DE-LAW, pls can you enlighten us on the appriopriate documents to get from a land seller to know that the land is real and the things we need to do before handing over money

Actually the problem doesnt usually lie with the documents but being intelligent and savvy when purchasing a property. Buying a land or property is like buying your favourite food in a market place. You have to watch the seller and know what he is offering to you and whether what he is selling to you is quality or quantity or rotten food.

1.First and foremost, know who the agent is and why he is selling that land or offering it to you.  

2. Inquire how long that property has been on the market. The longer the property has been on the market, the more suspicious you have to be. In most situations, if the property has been on the market for quite a while, the agent would be desperate to sell it off at a cheaper rate because he more interested in his commission than what he is selling to you.

3. Inquire to know the REAL OWNER of the property. This is very important because you would know who the true owner is and why he wants to sell it.

4. Always at this juncture and it is a major must involve a lawyer to do back ground checks on the land or property because that land could either be a subject of litigation or family squabbles or the property belongs to another person or it is under government control or acquisition and it is not up for sale.

5. Most searches are done at the land registry and the court within the jurisdiction of the land and the lawyers are usually paid a  fee to see to this.

6. Generally, before you pay, you must inspect the land physically to know what you intend to buy

7. Get a land surveyor to physically map out the property themselves to tell you the true square metres of the land because most agents lie to you when describing how long the square meters of the land is.

8. Ask if it is a family land or is a personally owned land that is being transfered by the owner to you.

9. If it is a family land, after the search has been done by the lawyer, upon payment of the fees, you would be given the following documents:

a. A Deed of Assignment transfering the ownership of that property to you by the family

b. A Survey plan mapping out the area of the land

c. A purchase recipt

It is important for the lawyer to act on behalf of you when you are paying for these things and recieving the documents because the lawyer knows the exact clauses that should be included in the deed of assignment when it is  being drafted for you. E.G one of the clauses must include that " THE SELLER MUST INDEMNIFY THE PURCHASER IN CASE THERE IS A DISPUTE IN THE SALE OF THE PROPERTY OR A PROBLEM OCCURS". This means that the seller of the land is still liable in case he sells you a defective land and you should be refunded your money. Most dubious sellers don't like this clause.

Also if it a Personal land being transfered to you by the direct owner, the 3 above documents should be given to you.

If the land or property is one that has been registered with the government, it is a land with a CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY. It is usually called a C/O or a C of O. This C/O means the property is being registered and lodged in the land registry of the state and certain fees have been paid to the government to get that C/O because all Lands belong to the government and the government only leases that land to you for 99 years renewable. The C/O covers every problem that might arise if a dispute occurs between land owners and land claimers.

If someone proposes to sell you a land with a document covered by the C/O, you should be alert and call yor lawyer to investigate it. There are millions of C/O that are being paraded as authentic but they end up being clones or fakes of original C/Os. Once a valid search has been made and the C/O is genuine, the seller would transfer that C/O to you, including a Deed of Assignment or Transfer, a Survey plan duly registered in the Surveyor General's office of that State and a Purchase recipt.


There are 2 types of C/O. The global C/O and the individual C/O.

The Global C/O is one that is being paraded by estate agents of large plots of lands or owned by traditional families. Instead of them registering individual C/O'S for purchasers, they just get a grant from the government and process one single C/O to cover all the lands in that area. So if 7 people come to purchase plots of land in that area, all the 7 will have the same C/O but different deeds of assignments and survey plans. The advantage of this is that with that Global C/O you can easily process the Governors Consent without going through the stress of obtaining a C/O first and later a Governor's consent.

The disadvantage of this is that most global C/O'S ARE FAKE if not well scrutinized because the government is very skeptical of granting Global C/O'S anyhow

The Personal C/O is one obtained by the seller who after when he previously bought the land and was just given a deed of assignment, survey plan and recipt, had to regularize the documents so as to get a C/O. A Personal C/O is important when you want to take out a loan or mortgage for your self or your company. That is a major reason why people regularize their documents to upgrade to a C/O.  

Finally, When it is aland or property being developed by a group or mostly the government through its housing Schemes such as the F.H.A or L.S.D.P.C Housing Schemes, what you are given is a Letter of Allocation from the government, that that land has being allocated to you. You are not given a deed of assignment and it is not a C/O. that letter of Allocation is a powerful document and  covers a lot of grey areas.

if your one of those loking towards the MOWE or IBAFO Estates being developed for sale, it is either a Global C/0 or a letter of Allocation that will be given to you.

Also be warned that those Properties for sale i.e MOWE and IBAFO, ISHERI NORTH, GOLDEN ESTATE etc and the likes are not LANDS IN LAGOS STATE. They belong to the Ogun State Government and all searches and Investigations should be directed to the Abeokuta Land Registry in OGUN and not Alausa Lagos.

In summary, while i know everybody's main dream in life is to be a landlord or an estate mogul, don't try and play "I TOO KNOW" Get a Lawyer to handle your transaction for you either as the Seller or Buyer and most especially the Buyer. don't skimp on the fees to be paid to him because if the transanction is not properly done well today, tomorrow, you would pay 10 times the money when the matter is in court. I have seen it happen so many times. don't be the next victim and follow these simple rules.

Cheers!

Oga lawyer,i must say that this is a very interesting and enlightening series you have brought ;this is what online community should be about, mature and incisive issues being discussed.


there is the mad rush for so called estates in Owe ,ibafo area as being parraded by some companies.please,how geniune are these?


there are lots of them now offering good deals like paying instalmentally.


hope it would not become another sad story like the stock MARKET where people lost money (including me)on too good to be true deals.

please i would love your proffesional and honest advise on this.

thanks.

@bricks

Thanks for the compliment. Much appreciated.

Well the so called mad rush for these properties in Mowe, Ibafo, Isheri north etc, boils down to the need to own a ome, but what they wont tell you is that these instalmental payments have a hidden clause and cost analysis.

The clause states that, you wont be entitled to develop the land or have any document to show our the owner until you have finished the payment. Normally they would hold that land for you as security for a while and give you a stipulated date to pay up or lose a percentage of the money already deposited before they sell that same property to another person.

It makes more sense to buy it at once and obtain te document than to wait for ages and knowing our govrnment, the price can change and the prices of perfecting the documents can change too.

Its better to purchase the ones being advertised by recognized developers with an established estate map layout plan than all these cheap family land that one is not too sure about the title.

As for a crash or probable cancellation of the properties for sale after money has been deposited, you shouldnt be so worried about that. The only thing you should worry about is the title of the property in question. That is why i always advocate for a lawyer to be around you to know what document or deed is being offered to you and how muc it truely costs to regularize the documents.

Also it is good to consult your nearest financial adviser to help you plan your mortgage loan or deposit wisely so that you dont fall short when the deposit is due.

Cheers!

In property business there has always been one scam or the other, but another problem is that the clients themselves like to cut corners(in order to save some thousands of naira by not consulting a lawyer or making the necessary checks). There will always be mugus that keep the guyman in business. Imagine I gave a potential client abroad the advice below and he still dicided to cut corners and after getting ripped off came crying back to me.


Let me advise you as a potential client or a fellow Nigerian (even if we do not finally do business together). Before you enter into any property transaction (EVEN WITH ME) you must always do the following

i) Always involve your lawyer, bankers/financial adviser from the beginning to the end of the transaction.

ii) Be careful with the property broker (estate agent), let your lawyer always double check all information, documents, persons etc., the broker presents.

iii) Never pay cash to anyone in the course of the transaction

iv) Never pay to the broker the purchase money of the property. All payments should be made to the final destination (that is the property owner) either in form of a crossed cheque or a bank draft.

v) Never engage the services of more than one broker at a time.

vi) Ask any question you want to, no question is stupid, it is your money that is involved.

vii) Never be in a hurry to seal any deal or carry out a deal in secrecy

viii) Do not hesitate to fire the property broker or your lawyer or financial adviser if you feel that you no longer trust the broker or the loyalty of the lawyer or financial adviser is in doubt.

ix) If the deal is too sweet to be true, it sure is a scam

DE-LAW, thanks for the awareness you have created so far. May God reward you.

One simple addition. Most Nigerians effizzy with their complex cellphones. Just take a picture of the dang agent with yourself and there you are!!! he scams you, his picture gets on TV.

Thanks Lawyer. This is very instructive. Caveat emptor, they say,  You just cant be too careful in doing business in Nigeria, or anywhere for that matter. As for me, when i do land sales. I involve my lawyers, surveyors and the Police. Just to be sure.

Somehow, i believe all hope is not lost for this guy. Never underestimate the intelligentsia we have in this country. They can help out. I mean , hey , we're talking about N17M here, believe me he can get something good back.

The purchaser's friend is nothing but a street bum, the purchaser seems to be a newbie into property investment. it is said knowledge acquired is knowledge achieved.
The purchaser is like a doctor asking a carpenter to prepare  a feasibility study of a medical school.

You can be sure this will happen again, what piques my curiosity is if they have enough brains to make those million, how come they don't use an iota of it (common sense) when buying land by getting a lawyer.

It is just plain stupid!!!! !

Its very important to get a Lawyer when handling these land matters and not just an agent, we usually take these things for granted but with stories like this hmmmmmm i can't shout O!

In my opinion the guy(victm) must be quite dumb.

Firstly, How can u decide to make a purchase of N17m, and u rely on internet and scanned papers. He should have made out time to fly down, how much would he spend from overseas down to Lagos

Then he appears 2weeks later, why could'nt the transaction wait till then

When it comes to money trust no one, that includes friends, siblings, parents sometimes do not even trust yourself. Its a very simple rule

Also i agree with the poster always engage a legit lawyer, because that one na another risk o!

Lawyer, how long does it take to procure a c of o. thanks and cheers

It takes approximately 3-6 months depending on if you have the money to complete it in time without hassles and you have your tax clearance and the tax clearance of the person who sold it to you.

Cheers!

I always emphasis the importance of doing due diligence to my clients
every time I get them an opportunity to buy any land.

How much will it cost you to engage the services of a lawyer compared
to losing millions of Naira on a fake land deal.

Its high time we got wise in this country. can't believe people still fall
for things like this. How sad.

To those who say there are no lands in Lagos, I want to say categorically that you are wrong!
There are plenty of family land in Ibeju Lekki e.g Ambitan Family, also available are family land in Isheri Oshun belonging to
the Idowu Asho. I have direct contact with these families.

Like I stated earlier due diligence is non negotiable. People are still buying genuine lands in Lagos at considerable cost.

Thanks lawyer. I suppose tax clearance is most important isin't it? What are other stuff needed and whats the cost, an idea will do/ i mean at ibadan area. Cheers

@Lawyer,

My land at Egan which has been bought since 2001 and I have 2 structure on it.But recently my elder brother sent me the survey plan from alausa which categorises the land under acquisition.For now we cant do anything as regard the continuation of the proccessing of the C Of O according to my brother untill government asked the land owners in that area to pay some fine, Is this true?and hope there wont be any problem in the future, This land is in Egan, Please advice,

@lawyer'
you have been of tremendous help with your views and advices especially about getting
a lawyer to take charge in land deals. Are all lawyers trustworthy? Cant lawyers connive in
fraudulent transactions.

sandee575:

@lawyer

Hello I will like to know what you think about this Land Offer Many Naira landers are Interested especially we that are abroad can you check this and give us your advise on this as it appear that the seller is the only one that have highest comment on is thread about 10 pages

Garden of Eden Estate Simawa, behind Redeem Camp RCCG, Off Lagos Ibadan Express Way this is the link to is thread (https://www.nairaland.com/Nigeria/topic-493076.0.html)and he is selling for as low as N380,000 also Installmental payment

Advice what is your point of view and HAPPY NEW YEAR LAWYER.

DELICESHOP

Deb, Can you let have the contact of Mr. Adam Osho family of Isheri North? My email is lanregrace71@yahoo.com
Lawyer, many of our people do not think they need lawyer until they really need. Please let people rushing to Mowe and other estates in Ogun state to visit these "estates" before making any payment. Lawyer yo need to go there yourself. You will weep for Millions of Lagosian who are throwing their hard-earned money away. Most of the hyped estates are thick forests with no development. Some did not even have more than a signpost on the land. Just drive through Sagamu to Papalanto and back through Mowe junction to come out on the way to Abeokuta, you will be shocked at the state of these "estates". For these estates, i will say CAVEAT EMPTOR. Remove the log in your eyes before removing the speck in your neighbour's eyes. Stop laughing at the mistakes of people abroad and see our fooly here.

sad story i must say thank you for the wonderful work you do here lawyer
what are your charges for search conduct and what is your office address where i can come and meet with you one on one. thanks bro

de law,
I purchased a land along Lag-Abeokuta expway. I sealed the deal and survey plan, C Of O and other document were handed over to me.

The question now is, do i need to do another C of O. since it is stated in the aggreement that the previous owner handed these documents to me. Though my lawyer advised that I should changed the title of deeds which will have the governor's consent. This he said will cost virtually the same amount as new C of O.

Therefore advise, should I go for new Cof O or just a change of title?

[b][/b]Hi, I'm new on this forum and thank you Lawyer for your post, very educative. I'm in the process of buying a land, can you pls act for me? My email: beautyaffairz@ yahoo.com.
Thanks.