Morocco Launches Crackdown on Property Fraud with New Digital Registry System

The Directorate General of Local Authorities (DGCT) under the Ministry of the Interior is now carrying out the census and registration of the real estate assets of the municipalities, as well as the updating of all properties that have not yet been registered in the land registry. Another measure: the implementation by the Ministry of the Interior, in partnership with the National Agency for Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography, of a computer system called "Atlas cartography" which defines the positions of these properties, their area and their land title. These measures are in line with the fight against the phenomenon of spoliation of municipal real estate assets by large real estate developers in major cities. They follow the rejection by the DGCT.

Recently, the DGCT "has refused to validate decisions" taken by certain municipal councils concerning the sale or rental of their real estate assets, reports the Arabic-language daily Al Akhbar. Over the first nine months of 2022, 9 out of the 12 files studied were rejected. The directorate justified this refusal by violations and manipulations that could lead to the spoliation of this heritage by influential parties.