Over the years, I have observed something in the real estate industry. A lot of clients believe that their lawyer knows everything about property acquisition. This is not right. The fact that your friend is a lawyer does not mean that he is a real estate lawyer. Not all lawyers are skilled in real estate matters. Lawyers have specialties. Your friend can be an intellectual property lawyer, an energy sector lawyer, a maritime sector lawyer, etc. He may know very little about real estate business.

Nowadays clients put a lot of burden on lawyers. A client wants to know something about a survey plan, he calls his lawyer instead of a registered surveyor. Was it a lawyer that prepared the survey plan? He wants to know if a parcel of land is free from government acquisition, he calls his lawyer. Was it a lawyer that mapped out the boundary of the government acquired land? He wants to know how much a survey cost, he calls his lawyer!
I believe it is impossible to carry out a legal real estate transaction without the input of a lawyer but the lawyer does not do everything. He has his roles to play and the registered surveyor has his roles as well.
Dear client, allow them do their work.
Your lawyer is NOT a surveyor!

chatinent:
You are not far from the truth but these lawyers liars must chop na.

There are many decent lawyers out there. It's not the fault of the lawyers. Some clients just believe that a lawyer should know everything.

I use lawyers extensively on all my real estate purchasers. Because real estate is an investment and needs to stand on firm legal footings.

What you should be focusing on is to advise your readers to make sure that they employ a real estate lawyer on real estate issues.

Any decent real estate lawyer will have an army of related professionals that he works with including architects, surveyors, engineers, etc

EgunMogaji2:
I use lawyers extensively on all my real estate purchasers. Because real estate is an investment and needs to stand on firm legal footings.

What you should be focusing on is to advise your readers to make sure that they employ a real estate lawyer on real estate issues.

Any decent real estate lawyer will have an army of related professionals that he works with including architects, surveyors, engineers, etc

Sir, do you mean the lawyer should be the one to look for the architect, engineer, surveyor etc. for the client?

drewe20:


Sir, do you mean the lawyer should be the one to look for the architect, engineer, surveyor etc. for the client?

Excellent question, let me clarify.

You know of course that we can select all the stakeholders ourselves but what works for me doing real estate as an investment is capitalizing on known entities.

Since the lawyer may draw up various legal documents during the course of the project I find it works better for me if he can recommend professionals that he’s worked with before.

I just don’t want the importance of a lawyer to be discounted in real estate projects.

I agree with you. The job of a lawyer when buying a land is totally different the job of a surveyor.
I suggest one has to know this two difference before even buying a land.

drewe20:
Over the years, I have observed something in the real estate industry. A lot of clients believe that their lawyer knows everything about property acquisition. This is not right. The fact that your friend is a lawyer does not mean that he is a real estate lawyer. Not all lawyers are skilled in real estate matters. Lawyers have specialties. Your friend can be an intellectual property lawyer, an energy sector lawyer, a maritime sector lawyer, etc. He may know very little about real estate business.

Nowadays clients put a lot of burden on lawyers. A client wants to know something about a survey plan, he calls his lawyer instead of a registered surveyor. Was it a lawyer that prepared the survey plan? He wants to know if a parcel of land is free from government acquisition, he calls his lawyer. Was it a lawyer that mapped out the boundary of the government acquired land? He wants to know how much a survey cost, he calls his lawyer!
I believe it is impossible to carry out a legal real estate transaction without the input of a lawyer but the lawyer does not do everything. He has his roles to play and the registered surveyor has his roles as well.
Dear client, allow them do their work.
Your lawyer is NOT a surveyor!

EgunMogaji2:


Excellent question, let me clarify.

You know of course that we can select all the stakeholders ourselves but what works for me doing real estate as an investment is capitalizing on known entities.

Since the lawyer may draw up various legal documents during the course of the project I find it works better for me if he can recommend professionals that he’s worked with before.

I just don’t want the importance of a lawyer to be discounted in real estate projects.

If I want to survey any piece of land, I call my lawyer, it's simple. He should get in touch with a surveyor he is cool working it.

Godisgreatest1:

If I want to survey any piece of land, I call my lawyer, it's simple. He should get in touch with a surveyor he is cool working it.

Abi now.

the truth of the matter on ground, is the society are not getting enough information on who to consult about land matters, Even a surveyor in the court of law is a lawyer on it's own. why not deal with the registered Surveyors directly and get fresh information about land related matter's instead of using Lawyers which eventually cost you more of the fee a Surveyor will request for i must confess not all Lawyer are professionals in Land related matters. consulting a registered Surveyor save you time, energy and gives you rest of mind.

Godisgreatest1:

If I want to survey any piece of land, I call my lawyer, it's simple. He should get in touch with a surveyor he is cool working it.

Why can't the Surveyor get in touch with a lawyer "he is cool working with"? It is because you believe the lawyer is more important than the Surveyor! All professionals in a land transaction are equally important.

drewe20:


Why can't the Surveyor get in touch with a lawyer "he is cool working with"? It is because you believe the lawyer is more important than the Surveyor! All professionals in a land transaction are equally important.

When you finally agree with a seller to buy that piece of land for few millions of naira, you are free to call your surveyor, me I will call my lawyer first.

God bless u my colleague in Practice

drewe20:


Why can't the Surveyor get in touch with a lawyer "he is cool working with"? It is because you believe the lawyer is more important than the Surveyor! All professionals in a land transaction are equally important.

Surveyors ideally are the first point of call in transactions. They obtain coordinates and chart if it's free from government acquisition and if there is no "fly-over" in the survey plan, etc. They give the necessary go ahead before lawyers move in to verify documents.

However, due to the nature of our society, most real estate buyers are afraid of being scammed and falling into wrong deals. They believe that a lawyer is the best protection they have against losing their money. For them, it goes beyond just buying the land. They expect that at any part of the transaction chain from negotiation to purchase and perfection, the lawyer is relevant and walks them through the process (whether the lawyer is competent enough to do that boils down to individual capacity). When they eventually build, it is the lawyer who manages the property (which is the job of Estate Surveyors and Valuers under NIESV).

As a smart professional, it is better you have many trusted friends with integrity across the various professions in the real estate value chain. That way, you all grow together.

MrMcJay:


Surveyors ideally are the first point of call in transactions. They obtain coordinates and chart if it's free from government acquisition and if there is no "fly-over" in the survey plan, etc. They give the necessary go ahead before lawyers move in to verify documents.

However, due to the nature of our society, most real estate buyers are afraid of being scammed and falling into wrong deals. They believe that a lawyer is the best protection they have against losing their money. For them, it goes beyond just buying the land. They expect that at any part of the transaction chain from negotiation to purchase and perfection, the lawyer is relevant and walks them through the process (whether the lawyer is competent enough to do that boils down to individual capacity). When they eventually build, it is the lawyer who manages the property (which is the job of Estate Surveyors and Valuers under NIESV).

As a smart professional, it is better you have many trusted friends with integrity across the various professions in the real estate value chain. That way, you all grow together.

Thank you

momove4real25:
God bless u my colleague in Practice

Thank you