*It Will Cost You Little Things Until It Cost You Major.*

It’s a long read, but certainly worth your time if you wish to own your property in Nigeria.

Did you know there are momentous factors asides having money that makes owning your own property an unachievable desire?

*Let’s consider these issues and how to protect ourselves from becoming victims.*

In virtually all the major cities and towns in Nigeria we encounter problems posed by the so called Omo Oniles, land grabbers, impostors and property scammers. It has been a major problem associated with property acquisition in Nigeria and has relatively been on the increase. Several innocent people have had their dreams of owning their properties truncated by activities of these unscrupulous property vendors.

Our courts are overwhelmed with several cases bothering on illegal land and property sales, these cases most of the time takes years to conclude and the property buyer in most cases ends up losing the case just because he has purchased the property from a person or family or agent who has no right of sale. Years wasted, money wasted and it comes with a lot of threat to life.

We all know that to own earth (land) you must purchase the earth. To achieve tangible things in life you must own your own earth. Farming, living, fishing, producing, selling, in fact, whatsoever it is you want to do in life cannot be done outside the land.

*This brings us to the question, what should be done to avert these incidences of property fraud and all inadequacies surrounding it?*
In this discuss, I will be using the city of Lagos as a case study, basically because I have been practicing here and the state is notorious for several and major property fraud in Nigeria and in fact about 60% of property transactions in Lagos raises questions and are surrounded by inadequacies which if buyers of properties do not exercise thorough and adequate due diligence, they may end up losing their hard earned money to unsuspected fraudulent property vendors.
Two days ago, I was doing the calculation and I realized I have saved people about 130million naira worth of property scams in just a year. This brought me to pen this down as I know people need an understanding on how to avoid being victims of property scam.

*How can I prevent becoming a victim of property scam?*

Well, the only and most appropriate means of avoiding property scams are thoroughness and due diligence. Through due diligence and thorough property search conducted in all relevant registries, you can be sure of having all relevant details to escape becoming a victim of property scam. The omo oniles or agents or the land vendors will present various convincing documents to you just to make you part with your money immediately, so much that you or your legal representative will assume the documents are genuine.

Believe me, once you part with your money without taking steps to verify the authenticity of the seller, the property and whether there is any dispute on the property, you are in for it.

*What Documents must you seek before committing your hard earned money into a property?*

*The first is, the Survey Plan.*

This to me appears to be the most important document from the start which you must ask from the property vendor. This is what I will take to the Land Bureau to do a geographical search to confirm if the land is under *“Government Acquisition or it is a Committed Land”.*

A land that is marked as committed is designated for Government use and even if it takes 50years, any time the government is ready they come and demolish all structures on the land. Except in rare cases where you can be allowed an option to pay ratification. This means you will repurchase the land from the government at a price which is usually about 3 to 4 times higher than the initial purchase price. Money you could have channeled into some other productive ventures.

The second is, the Deed of Assignment.*

A deed of assignment or conveyance is needed to do a personal search. It is a written agreement between the previous seller and the present owner. It shows the history of how the property has evolved till it gets to the present seller. It is where you will know the previous family names to do a proper search in the court and lands registry or corporate affairs commission, to know if the property has been mortgaged or used as collateral or the family house to know if there is any pending dispute on the said property. Always ask for a copy of the DA for the purpose of conducting your thorough search, never allow them talk you out of it, it only shows something is fishy.

This is usually the most tedious of all the searches.

*The third is the C of O, Government Allocation or Government Consent.*

Any property with any of these three is just so good and you can easily search them at the lands registry, of course, because the records are already there.

But another thing is, properties with any of these three documents are usually expensive mainly because you are buying gold. The incidences of Omo Onile have been eliminated and all registration processes and expenses have been complied with.

There are however instances where you can be presented with fake C of O’s, I have come across many. So the best thing to do is, request for a copy for you to conduct your search at the lands registry to know if it’s genuine or not. Some will not be willing to release the photocopy to you, citing security reasons, demand for the registration number, this is enough for your lawyer to conduct the search.

If they are not willing to give any of the above, please find your way. No matter how cheap and appealing the property appears, you are likely going to end up losing your money.

*The fourth is the Government Gazette.*

This is the document that records and states the areas the government has willingly given to a family or a community and the government will not at any time acquire it for whatever reason without notifying the world. The Gazette shows the area given and the coordinates indicating the beacons from other lands.

The danger of the gazette is that, once people see that the land in question has was allocated to the family, they fail to consult a surveyor at the lands registry to confirm and map out the actual area covered by the grant. I have seen lazy lawyers and surveyors who wouldn’t confirm this thing in particular and end up making their clients purchase properties that will end being demolished. You just shouldn’t joke with a government gazette. Do your thorough findings. Several lands in Badore Ajah and Ikorodu areas have long been acquired by the Lagos State government and we still see people buying into these properties. This is sad.

In all, before you purchase any property, no matter where it is located, and how cheap it appears, ensure you or your lawyer observe thorough and due diligence before purchase. I hate to hear stories that touch. These things are avoidable. IF WE DO WHAT IS RIGHT BY OBSERVING DUE DILIGENCE, CONSULTING DILIGENT PROPERTY LAWYERS, BEING A VICTIM OF PROPERTY SCAM IS AVOIDABLE.


Arise Consult Legal Practitioners

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