Legislative Measures
The House of Peoples‟ Representatives has adopted:
Condominiums Proclamation No. 370/2003
Expropriation of Land Holdings for Public Purposes and Payment of Compensation
Proclamation No. 455/2005.
Urban Lands Lease Holding Proclamation No. 721/2011.
Ethiopian Building Proclamation No.624/2009
Appropriation of Land For Government Works and Payment of Compensation for
Property, proclamation No. 401/2004
Federal rural land administration and land use Proclamation No. 456/2005.
Regional Proclamation on Ownership of Condominiums.
According to these proclamations every Ethiopian shall have the full right to the immovable
property he builds and to any permanent improvements he brings about on the land by his labour or
capital. This right shall include the right to alienate, to bequeath, and, where the right of use expires,
to remove his property, transfer his title, or claim compensation for it. Without prejudice to the right
to private property, the government may expropriate private property for public purposes subject to
payment in advance of compensation commensurate to the value of the property. Proclamation No.
401/2004 provides for appropriation of land for government works and payment of compensation
for property that may be sited on it.30 In order to ensure that compensation for public acquisition of
property fairly balances the rights of the individual and the wider interests of society this
proclamation states that a possessor who vacates land shall be paid compensation for the property
he produced on the land by his finance, labour or creative work and for permanent improvement he
made to such land.31 Beyond this, it is stated that an individual, who permanently loses his
possession of land, if there is a crop or plants on the land, shall in addition also, be paid
compensation equivalent to an average income of a person holding similar land.32
30Proclamation
No. 401/2004.”
Art 9(1) of Proclamation No. 401/2004
32 Art 10 (1) Proclamation No. 401/2004
31
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