgage, the lender and the date. Compare it with what the seller told you.
2. Get the payoff letter from the lender in writing, with the figure and an account number that you verify by calling the bank on a number you find yourself.
3. Sign the sale agreement with a clear clause: the seller will clear the mortgage from the proceeds, the lender will release, and the duplicate title will be handed over only against payment.
4. Pay the loan balance directly to the lender from your funds, ideally through your lawyer, and the rest of the price into the lawyer's client account.
5. The lender signs the release and returns the duplicate title to the lawyer.
6. Lodge the release at the registry, then take a fresh search showing the mortgage as released.
7. Only then lodge your transfer and pay the balance to the seller.

Never pay the full price to the seller on the promise that "the bank will release it next week". If the seller is not repaying the lender, you can lose both the money and the land. If the lender holds the title and says it has lost it, you are in lost-title territory, which is covered in Lost Your Land Title? What to Do in 2026.

How do I check the discharge registered?

Take a new official search after the registry says the release is recorded. Under the Ministry's public portal, a search costs UGX 10,000 and needs the volume and folio, or the county, block and plot. Look for three things:

• The mortgage entry is shown as released, with a date.
• No new mortgage, caveat or court order appears after it.
• The registered owner's name matches the seller's national ID.

Also check the paper. The release should be endorsed on the duplicate title, and the duplicate should be in your lawyer's hands before you pay the balance. For mailo land the background is in Mailo Land Explained for Buyers. You can also order a title check to have this confirmed.

What if the lender cannot be found, or the land is a kibanja?

Lender cannot be found. Section 16 of the Mortgage Act says that if the mortgagee is under a disability, is absent from Uganda or cannot be located, and nobody is authorised to discharge the mortgage, the Secretary to the Treasury may receive the money and arrears in trust, and interest stops running. For informal mortgages the mortgagor may apply to court for a discharge order. Once the Treasury receipt is produced, the registrar enters the discharge. Use a lawyer for this.

Kibanja land. A Commercial Court ruling reported by Daily Monitor in 2024 held that a mortgage over a kibanja was invalid and unenforceable without the mailo owner's consent. If a seller's loan was secured on a kibanja, check whether consent was ever given, because the answer changes what has to be cleared.

New borrowing. If the owner plans to mortgage again after discharge, section 5 of the Act requires a spouse living in a matrimonial home to sign or assent. See Using a Land Title as Loan Security. To compare titled plots from sellers, you can browse plot listings. In Land & Property listings, Nov 2026, the median plot price is UGX 155 million, so a mortgage on a plot of that size is often large enough to matter in the deal.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Encumbrances, Mortgages and Caveats on a Title
• Using a Land Title as Loan Security: What Banks Require
• How to Transfer Mailo Land
• Lost Your Land Title? What to Do in 2026
• Uganda Land Law and Land Titles Explained
• Land Title Check Service