Privacy notice

OpenLandRegistry is run by OpenLandRegistry. We decide how your personal data is used, so under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 we are the data controller.

OpenLandRegistry is an independent evidence service. It is not a government land registry.

To contact us about your data, use our privacy contact address, which will be published on this page.

Your account. Your name, email address, a scrambled form of your password (we cannot read it), your organisation if you give one, and when you accepted these terms.

Signing in with Google. Google tells us your name, your email address, that Google has verified it, and a Google account number. We do not get your Google password or anything else from your Google account.

Professionals. Your profession, the body you are registered with, your registration number, and how and when we checked it.

Claims to land. Where the land is, its shape, how you are connected to it, the documents you add, the names of anyone who holds the claim with you, and any identity check we record.

Survey plans. The file you upload, and everything read from it: beacons, bearings, distances, area, plan number, surveyor, date, and the names and address printed on the plan. We keep what is read even if you do not go on to claim the land. See how long we keep it below.

Checks on land. What you ask to be checked, the quote, payments recorded, messages on the case, documents supplied, and the results.

Keeping the service safe. A record of who did what and when (an audit trail), which records signed-in people looked at, and a scrambled form of your internet address, used only to limit repeated requests.

Cookies. A cookie that keeps you signed in, short-lived cookies used only while you sign in with Google, a cookie that lets you return to a plan you uploaded without an account, and a cookie that remembers your analytics choice. Analytics cookies are set only if you agree (see below). We use no advertising cookies.

• To provide the service you asked for (a contract with you): your account, your claims, your uploaded plans, checks you order, and messages about them.
• To prevent fraud and protect land holders (our legitimate interests and theirs): spotting two claims on the same land, the same plan used twice, and misuse of the service. This is why we keep what is read from plans and keep an audit trail.
• With your consent: showing your name on a public protection notice, and sharing your documents with a buyer for a set time. You can withdraw consent at any time from the claim page.
• To meet legal duties: keeping records we are required to keep and answering lawful requests.

• The public sees that a claim exists at a place, a rounded outline, and the notice status. No names unless the holder chose to show theirs, no documents, no plan numbers, no beacons.
• Signed-in visitors also see the exact outline and that a survey plan is on record. Each view is logged and limited.
• A buyer sees documents only when the holder shares them, for the period the holder chooses. Every view is logged.
• The professional assigned to a check sees what the check needs, after they accept it.
• Joint holders of a claim see the claim and its documents.
• The names and address on an uploaded plan are seen only by the person who uploaded it, an owner they invite, and our staff.
• Our staff (reviewers, operators and administrators) see what their work needs. Their access is recorded.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for advertising.

We use these companies to run the service. They act on our instructions:

• Vercel hosts the website and stores uploaded files.
• Neon hosts the database.
• Google (Gemini), Anthropic (Claude) and, if we turn it on, OpenAI read uploaded survey plans to find the numbers. We use their paid services, whose terms say they do not use what we send to train their models.
• Google signs you in when you choose “Continue with Google”.
• Google Analytics counts visits, only if you agree.
• Resend sends our emails, such as a link to choose a new password. It receives your email address and the message.
• A malware scanning service checks uploaded files before anyone can open them.
• OpenFreeMap supplies the map tiles. Your browser asks it for map images, so it sees your internet address.

Some of these companies store or process data outside Nigeria. Where that happens we rely on the safeguards the Nigeria Data Protection Act allows, such as the provider’s contractual commitments.

If you press “Accept” on the cookie message, we use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are used. The Google Analytics script is on every page, but until you agree it sets no cookies and records nothing about your visit. Loading the script does show Google your internet address, as loading any file from another website does.

• We send the page type only, never record numbers, links you were sent, search terms or anything after a question mark in the address. For example, a claim page is sent as “/claims/:id”.
• Google receives your internet address, device and browser details, and sets cookies (named _ga) to recognise a returning browser. Google Analytics does not keep internet addresses.
• We switch off Google’s advertising features and signals.
• The legal basis is your consent. Change your mind at any time with “Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page; saying no removes the analytics cookies.

• Land records, claims, checks and the audit trail are kept. They are evidence, and deleting them would help people who want to hide what happened to land.
• Uploaded files are deleted when their retention period ends. The record that the file existed, and its fingerprint, stay.
• Survey plans. What we read about the land (its shape, beacons, plan number, date and surveyor) is kept indefinitely. The file you uploaded, and the names and address printed on it, are kept for 5 years. If a claim is made from the plan, they are kept while the claim is open and for 12 years after it ends, because the plan may be needed as evidence in a dispute. After that the file is deleted and each name is replaced by a coded fingerprint that cannot be turned back into the name.
• Your account is kept while you use the service. If you ask us to close it, we remove the personal details we no longer need and keep what the records above depend on.

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal data we hold about you, and give you a copy
• correct data that is wrong
• delete data we no longer have a reason to keep
• stop or limit some uses of your data, or object to them
• give your data to you in a form you can take elsewhere
• withdraw a consent you gave

Ask through our privacy contact address, which will be published on this page. We may need to confirm who you are first. We reply within the time the law allows.

If you are named on a survey plan someone else uploaded, you have the same rights over what was read about you.

If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

• Passwords are stored only in scrambled form.
• Files are stored privately and scanned before anyone can open them.
• Access to records depends on your role and your connection to the land, and is checked on our servers.
• Every change and every view of sensitive material is recorded in a tamper-evident audit trail.
• Links to claim land work once, expire, and can be withdrawn.

The service is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data about children.

When we change how we use personal data, we update this page and the date at the top. If a change matters to you, we tell you in the app before it takes effect.