7 LAND DOCUMENTS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE BUYING LANDED PROPERTY
1. SURVEY PLAN
2. EXCISION
3. GAZETTE
4. C of O
5. DEED OF ASSIGNMENT
6. GOVERNOR’S CONSENT
7. RECEIPT
SURVEY PLAN
This is a land document that shows the boundary measurement of a parcel of land to give an accurate measurement and description of that land.
This is handled by the surveyor, and they are being regulated by office of the Surveyor General of the state where the land is located. A surveyor plan is a very important document one must ask for to know everything about that land i.e to know if the land is free or not, or free from Government acquisition or what the zoning restrictions are.
It help you to know whether the land is for Agriculture, Residential, Industrial or Commercial purposes.
Authentic survey plan must contain these;
1 The name of the owner of the land surveyed.
2 Address or Description of the land surveyed.
3 The size of the land.
4 The drawn out portion of the land surveyed and mapped out on the surveyed plan document.
5 The Beacon numbers
6 The surveyor who drew up the survey plan and the date it was drawn up.
7 A stamp showing whether the land is either free from Government Acquisition or not.
EXCISION
Before now the Traditional families ( Natives ) have so much power when it comes to anything concerning land. They determine which land will be sold and which one they will keep, because of this super power they have on land they refuse to sell land to individuals who need it, but give it out them under Tenancy system which make them still have full control over that land.
This made it very difficult for anyone who want to buy land to get one, because of this and other reasons, it lead to the proclamation of the LAND USE DECREE ( NOW ACT ) on the 28th of march 1978 that vested all lands in every state of the federation under the control of the state Governors.
The government still recognizes that indigene of different section of the country have right to existence --- a right to the land of their birth hence it is customary for the state to cede a portion of the land the original owners ( natives ) of each area.
So an EXCISION means taking a part from a whole and that part taking by the government has been excised. It will be recorded and documented in the official government Gazette of that state. In other word not having an Excision means the land could seized by the government any time without compensation even if it bought legitimately from the natives or Baale.
GAZETTE
According to the land use act, all land belong to the government so the Governor is the owner of all land even the one in your village and he alone will determine what to do with the land not even your king. So it is only when the Governor has taken the land he want to use that he gives the remaining to the natives to do whatever they want to do with it..
So a Gazette is an official record book where all special government details are spelt out, detailed and recorded. A gazette will show the communities or villages that have been granted excision and the number of Acres or hectres of land that the government has given to them the natives.
It is within those excised Acres or Hectres that the natives are entitled to sell to the public.
Hence a gazette is a powerful instrument the community owns and can replace a certificate of occupancy to the natives. If for any reason the government decided to revoke or acquire your land , you will be entitle to compensation as long as it’s within the excised land given to the community.
This can be verified at the office of the surveyor general office for land information search.
Features of a gazette
1 The first page of a gazette must have the following unless it is a fake;
The logo of the country and the inscription of the title LAGOS STATE OF NIGERIA OFFICIAL GAZETTE.
Underneath it must have the number, volume, page, date, and the location it was signed into law eg, No.26 in pages 200to 291, volume 87, dated 14th of August 19, 2020 and have the list of the villages, settlements and parcels of land excised back to the community.
The inner pages will show the following;
The description of the Area/village excised.
The number of Acres or Hectares of land excised to the village.
Where the boundaries of the Beacons start and stop.
The page the description of the village excised.
CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY ( C of O )
A certificate of occupancy is a document issued by the state government to officially lease any land under the state to you ( the occupant ) for a period of 99years.
As already indicated above, all land belong to the governor; a C of O however is the officially recognized land document for demonstrating right to a land.
DEED OF ASSIGNMENT
A deed of assignment is one of the most important document you must have when you conclude a land transaction, therefore it is an agreement between seller of a land/property and the buyer of that land/property showing evidence that the seller has transferred all his rights, title, his interest and ownership of that land/property to the buyer that has just bought the land/property.
This document contain a very pertinent information for a real estate transaction; for one , it spelt out the date when the ownership of the land/property was transferred from one owner to the other.
It also gives a specific description of the property that is included in the transfer of ownership.
GOVERNOR’S CONSENT
This is a land document that is obtained whenever a land is bought with C of O, it’s the land document that let the governor and the general public know that the land in question has changed hands.
According to section 22 of the land use4 Act 1978 as amended states thus; it shall not be lawful for the holder of a statutory right of occupancy granted by the governor to alienate his right of occupancy or any part thereof by assignment, mortgage, transfer of possession, sublease or otherwise howsoever without the consent of the governor first had and obtained.
It is very important for a buyer of land/property to perfect his or her documents by obtaining governor’s consent so as to have a complete rest of mind.
The advantage of governor’s consent is that you can transfer your ownership to another person without going to the natives of the land ( omo oniles ) or Baale to sign your deed of assignment and form 1c which are compulsory requirement needed before you can process governor’s consent.
RECEIPT
This land document is the least of all and is just for the seller to acknowledge that he /she has received the due money he /she want to sell the land. …feel free to ask me anything about land and property ... feel free ask me anything about land & properties