Malawi faces a growing problem of unplanned settlements in her towns and cities. Dysfunctional land and housing market, ineffective development control and urban poverty are singled out as major contributing factors. Customary land practices, rural phenomena have exacerbated the problem by fuelling growth of unplanned settlements thereby worsening an already bad housing and infrastructure situation. Through customary land practices both government and private land has been encroached for residential development. The author intends to find out the cause of this practice in Zomba, how it has contributed to the spread of unplanned settlements and ways to address the problem in a bid to improve housing situation and socio-economic development for the all income groups, with a special focus on the low income group in the city.