During the decade of Angola’s post-conflict oil boom (c. 2002/3 to 2015), mass forced removals accompanied by housing demolition became common place in the capital, Luanda. Under the auspices of both large state-investments in infrastructure and housing, and private real estate developments, over 200,000 people are estimated to have been removed to new state housing zones or were left homeless. While political and economic power enabled removals, the discussion over the validity of them often focused on what constituted proof of property and who could produce such proof. Drawing on interviews, archival research, and participant observation conducted in Luanda, Angola, this paper explores how property was made and unmade during the boom period. Focusing on the search for documents, deals made with police, and informal governance institutions, this paper investigates property as a bundle of rights and relationships, ultimately arguing that the period saw a collision between state-sanctioned bureaucracies and the unofficial systems that had for so long governed ownership in the city. The result were not only large scale demolitions, but a radical remaking of people’s understandings of what constituted a legitimate relationship to the state within the city and through that who was considered to “own” land and housing. The paper is an initial foray into attempting to understand the unmaking of property in Luanda through understanding the loss of property as contingent on the constant recrafting of bureacratic institutions that govern the recognition of land and home ownership.