@Lawyer

I have been reading your posts and i must commend you for being extremely supportive of people who want to purchase properties in Nigeria and what they should do. I must confess i have been a victim of these omoniles and agents before in 2008 especially in those lekki/Ajah area and i desperately need your help on what i should do this time around.

I want to buy some plots within these new eko atlantic city that they have been talking about but my last encounter with these agents turned into a scam and i lost both the property and my money and till today i am still battling on how to retrieve any of them.

I have read that you need to do a search on the property and i dont know how to go about it since all these agents know how to bamboozle someone to rush a buyer to buy a property and how do you handle the omonile's because i know you have to meet the baales and chieves of those areas and pay them some money. I think it is called ratification money or something like that and i dont know who and who is to pay to because my last property deal ended up like this.

Also the documents and papers to sign to transfer ownership to me is also a problem because i was given a reciept alone but that recipt turned out to be a false one because i was told that the person who sold those lands to me before wasnt the right person to sell them. I am in a fix now but i want to do things right and hope you can assist us that dont know the dos and dont of buying lands in lagos. What i need to know is:

1. How you can determine the real owner or owners of the land?

2. How many lands can you visit for inspection because the last time i tried to inspect these things, i almost died of exhaustion. There are too many and what they advertise in these property magazines are different from what you see on the ground and because of the tiresome nature of inspecting, you will be forced to buy anything when your tired. Is that a trick agents use to decieve people?

3. What are the documents you need to search for when you find a land you like?

4. How do you negotiate with the omoniles because they are always asking for everything from foundation money to community development and a host of other things that is not included in the asking price.

5. How do you know the land is not under government acquisition

6. Is it a must the agent must collect 5% commission? Can you negotiate with the agent to recieve less because i was told that that is the standard fee.

7. How do you hold the agent accountable if he sells you a defective property and is the money recoupable?

8. If the survey plan is showing something different from the land shown to you, is it the same thing or is there a remedy?

9. What of the deed of assignment and other documents that should be transfered? How do i know whether it has been transfered to me properly? Who drafts the deed of assignment because the last one i bought, no deed of assignment was given to me and the agent said i have to pay N200,000 for their lawyer to draft one for me and to get a survey plan. Cant i get my own surveyor to do it for me?

10. Finally sir, do you normally help people like me handle the whole process from the beginning to the end because the whole thing is so confusing, chaotic and full of stress and nobody knows who is scamming who especially with the lagos state government reclaiming back lands and demolishing properties because of our ignorance.

I know these are too many questions but please help us answer them. Alot of people are counting on you to help them get through this. Like i said, i want to do things the proper way and it will be best if you help us out.

God bless you for all your good work. Please reply ASAP!

I know this question might not be for me, but if you ask me, I would advise you to hire a very good property lawyer who knows the area to do all these searches for you. Do not let the agents who are selling you the land recommend you a lawyer. Get one by yourself.

A good property lawyer knows what and where to search in order to determine if a property is good to buy or not. You only pay when he gives you a go ahead order. I have a lawyer who saved me from buying 9 plots of govt land along the lekki express way. If you cant get a reliable lawyer and need help, i can recommend my own lawyer to you.

The bottomline is this, do not buy any property in Nigeria without a lawyer verifying all the details first. Good luck

p/s when dealing with lawyers, make sure you discuss and settle on how much you will pay him before he starts work for you. Some of them dudes can be very stubborn too. But the good ones are worth every penny

Thanks for the inquiry. One of the prevailent issues in Nigeria is that we tend to do things ourselves, either because we are literates or we do not want to spend money by making use of professional services. My advice is that you please contact lawyer on a private level and give him instruction to do all that for you. The way these things are done is when you see a property or land, you ask your lawyer to do due dilligence, once he confirms all he needs to confirm he could then give you the go ahead. I would have been of assistance but for the fact that you directed your inqury to Lawyer.

It is best you purchase land with genuine documents from the onset.

Alternatively, work with trustworthy agents who will not skin you! Buying omonile land is not really the rpoblem most times. It is the agent you are dealing with.

If he knows his his onions especially in regard to the land he wants to sell to you, you won't have any probelms.

For instance, I have agents who specialise on Ofada land in Ogun tate. These people are close to the omonile ad will only sell you genuine land. They will also alert you which lands you should avoid and family or families within the omonile.

5% agency fee for omonile is fair. But agein it depends on the agent.

About the foundation money and other expenses demanded by the omonile's pay all these. Once you have done these, they will never bother you again.

I must add that you must either build something on your land to secure it such as a back bungalow and put people in there.

Also perfect the title of the land.

To perfect the title, you need a a deed of assigment ad survey. Have both of them registered at Alausa.

Once , they are registered, the next step is the C of O.

Call me on 08033472004 for more answers

Oga the Law has his contact details on one of this pages
pls take the"lesse pain" and go thru and am sure u will get his contact details

whenever i am ready, i knw who will do the whole thing for me,

i no fit shout,