₦airaland Forum

Property laws are what saves a buyer from impending land problems whether you like it or not. Pray that someday you dont have to be at the recieving end for not following the proper rules and guidelines for buying your property!

This is not a picture but a bulletin. . . lol

At least you get points for trying sha to put pictures!

Cheers

Its only in Nigeria that things are extremely topsy turvey in relation to buying properties more especially in Lagos. The truth is that the people to blame are the land speculators and the purchasers who are ready to jump into a high catchment area or percieved choice future area thereby driving the prices higher.

For example, look at the Lekki/Ajah Axis:

Most of the lands there are being owned by traditional families and prior to the forceful takeover of that place by the government in 1994, lands there were selling for a mere N5,000. Now property speculators, corporate bodies, well to do citizens of Nigeria and a host of others want a piece of the good life now. Places like Ikate Elegushi, Agungi, Ikota, Badore now command high price fees for lands that were bought for less than N1,000,000 3 years ago.

The latest mad rush now is to buy a land at Ogombo village, Sangotedo, langbassa etc. These lands costs less than N3million at most or better still N1million but by 2010, they will jump to N5MILLION and by 2012 it will cost N10million for a land there because people are moving there in droves and they see developing amenities that will attract them.

Some people rush to buy these lands so that they can make a profit off it in future and they are the land speculators who drive up the prices. Sometimes i think it is a good idea for people to just buy these lands for cheap and later sell when they have the time and resources to purchase them now but then again, its negative aspect is that they help drive up the prices in future. So it has it advantages and disadvantages.

The only problem i have seen from my own little experience in these matters is that land speculators who buy these lands from the traditional families for cheap end up buying wrong properties with very very defective titles and when they discover the problem, they are quick to put it on the market for another unsuspecting buyer to purchase and walk away with a very handsome profit.

If purchasers pay a closer look to the title and do their own searches, it is a better way to drive down the price if found defective or unattractive because the seller is eager to sell no matter what. I have seen cases where a land has been advertised for N5Million and upon prompt search and investigation, i found out it had a defective title, i was forced to renegotiate that land to N1.8million and helped the person get a good title with an extra N350,000 at alausa hereby saving almost N2.5million for the purchaser. Its another way to drive down the prices

Other situations crop up when the buyer is so stubborn and adamant that he/she must buy a property or land in a high brow area. There are so many mitigating reasons the prices will be unilaterally high and beyond his reach. What they are marketing to you is just branding and not substance it self and buyers should be very wary of it.

Finally the last reason prices jump up is basically due to the fault of estate agents. In law there is what is known as GAZUMPING

Gazumping is a trick estate agents use to over price the property when there is no reason to increase it. For example, you negotiate with the agent for a land going for N1Million naira, you do your statutory investigation and searches on the land and you have intention to buy it and promise to pay a deposit while your solicitor is handling all the paper work to transfer it to you, then you recieve a call from the agent that another person is interested in that same property and he is willing to pay N2million Naira for it and unless you increase your offer, the property wouldnt be transfered to you.

Panic sets in and you begin to run helter skelter to try and make sense of what just happened and you are ready to offer the agent another N500,000 just to make sure that the property is yours because you really like it and you have already spent money on the search.

The truth is, you have just fallen for one of the greatest real estate scams of the millineium. The aim is to push up the prices of that property and make sure you over value that property for the next victim. Usually they select a person to act as the new buyer who is bidding for the same property with you and he is ready to show that he can pay it.

The solution to this is very simple. YOU WALK AWAY! Forget that you have done the search and expended a little money. Be rest assurd the agent will call you very soon to re-explain things to you why the offer to that new person didnt go through and why your the favoured candidiate to buy it back at N1Million.

Agents live on the patronage of buyers and not the other way around. If they sense your too panicky, too enthusiastic, too forth coming, discussing money issues that favors them, then your are in for a big ride with them. Always involve your Property Lawyer when you want to buy a land because they are used to these tricks and will advise you accordingly. If you follow these simple rules, the property crash your expecting will happen. If you walk away, be rest assured that there are other lands out there, more cheaper, better agents looking to do business with you and more security.

You might feel aggrieved that you didnt get that choice area you wanted but remember where ever you end up getting will be the choice area for another person to admire. At least its your money, so spend it wisely and cheaply!

Cheers!

Nope:

Except in self defence in a life threaten situation!

The only fear i have is our makeshift defence which couldnt have come at a worse time. 5 players all first teamers have just mysteriously picked knocks prior to this game and how will i not believe that drogba is not a jazz man that went to abidjan to get juju to terminate all our defenders?

Imagine no sagna, clichy, gallas, djourou and Almunia?

I bet they are so happy that silvestre would play 90 mins and provide more calamities that even cygan and senderous will be jealous of

But behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining. No matter how chelsea tries to exploit our make shift defence, i want to see how the combined so called berlin wall of chelsea will contain Arshavin! Even Hiddink has stated that Arshavin is their main concern and also Van persie who has a good recording of dropping some bombs into petr cech's basket goal post.

I smell a high scoring match and it might turn into penalties and we all know that petr cech is the best penalty stopper in the whole world

jericho:
Thanks. I am aware. It is a way of complementing what lawyer does. Started the thread because i noticed he hadnt been online for awhile.

Will definitely take your advice.

Cheers

I am very much online everyday for hours moderating my forum quietly but i have my reasons for not posting now but just watching. Someday it will be revealed why i am slowing down! There is more than meets the eye and i am learning that gradually!

But for now, na siddon look i de!

I Wish you very good luck!

What's the title?

Are you sure it is not under government acquistion? Is greenville estate not close to the the marine or aquatic school (I have forgotten the name of that institute but it has to do with marine life)? I am very conversant with that area!

The Lagos State government had through the Physical Planning and Development Authority on February 9, 2009 pasted a seal up notice followed by a demolition notice on some buildings in the village for allegedly contravening the physical planning and urban development laws of the state.

The plaintiffs, which include registered trustees of Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Assemblies of God Church; Registered Trustees, Foursquare Gospel Church, and The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Mr. Olufemi Babajide, Oluwatoyin Owolabi, Oluwasegun Owoso and Oluwaseun Mabogunje, in a motion of notice brought under section 18 of the High Court law of Lagos through their counsel, Bamidele Aturu, and seeking an order of interlocutory injunction, restraining the defendants, their agents, servants, officers, privies or otherwise howsoever from sealing up, further sealing up, closing or further closing from demolishing or in any other manner tampering with the buildings, homes and officers of the claimants pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit.

In the suit, the plaintiffs are also seeking an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants, from obstructing, preventing, hindering or in any other manner restricting the free movement and liberty of the claimants from their buildings, homes and offices, pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit.

The plaintiffs, in a 43-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion sworn to by Ebun-Oluwa Adegboruwa (also a plaintiff) submitted that Itedo village consists of several homes recognised by Lagos State government, a primary school and at least 500 building comprising living homes, offices and churches; and it was delineated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

They further said they all commenced and completed their buildings, homes and offices to the knowledge and consent of the defendants who, having assessed and received payments in respect of the said buildings, should not turn around to attempt to seal up or demolish the said buildings.

The plaintiffs further pray the court to restrain the defendants from taking, implementing or pursuing any decision or action that may render the claimants homeless pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit.

Rubbish!

This has nothing to do with either the place is filled with mosques or churches. Its basically the town Itedo and if the town has validly been gazetted as per either it being free from government acquistion, there is no encumberance there, the place is not a committed environment for government or the town has been given a valid general Certificate of Occupancy covering that area.

If they cannot produce any of the above documents to boost their claims, it is basically an excercise in futility because the LAND USE ACT 1978 basically vests land in the state government and it can only compensate the land owners if the government takes over the land for its own purpose and they have the valid documents to prove they own the land and have paid all the necessary fees to obtain the proper permit. It has nothing to do with the church but the environment itself in question and people should stop adding sentiments to it.

Most of the villages in ETI-OSA local government have either been gazetted or granted a Global C/O and if Itedo doesnt have it, there is no use crying over spilt milk. They ought to have known better to do a condusive search on the place and observe due diligence instead of hiding under the toga of churches to be demolished.

The fashola regime is sparing no one and is really going out to enforce these age old land rules in lagos. You need to visit the land registry in Alausa to see the wahala omonile or land speculators have caused over the years especially in Lekki/Ajah and the search reports there are very worrisome to say the least. Most houses or lands there are to be either demolished or taken over by the government because the right searches havent been done and people just buy lands because it is LEKKI and everyone wants the good life.

I really doubt if the law will aid these registered trustees because i think the OMONILES in Itedo Village Have played a very very fast one on these unsuspecting land owners and government will NEVER EVER compenate any land owner who has bought a committed land or isnt free from government acquistion.

I have been watching you silently for a while now and i must confess, your one of the best auto online dealers with reasonable prices and fantastic cars.

Dont worry, when i am ready, you will be the first person i'll call and i know you wont disappoint!

Good luck and happy sales!

How much is it going for?

Wow Quite a while i have been here. . .lol New Questions and Issues. I will attempt them one by one!

Posted by: Seth Cohen
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Fantastic post lawyer

If other Nigerians were like you, we would have become a well informed generation. Your a gift to nairaland

I have been thinking of registering a company for a while now and different lawyers have been telling me different things that got me totally confused about the whole process and after reading this, i feel extremely enlightened and i can now proceed with it. I was extremely worried about the problems i will face using my home address as an office address so that i dont incur any penalties but i am relieved now

I will send you a mail to tell me the price as you stated earlier. Some lawyers have been telling me that it costs N60,000 for just filing fees and above minus legal fees to register a company which i am extremely skeptical about and from your honest well executed posts, i hope i will be given the right prices and if it is within within my budget i can proceed immediately.

Once Again well done!

Thanks for your all your kind comments!

Well i guess Price is a major issue here and as i stated earlier in the above posts, i will not divulge into the issue of pricing here because so many lawyers have their own pricing structure which suits them and i personally, i am weary of posting a public price structure that might change tomorrow from the CAC and wouldnt be favourable to me and would shortchange me badly.

Different people for different reasons charge N150,000 and above, N100,000, N80,000, N70,000, N60,000, N50,000 etc for filing fees and it could be connected with the number of shares you want to allot to your company or Processing factors. You can't expect someone that his office is in Badagry to charge the same way a person whose office is a stone throw from the CAC in yaba or Ikeja. He will take into consideration transport, fuel, queries from the CAC, phone calls and bureaucratic crap from the goons at the CAC and so on. So it depends on the lawyer once again.

Personally i have said it before that i only do Bonanza company registration for nairalanders because i want to see a future Dangote or Otedola amongst you lot someday, so if i am being liberal with my own fees its because i have made a personal commitment to help nairalanders who cannot afford high priced filing fees aka Pro bono and because the CAC is just a stone throw away from me, but that doesnt mean my own liberal prices are the prices outsiders will be given or what other lawyers would charge you. Circumstances matter and understand why Lawyers charge according to their own immediate advantages or disadvantages.

So mail me personally if you want my own price but i wont tell you here. . . so sorry!

Posted by: marmaduke
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Brilliant Write up and Extemely Incisive.

I would also like to know the price of registering a company and can everything be done in 3 months maximum? This is because i live in Ireland and i intend setting up a Financial consulting business when i come back home this year. Can you please state the prices? I also heard the CAC does same day incorporation. Can you also tell us the price. I hope i am not asking too much because i need to estimate a budget for everything. Thanks!

For you to be a financial consultant ie tax wizard or financial guru, the CAC has made it extremely clear to us registrars! NO MBA DEGREE, NO FINANCIAL CONSULTANT IN YOUR OBJECTS! In short any thing that has to do with consulting or setting up a training school or being a Trainer or consultant needs heavy certificates of proficiency for it to fly through them.

The trick i normally tell my clients is that, you should get 3 directors at worst, split the shares or percentages amongst the 2 major directors porportionately and offer a new director 5% of the company but that person has an MBA degree OR SUPERIOR CERTIFICATION. All the CAC needs to see is that one of the directors has that SUPERIOR CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY, Even if the other 2 directors heavily involved in the business dont even have WAEC. e.g Shola 50% ( OND COMPUTER) Tunde 45% ( Bsc Engineering) Dbanj 5% (MBA Economics). . . 1 time your company will scale verification with no questions asked or queries and you can go about with your consulting business free of charge!

As for your second question, Yes Company Registration can be done withing 60-90 days at most. The most troubling period lawyers face at the CAC is the time it takes the CAC to conduct a search on a name. It could take 3 days to 1 month before they accept or reject your name. Once the name has been out, you can be rest assured that within 5 weeks after that day, as long as your lawyer is diligent, everything will be filed within time and your certificate will be ready

As for your third question relating to same day registration: Please forget it. I recently asked a senior staff at the CAC 3 weeks ago and he personally told me it is no longer feasible and possible for them. So erase that from your mind. There is nothing like that anymore and dont let anyone hoodwink you that it is possible now except your father is Yaradua or you are connected directly to the Director General CAC

Finally As for my Price, read the above post

Send me a mail. . .lol

Posted by: Noah69
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@Poster. God bless you o!

Please, is it possible to appoint directors without actually giving them shares?

There is a big difference between appointing a Director who is not a shareholder and a director who is a shareholder.

Someone who is APPOINTED a director of a company is entitled to salaries and in some extremely rare situations, partakes in the share of profits. Naturally they are called MANAGING DIRECTORS to deal with the day to day running of the business and they are only entitled to bonuses and profits, While a Director of the Company is a shareholder or subscriber of the company and named in the memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company.

These are the types of directors known in any company formation and cram it well well

1. SHADOW DIRECTOR: This is the Person on whose instructions and dirctions other Directors will act.

e.g Lets say its a well known Rumour that Babangida is a major share holder of Globalcom, but he doesnt want people to know he is involved in that company or in its formation of that company. His words, actions and deeds are being communicated to the whole world through other known directors of Global com. In short is the Powerful King maker behind the throne that no body knows except the king and his chieves

2. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: This is the person who has a contract of employment with that company:

e.g If Ini Edo has been appointed the Executive Director of MTN, she is only there as the Head Director of the company and can be hired or fired anytime and she is not entitled to the companies profits except she was one of the initial shareholders whose name is in the memorandum of association as one of the directors before she can share profits. Almost all the big ogas of our big corporations are Executive Directors today.

3. LIFE DIRECTOR: This is the director that is not subject to the rule of Rotation

The principle of Rotation is an old company rule which requires that directors should be rotated at every Annual general meeting and be subsequently re-appointed or rotated amongst other directors. E.g if Lever Brothers holds its annual general meeting, the directors will be rotated amongst new directors to take over except the share holders have it as a rule or clause in the memorandum of association or through voting that the present directors should continue as directors for another unspecified xxxx number of years before the new rotation takes place.

Now a Life Director is someone that is not subject to the Rule of Rotation and Will be there for life till he resigns, retires or dies

Anyway this rule is mostly used in Public Liability Companies (PLC), so for the purpose of your simple 1 million shares 2 or 3 man directors, ignore this rule for now

4. ALTERNATE DIRECTORS: This is a director that represents another Director:

e.g Yaradua is a major shareholder of Dangote Cements and by the virtue of his position as the president of Nigeria, he has no time to attend board meetings or review company policies because the wahala of Nigeria is too much. Yaradua can now appoint Mr Crackles to represent him as a director on that board and all decisions concerning yaradua will be adequately taken care of by Mr Crackles until Yaradua is ready to come back to his seat and take his chair as a director personally in Dangote Cement Nigeria Limited.

5. MANAGING DIRECTOR: This is the director appointed by all the directors to manage the affairs of the company. He could be a share holder or not. But in most times, the managing directors are usually shareholders of the company.


So it is possible to appoint directors without them being shareholders from the above examples

Pheww!. . .lol

Cheers!

gudlook:
Thanks Lawyer, God will reward you for your priceless help.

I have briefed my lawyer and he has invited "B" and "B" has sworn to an oath as a witness that he did not sell the land to "AN".
I have presented to my lawyer the following documents:
1. Sales Agreement btw "B" and the original traditional owner
2. Sales Agreement btw "B" and "M"
3. Memorandum of Sales with 50k stamp btw myself and "M" and
4. Sales Agreement btw myself and "M".

Do we need to sue "B" or "M" who directly sold the land to me.
I forgot to say that "AN" listed "B" and the Traditional owner as his witnesses and they have seen my lawyer and sworn to oath as my witnesses.
"B" also denied selling the land to "AN" in the Police Statement.

Hi Gudlock

I am sorry that at this juncture i will not continue to give you legal advise on this matter since you have briefed your lawyer and that amounts to conflict of interest legally contrary to the legal professional ethics rule and i could be held liable for giving out legal advise contrary to what your lawyer has prepared for you.

I will only advise you to consult with him and listen to his plans from now on. I know he has your best interest at heart. Dont worry it is well

Meanwhile Haba 

After this long simple epistle una still de mail me about the process again?

Ok Last time and i go flog you, if you ask this questions again:

[size=14pt]Company Registration Summary and Cram it well well[/size]:

1. Choose 3 names so CAC will choose one: e.g

a.God pass Them Nigeria Limited

b. I better Pass my Neighbour Limited.

c. E go better International Limited etc

2. Choose 2 or more directors you can work with e.g

a.Me and My Wife or

b.Me and My financee or

c. Me and My step Brother or

d.Me and Alhaji Uchenna

3. Divide the share ratio among the directors either 40-60, 80-20, 70-30 etc between the directors e.g

Me 60% and Alhaji Uchenna 40%

4. Provide to your lawyer the following information: e.g

a. Name in Full: Kunle Agboguleri

b. Age=33

c. Year of Birth=1979

d. Present Home Address: No 5 Kingsway Road Mushin Lagos

e. Proposed Office Address: No 24, Ribadu Street Ikoyi Lagos

5. What kind of business you want to do or kinds of businesses your interested in

e.g Oil and gas, import and export etc

6. Pay the filing fees , CTC fees and legal fees

Finish! Go home and sleep and let your solicitor run around for your certificate!

jericho:
Lawyer,

Brilliant piece, once again i must commend you on your dedidcation and service to NL. However there is a slight error in one of the answers
.

The 2 or more people who form a company are called shareholders. These shareholders are the persons who subscribe to the shares of the company in the Memorandum of Association.

Lawyer as earlier said, keep up the good work.

Cheers.

J

Actually it was done on purpose. The truth is that they are all subscribers to the company but for clarity sake since most nairalanders want to form a 2 or 3 man company, it will be better to just address them as directors for a private company so that they can understand the article easier. If i went into-to with the share holders and subscribers format, i would have even confused myself in between trying to break it down in a very easy format. . .lol

I appreciate your comments

Oga Jericho

Your so correct. I missed the question totally and my mind was going to tendering superior documents in court when there is a dispute between a C/O and  Governors consent relating to the same land. I forgot to add that it is when there is a subsequent transaction that the Govenors consent is required in most cases.

Thanks for pointing it out!

Omonile don scatter my head with so so fake c/o and i was just trying to point out the differences.

Well i guessed as much that he served you with a statement of claim for tresspass to land and an injunction to restrain you from from that land.

Since you have been served, you have less than 42 days to file your statement of defence, so it is best you report this to your lawyer and file a counter claim against the person and deny his original claims by presenting your own documents unless judgement will be ordered against you. Also make sure "B" is joined in the suit because the bone of contention surrounds "B" who might have sold the land to 2 people, so the first in time would gain precedence over the second person. Also brief all the witnesses who were party to the transaction to become court witnesses and please dont forget all documents needed to prove your case.

Its well!

Lol

When i get the info, i intend to post it. But i really doubt that amount you quoted!

Thanks y'all for all your kind words. Much appreciated!

But i want to make one observation which is, that this c/o calculation is strictly for lagos and the land bureau in alausa is reviewing the process to add more taxes to pay and more documents to file. When i get the new additions i would post them and that means the amount to be spent would definately increase but we will be waiting for more info from the land bureau!

Cheers!

You have to tell us what the summons or "notice" brought by "an" is for? whether it is an injunction restraining you from the land or from tresspassing on the land or he is claiming the land from you from his statement of claim.

If it is not to recover the land and it was an intimidating summons to scare you, you can brief your lawyer to bring a counterclaim for injunctive relifs against him and his proxies from tresspassing on the land and if posible sue him for malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and a host of other wonderful claims that your lawyer can dream of to bar him from disturbing you as long as you say you have the right documents and witnesses to back you up.

Cheers!

Dis Guy:
Thanks Lawyer

Can the CAC be requested to provide proof why some unique names are not chosen,
or they just have the almighty right to reject name; meaning they'll keep earning until someone
grease their palms-maybe some names are unregistered but they just feel like earning some dough

Secondly, is the name search slow because they are manually trawling through paper files all over the 36 states
or their response is directly proportional to the amount of 'extra cash' you pay the searchers?

lol@your question

1. No you dont have to grease their palms to get your name search done. I am sure its because there are millions of names in their data base thats why they reject names that are either too similar or has been registered before.

A sample notice of denial looks like this:

[size=14pt]Corporate affairs Commission

Notice of Denial:

The CAC regrets to inform you that it was unable to approve any of the names submitted for approval

Date of search: 19/11/2008

Serial Number: 1810032

First Preference: Sani Abacha International Limited

Second Preference: General Obasanjo Global International Limited

Third Preference: Musa Yaradua Global Recession Limited

Submitted BY: Seun Debosky Mukina of No.3 Nairaland Avenue Cyber space Jupiter

Telephone: 09077654213

COMMENTS: Name Similar to Sani Abacha Nigeria Limited 74632

COMMENTS: Exact Pending matches: Sani Abacha Nigeria Limited (Registered in Bauchi)[/size]

AND WHEN IT HAS BEEN APPROVED, IT LOOKS LIKE THIS: 

[size=14pt]Corporate Affairs Commission:

The CAC is pleased to inform you that one of your requested names has been approved and will be reserved for 60 days:

Approved Name: Saddam Hussien Terrorist Limited

Serial Number: 1952278

Reserved Until: 4/5/2009

Approved by: Naija Cutie

Submitted by: Spikedcylinder Heatfusion of No 8 Romance thread road Nairaland Cyberspace

Telephone; 0204456721[/size]

As to your second question, nobody knows the reason why it is slow. One minute, you could do your search today and it could take just 5 days before it comes out and the second time you go for a search, it could take 4 weeks. Its all in the hands of God, lol

But i have to continue checking every now and then till it is out. Thats why solicitors charge alot for company registration because the time and money spent on getting things done properly through transportation costs, telephones, letters to the administrators, queries etc far outweighs how much the filing fees costs!

Cheers!

Bros no vex! I must have mistakenly opened your page when typing it. I will remove it immediately. Thanks for the prompter and i truely apologize.

Carry Go!

sly-k:
can you do all this?

lol

Its my job and i enjoy doing what i do best. If you ask me tomorrow to help you change your car engines, i will run away because thats not my area of expertise but property law and its resultant issues are my speciality!

Most of the agents that have met me personally will be in a better position to tell you how i handle landed property issues! Bottom line, No messing Around because land issues could cost somebody his life and financial future, so i dont take it lightly with anyone !

Title please

This is the last warning!

Title please

This is the last warning!

Title please

This is the last warning!

Title please

This is the last warning!

Title please

This is the last warning!

1. a land with an excorsition note fron Alausa, does it categorically say that govt will never tamper with such an area?

The chances are 99% confirmed if it is gazetted that it is excised that it wont be tampered with and if government decides to tamper with it in future based on its on going development programs, you will be adequately compensated

2. how can one buy land genuinely in Lagos. ie steps to take

That is the job of your lawyer and as stated in my previous posts, i have oulined all the things needed to be done

3. what are the danger of buying a property with just family reciept?

Alot of dangers because it is mostly omoniles and traditional families that sell lands with just purchase reciept and it is fraught with a lot of uncertainities to be worried about

Title Please!

This is your last Reminder!