Housing in Guinea

Housing arrangements in Guinea include location simple, or ordinary renting, location-vente, or rent-to-own, family co-ownership, customary or family allocation, and construction on land held with or without formal documentation. The 2014 national census, known as RGPH-3, recorded 75.4% owner households: 51.5% without a title, 10.9% with a title and 13% in family co-ownership. Tenants accounted for 19.8%, including 18.9% in ordinary renting and 0.9% in rent-to-own. Urban households were almost evenly divided between renting at 47.4% and ownership at 46.4%, while rural households were mainly owners at 90.6% and only 5.4% were tenants. Housing types included individual houses, multi-unit houses and cases, a local term for traditional houses; multi-unit houses were especially common in urban areas, while cases were more common in rural areas. A rental arrangement may be oral or written. A tenant should verify the landlord's identity and right to offer the dwelling, the address and plot, the condition of the building, available connections, rent, deposit, advance payment, charges, duration and termination terms before paying. An état des lieux, or joint condition record, helps document the state of the dwelling; without one, the law may presume that the tenant received it in proper condition. The landlord is responsible for allowing use of the dwelling and carrying out maintenance required by the lease. The tenant must pay rent, use the dwelling according to the agreement, carry out ordinary upkeep and return it in the required condition. A deposit may cover repairs and is limited to three months of rent; it should be returned when no repair claim remains. Rent is normally paid monthly. Revision for substantial material-cost changes is generally limited to once per year, while other revisions should not occur earlier than three years. General notice is three months, but the 2019 Civil Code contains several rules for repossession for personal use or works, so the exact case requires review. For works, at least six months' notice and local controls may apply. Eviction disputes can involve a formal finding of the condition, a notice to comply, conciliation or a competent court; a judgment may be appealed within ten days, and eviction is not carried out from 1 June to 30 September. Ownership or self-building requires a different check. The formal process under the Code foncier et domanial uses a land plan and registration in the Livre Foncier through the Conservation Foncière. Local documents may also include a Livret foncier, permis d'habiter or autorisation d'occuper, but these documents do not all provide the same level of protection as registered title. Article 39 can recognize, under stated conditions, peaceful, personal, continuous and good-faith possession of property. Evidence can include land-tax records, development of the plot and a public and contradictory inquiry. Family or customary allocation, informal subdivision and self-help construction remain common, particularly where registration capacity and land registers are weak. Risks include uncertain boundaries, competing claims and multiple sales. New buildings and materially changed private or public buildings generally require a permis de construire or a permit to modify. Housing categories in the construction and housing framework include social, economic, middle-standing and high-standing housing. Public and private housing organisations and promoters may apply scales based on category and location. AGUIFIL and the national housing construction programme provide supply-side options, but no nationwide universal housing allowance, standard social-rental allocation or universal application portal has been established by the available evidence. Eligibility therefore depends on the specific programme or project. Housing suitability cannot be assessed from rent or land documents alone. In the 2014 census, 61.2% of households used a potable water source, compared with 80.5% in urban areas and 51% in rural areas. Only 20% of households had EDG electricity lighting, with 54.1% in urban areas and 2.2% in rural areas. Sanitation included flush toilets for 5.6% of households and covered ventilated latrines for 11.1%; 22.9% used nature for sanitation and 73.9% disposed of waste in nature, while private waste collection reached 8%. Check water access, electricity reliability, sanitation, waste collection, drainage, road access and seasonal water supply. Conakry and other informal urban settlements face overcrowding, weak drainage, flooding and service shortages. Flooding in 2015 destroyed more than 2,400 houses and 600 water points, so the plot's flood history, nearby drains or canals and access during the rainy season deserve direct inspection. When moving out, follow the applicable notice, settle rent and utilities, record a joint inspection, hand over the keys and keep proof of the deposit settlement. The sale of a rented property does not by itself end a lease that has a date certain. Municipalities, urban and rural communes, the Ministry responsible for Urbanism, Housing and Construction, the Ministry responsible for Finance, the Conservation Foncière, local authorities, Commission Foncière, competent courts, AGUIFIL and EDG may each have a role depending on the housing arrangement and the issue involved.