Firstly i don tire for una for Nairaland. Since my last post on (Tips on how to register a Property in Lagos), You guys have bombarded my e-mail box with series of questions regarding the same thing and i don't even know what to do again to help you. Even if someone needs to help you obtain the C/O or the Governor's consent, you must finally get these things right once and for all because from now on, i would be ignoring emails that ask me these same questions.


To register a C/O sharp sharp and to avoid so many stories, this is just the basics you should know and the fees to be paid.

[b]1. Get your survey plan

2. Get the land information from the surveyor general's office or ask your lawyer to get it for you. It costs just N7,000 Only (No cheating) any body that tells you it is more than that is scamming you big time.

3. Get your structural Drawing in place i.e what structure you intend to put on the land or architectural design

4. 2 Passport photographs

5. Tax reciept or Tax clearance certificate (This is very very important now and without this, no C/O would be granted) Now if you don't have it, but you want to proceed with your C/O registeration immediately, you must pay N60,000 to the land registry to cover the Tax clearance certificate. No more, no less.

6. Purchase reciept from the previous owners or family that sold it to you better still known to you as the "omo ni ile boys" for all of you scrambling for family property beyond lekki phase 2 to Epe

7. Very important, "BROWN ENVELOPE" to follow up the C/O at the land registry, N50,000 (Na Naija we de! Shine your eye, no dulling!) unless your C/O will come out after Yaradua's second term in office , lol


8. Legal Fees negotiable with the lawyer depending on if he likes your guts or your attitude, lol [/b]


You can see how simple this is and does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out.

Please no more emails on these simple questions except you want me to assist you to get it done ASAP because your a nairalander.

Now to the Governor's consent



Now lets break it down simply (Abeg carry your calculator as you de read am o! I can't shout anymore):

Tip 1: Every area in lagos state has its own separate fees to pay for the governor's consent. I will illustrate with 5 real examples.

a. If you have a property in AKOWONJO / SHASHA Local Government, it is N1,500 per m2 (Square meter)

b. If you have a property in LEKKI PHASE 2, it is N4,500 per m2 (Square meter)

C. If you have a property in GBAGADA/ANTHONY, it is N6,000 per m2 (Square meter)

d. If you have a property in ILUPEJU RESIDENTIAL, it is N10,000 per m2 (Square meter)

e. If you have a property in PARK VIEW/OSBORNE 1, it is N40,000 per m2 (Square meter)

So if you bought the land for N1,000,000 (One Million Naira), and you know from the survey plan that your land is probably for example 160m2 by 56 m2, you have to calculate your area multiplied by the square meters.

E.G if we use AKOWONJO / ISHERI which is N1,500 per m2 (Square meter), the calculation will go like this:

N1,500 X 160 M2 = N240,000.

This N240,000 is the assessment Price.


Secondly, we have what is being called CAPITAL GAIN TAX which is 2% of the Assessment Price.

That is 2% of N240,000 =N4,800


Thirdly we have what is being called STAMP DUTY which is also 2% of the Assessment Price

That is 2% of N240,000 =N4,800


Fourthly we have what is being called REGISTRATION FEES which is now 3% of the Assessment Price

That is 3% of N240,000 =N7,200

Fifthly we have what is being called CONSENT FEES which is 8% of the Assessment Price

That is 8% of N240,000 =N19,200


The total price you would pay for the governor's consent for just AKOWONJO/SHASHA local government area for a property or land bought is

N240,000 + N19,200 +N4,800 +N4,800 + N7,200 = N276,000.

So if your property is in Ajah, Lekki, ikeja, Isolo etc, the calculation is basically the same with the exception of the rate per square meters that is different i.e either N10,000 per m2 or N6,500 per m2, depending on the area.


Generally Service charge i.e legal fees for procuring the Governor's consent within 40 days tops should not exceed between N80,000-N120,000 depending on your negotiation skills because you have to conceed that this is Nigeria we are talking about and if "brown envelopes" and "recharge cards" doesnt circulate around to the key people to assess it on time, it would take probably 6months-2years to get it done.

I have read so many emails complaining that N80,000 to N100,000 is too much to do the governor's consent and all i do is refer them to other lawyers or firms such as Festus keyamo, Gani Fawenhimi or Ajumogobia and Okeke. I really can't picture any lawyer (Hungry or not or charge and bail or whatever) doing this for less than N150,000 because of the stress and madness of the land registry and the constant transportation and phone calls to monitor the different stages of registeration and filings. The land registry knows that for you to buy a house and pay over N1Million to buy a piece of land, you can be bluffed around and made to cough out more than expected and with the new laws that intend to revoke C/O's parading around, the Land registry knows that land owners are extremely panicky and pay anything to make sure they get a governors consent no matter the cost.

Other requirements that must be filed after calculating the governors consent include:

1. Dated Letter of application with address and telephone number usually done by a lawyer

2. Completed Form 1c usually done by a lawyer on behalf of the owner of the land

3.Certified true copy of the Grantors title document (The grantor's title document is the C/O or other relevant title of the land or property given to the new owner of the land by the former owner)

4. Grantee's Tax clearance certificate/ Development levy (This is simple enough, Pay your taxes or no Governors consent)

5. 4 copies of the Deed of Assignment (That is the deed of assignment given to you and drafted by the former owner of the property or land to you)

6. Survey plans

7.Evidence of payment of for charting, endorsement and form 1c =N10,500* (Usually done by lawyers on behalf of the owner of the property)

8.Evidence of payment of ground rent /Land use charge

9. Building Plan and photography of the property

For further inquiries to know the area where your land or property falls under and to get the exact pricing of it, call me on 07036681104 and we will take it up from there. This is as easy as it gets and i doubt if the Land registry could be this patient with you to explain this.


Cheers and please register your property to avoid future wahala. No more excuses that you don't know the process!

Now you know!!

May God Almighty bless you abundantly for your time with which you explained all the above.

Hey lawyer.
That was insightful and real good;you deserve every job you will get and i will work with you.first rate info.

The law,

please i Will like to know which document (apart from land receipt and c of o) do you think, I suppose to have as a complete document for a house/ property

EKENEA:

The law,

please i Will like to know which document (apart from land receipt and c of o) do you think, I suppose to have as a complete document for a house/ property

For now, as long as you have the C/O you are a little bit covered because the basic requirements needed by most mortgage institutions when you want to mortgage your property is a C/O but if you intend to sell it to another person at some later date, it might be wise for you to obtain the governor's consent soonest.

Nobody knows how those government officials in Alausa thinks. Tomorrow they might tell you that a C/o is no longer a valid medium to have possession and ownership of a land except you have the governors consent. Infact i am seeing it in my area where i live. Houses are being demolished that even have C/O from Alausa because it is not supposed to be there or maybe government has plans for that area. So the governors consent is the best bet for now for you to sleep in peace forever.

Cheers!

The Law thank you very much, but in case of fedreal govt land eg festac area.

ok, in respect of Festac, i am sure it is being handled by the Federal Housing Agency (FHA) which is equivalent to the Lagos State Property Development Corporation (lsdpc) for Lagos state. The idea behind setting up the FHA is that these lands have been deliminated by the government and all the paper work have been done. They will issue you a letter of allocation which covers all the preliminary things that should naturally be in a C/O and subsequently issue you a Deed Of Release which is almost akin to a governor's consent but since it is Federal thing, it is usually done by the federal minister of works and housing who finally authorizes it.

For more information, ask

Cheers

Thanks lawyer for your detailed information. But my question is what if I live abroad and don't have a tax clearance for the state of Lagos. Although I have one for the state of Georgia in the US. Will that work ?

'The Law'

Thanks again, does the deed of release normally come with c of o or I have apply for it differently?

Always as incisive as ever.
I've linked to this post
http://www.buildingcontractorsecrets.com/2007/11/certificate-of-occupancy-c-of-o-in.html

ajileko:

Thanks lawyer for your detailed information. But my question is what if I live abroad and don't have a tax clearance for the state of Lagos. Although I have one for the state of Georgia in the US. Will that work ?

Ouch am sorry ajileko but i don't think the lagos state government will take the georgian tax certificate as a replacement for it. this actually is a first for me and to be frank, i think you just have to go through my wuru wuru style of paying them the N60,000 jejely before you can get the documents. Shebi its just roughly $450 dollars. Our yeye exchange rate will help you scale that hurdle, lol

EKENEA:



'The Law'

Thanks again, does the deed of release normally come with c of o or I have apply for it differently?

Nope they come separately but if you have the funds, you can pay for it once and just get everything at once instead of getting it piece by piece

thirdeye:

  Always as incisive as ever.
I've linked to this post
http://www.buildingcontractorsecrets.com/2007/11/certificate-of-occupancy-c-of-o-in.html

Thanks, much appreciated. I try to do my best to let people get informed just the way i learn from others in other topics in Nairaland.

Cheers!

The Law i sent you an email last night and i hope you got it. Please get back to me if you did. Thanks for the good contributions.

@blue horizon:

I think i replied your mail. If not please resend it again and include your nairaland sceren name.

Cheer!

@LAwyer,

You have proven to me, without a doubt that, you are a LAWYER.

Well done for that breakdown.

abujabooks:

@LAwyer,

You have proven to me, without a doubt that, you are a LAWYER.

Well done for that breakdown.

@abuja books

Many thanks, Gracias!

@LAwyer,

Do you have the price per metre square for the areas in Abuja? GOVERNOR'S CONSENT.
Do you know where I can get this information? For instance, how much is Kuje Local Government area?

Do you cover Abuja as well?

@Abujabooks

Am sorry i dont have the square metres of the abuja lands scheme because i think they are kinda different from the ones in lagos. Bu i would try and get the information for you asap.

Also Abuja does not do governors consent. Instead it is the minister of FCT or Works that signs the C/o deed of assignment since abuja is under the the control of the FCT

Cheers!

@Lawyer,

I knew that, you will reply prompt. Excellent customer service.

Keep it up my brother.

Thanks for the enlightenment, but you only mentioned LEKKI PHASE 2 in governor's consent prise list. Could you please tell me price per m2 for land at OGOMBO VILLAGE along lekki epe after VGC. I have a property there that I am about to get its' governor's consent.

@ashland

Sorry, the illustrations i gave above were just examples of how much it might cost and not the total prices. I dont have lekki phase 2 with me but i would try and post how much ogombo village costs and i'll tell you.

Cheers!

Please I need to know if Abia state has a form similiar to form 1c (for Lagos state) or they need to apply for Governor's consent to mortgage to bank by a written application.

@ Lawyer or any legal mind,

Kindly ponder this scenario. Omo onile sells land to Mr A who develops property and sells to Mr B 10yrs later. The first transaction is covered by Governors consent. Does the second transaction need Governor's consent too or just registration at the land registry?

Your opinion will be appreciated.

As long as the property is being transfered from A TO B, you will have to still do the governor's consent. There is even a penalty whereby if you sell the property within 10 years of the purchase of the property to another peerson and you intend to do the governor's consent again, the normal consent fees of 8% will become 15 %. It is used to discourage arbitrary sale of land to make a mega profit due to inflation and prevent speculators and developers making a huge profit from sales and counter sales.

Cheers!

@lawyer,
That was very helpful even though it was in truth bad news. Many thanks.

d law,
i want you to clearify in your earlier writings, you said the govt can pull down a hse, even wit c of o, u said gov's consent stands better . is it that the consent supercede the c of o.
2, what are the procedure and calculation of getting letter of admin.
3, i dont know if you are aware of the dev. levy charges, the lekki issue.the outcome of the court case (i thinks last 2yrs or so), the landlords vs the govt.
expecting to hear frm u soon. thanks

@ lawyer

Correct me if i'm wrong but i was of the opinion that the assessment figure is not part of the payments made. It is usually just an assessment with which to calculate the stamp duty, registration fees etc. ( In this Ikotun example, the 240k isn't part of the fees paid?)

Also, could you please explain the process for ratification on government land?

Thanks.

@babsgun

d law,
i want you to clearify in your earlier writings, you said the govt can pull down a hse, even wit c of o, u said gov's consent stands better . is it that the consent supercede the c of o.

Yes the governors consent supercedes the C/O anyday anytime. The governors consent gives you a legal right above any other person on the planet while the C/O gives you an equitable right above all other persons excluding the one with a governors consent. The C/O only shows that government is aware that you own the land and your still applying to get the governors consent.

A C/O gives you a mega right above someone that just has a deed of assignment and survey plan.

Government can only pull a land that is under its control regardless of that c/o. Most people buy lands without conducting a search whether the land is free especially within the lekki area and the truth be told, more than half of those places are under government acquisition, so the c/o the person obtained is not valid and will never fly for a governors consent. Most of them are cloned or manufactured C/O's by unscrupulous alausa agents and once they take your money, your left at the mercy of Fashola. That is why i always scream for people to do the property searches before buying such a land.

Today you hear agents advertising cheap lands from N500,000 to N5million within the Lekki Pennisular calling on all and sundry to buy but on a cursory look at the land registry and surveyor general's office, most of them are under government acquistion because of the proposed free trade zone plan and when the constructon and plans from the government are in place, most of these houses will be demolished or forcefully seized by government or the owners will be forced to pay double for the land to escape liability.

It is penny wise pound foolish to just take a land on its face value and price without doing the search. I hear it all the time that people are not ready to spend money for the search and would rather purchase it and face the consequences later. In fact the smart ones end up buying the land for cheap and sell it to the highest bidder when they get information that the land is under government acquisition and the unsuspecting person ends up purchasing a very big problem.

In fact if you go to alausa, they will tell you that you should do a proper search for that c/o before you even obtain the certified true copy because there are so many fake C/o's parading around. That search could either save you millions and headache than for you to be carried away with just a beautiful price tag and opportunity to mix in lekki.

Bottom line Buyers Beware (CAVEAT EMPTOR)

2, what are the procedure and calculation of getting letter of admin.

Letter of admin? I have no idea about getting a letter of admin. What is it for? please enlighten me or clarify issues!

3, i dont know if you are aware of the dev. levy charges, the lekki issue.the outcome of the court case (i thinks last 2yrs or so), the landlords vs the govt.
expecting to hear frm u soon. thanks

Yes i am very aware of the court cases within the lekki Pennisular and the ones govt is going to take over and the ones government has granted excision rights to and the ones governemt plans to resettle. So what do you want to know?

Posted by: battleaxe

@ lawyer

Correct me if i'm wrong but i was of the opinion that the assessment figure is not part of the payments made. It is usually just an assessment with which to calculate the stamp duty, registration fees etc. ( In this Ikotun example, the 240k isn't part of the fees paid?)

Also, could you please explain the process for ratification on government land?

Your right the assesment fees are just a reflection of where the area is and how they calculate it and not for the whole amount to be spent.

From the little illustration concerning the figures, you can see the dummy example on how to calculate the c/o fees. Its is usually 2% of or 3% of etc of the total price within that area.

Also your question regarding ratification is a big issue which you must understand very well. When the time is ripe, i will post a full article on it but it deals mostly with the issue of omoniles and it is a big problem for the purchaser.


Cheers!

2, what are the procedure and calculation of getting letter of admin. i mean letter of adminstration for landed property of a deceased needed by the children to take procession.
sory, i didnt specifiy about the lekki court case i mean lekki ph 1, the one the landlord took the govt on issue of devt levy which the association or can i have your phone no. so we talk . thanks

hi babsgun:

In respect to the letter of administration question, i will refrain from answering that question here because that is a probate matter and this is a property forum, so either you get a probate lawyer to help you out or you take it as a private issue with me outside this forum.

In response to your second question, yes there is a pending case between the landlord association and the lagos state government over the development levy matter and naturally, there should be a stay on all actions till the determination of the suit but the lagos state government is coming through the back door to collect the money through its forceful demands and payments for various things i.e taxes, c/o verification, governors consent etc and if you protest, you might not get any of these things done and they could get nasty at Alausa atimes.

The best solution is when the court rules on it and it becomes public then you can do away with it finally but be rest assured that the egg heads at Alausa will find another thing for you to pay. So it is a hopeless situation for now

@lawyer
From your response, it almost looks like you need to get a governor's consent even if you have a C of O. I thought that the governor's consent is a document required for subsequent property transactions after a C of O had originally being issued on a land/house. As such, if i get a C of O on a land, develop it and don't sell it, there is no need to get a governor's consent. It will only come into place when i decide to sell and the buyer then has to secure a governor's consent subsequent to my earlier C of O granted. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
In that light then, I would think that a governor's consent would not necessarily always superceed a C of O , or what do you think?

@Lawyer,

Good job keep it up do you have the same informations for Ogun state on how to obtain there C/O or is it the same because most of some area fall into Ogun State and if its the same can some one use Lagos state C/O to stand for Ogun State Property need the info asap.

Thanks.

battleaxe:

@lawyer
From your response, it almost looks like you need to get a governor's consent even if you have a C of O. I thought that the governor's consent is a document required for subsequent property transactions after a C of O had originally being issued on a land/house. As such, if i get a C of O on a land, develop it and don't sell it, there is no need to get a governor's consent. It will only come into place when i decide to sell and the buyer then has to secure a governor's consent subsequent to my earlier C of O granted. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
In that light then, I would think that a governor's consent would not necessarily always superceed a C of O , or what do you think?

A governors consent is the ultimate legal title you can have to get 100% legal backing for any property and it supercedes the C/O any day and time.

For example if there is a court dispute in respect of a particular land between You and I. If you have the governors consent for that land and i have a C/O of that same land, your governor's consent supercedes any title i have to that land because the governor personally has aceeded to you being the true and rightful owner to that land.

In short a C/O is a prelude to getting the Governors consent but has a much greater value over someone that just bought a land with only a deed of assignment and survey plan in case a dispute crops up with you two in respect of that land.

Even if your property has a governors consent on that land and you decide to sell to me using the governors consent as a veritable bargaining chip to value the worth of your house, if i buy it from you, i will still have to apply for the governors consent in my own name for it to reflect. The only good thing is that i wont have to go through the process of obtaining a certificate of occupancy again since you have already done it before to get the governors consent.

Posted by: moneytalk
Insert Quote
@Lawyer,

Good job keep it up do you have the same informations for Ogun state on how to obtain there C/O or is it the same because most of some area fall into Ogun State and if its the same can some one use Lagos state C/O to stand for Ogun State Property need the information asap.

I am sorry, i dont have the exact quotes for the calculations of the C/O in Ogun but i can always find out and post it here for you. In fact it is a major necessity for me to get it as soon as possible because all these areas Isheri North, Mowe, Ofada, Ibafo, Sagamu Papalanto etc where massive mortagage landed facilities for low income earners and the middle class are springing up needs to be thoroughly explored so these developers dont end up cheating unsuspecting buyers.

I will put that in my diary to work on that.

Thanks once more!