₦airaland Forum

Due to the rapid requests from prospective applicants, the company wishes to advise other applicants to state their prefered job vacancy in their cover letters unless the defaulting ones will be swept aside.

Also those applying for customer service should note that the company isnt interested in long standing years of experience but should understand what the prospective job entails.

~Lady~:
LOLOL OYA WELL DONE.

Law r u back or just passing by?

Passing by, but watching over you guys like voltron. Remember, i be body guard of this thread. Body guard no de talk but when wahala start na im go quench am with hin power, lol

Good work you guys and keep it up!

@brownbonno and bphace 4 u

Lol at your comments and thanks, everyone needs to know what the law is. Ignorance of the law isnt an excuse in mordern day business and just the way i learn from you guys in other aspects of business, there is nothing wrong learning from me. Its a global village and we all need each other.

@saharo

Please dont use any kind of jankara or military force to get the tenant out of your place unless you might just be inviting a law suit for your self which you definately dont need at this moment. Get your self a lawyer and with N50,000 or less, your property would be free from that tenant. And after you do that, make sure you get a lawyer to manage your properties. You cannot continue to be battling with these people every end of the year for rent and quit notice and allow your time and business to waste. Most property investors leave that aspect to their lawyers while they have time to invest in more properties or business.

Can you imagine donald trump, the american real estate mogul pursuing tenants left, right and centre to pay their rent and issue quit notice or dangote doing like wise?

Cheers mate!

Are you the one that wants to buy the filling station or you trying to collate filling station bulletins or are you acting as a speculator for a client?

Also i think your a bit vague in your request in respect of the exact location or locations of the filling stations you need. You need to put a set or series of locations to narrow down your search unless it would be very hectic for anyone proposing a filling station that is way off your radar.

Finally at least put a budget to your prescribed filling station. Filling Station prices defer in respect of the exact location and areas especially if the amenities are still mordern and functional. You dont expect a filling station in ikoyi and on the road to be the same price of a filling station in Ikotun

Cheers!

ebos:
Catholic always on top! "It will always stay on top of the other threads" Ok, an “Award” has finally been given to this very thread? So, Award Ceremony must be celebrated. Meanwhile, I will never forget it, this thread was posted to share the faith Catholicism and thinking strategy we both have in common but it later transmuted into unpleasant and maddening situation. But to discover a peaceful and better alternative strategy that will enable us forge ahead with this thread, we allowed unbearable rejoinders from which we learned wisdom and discovered what would do, by finding out what would not do and it helped us focus our energies by not dwelling on the experience (argument) that virtually smashed Catholic faithful on this site. I used to believe totally that those who win are the ones who persevere. It’s true but not always. If we had persevered and continued in that unnecessary argument without trying to embrace alternative strategy to keep this thread alive, maybe this Award would not have been possible today. At that time, I tried to give up, (just like few other Catholics) forget about Nairaland and devote my time for something else entirely, but one message came to my mind that we must try a different approach, a new route to give peace a chance. That new route was to avoid any further argument. Nevertheless, this should be seen as part of progress to Catholics and other Christians. They should learn from us as usual. Catholic teach every good thing.

I hope say una never forget say na me invent the idea say make we for catholic thread ignore all those catholic haters and bashers and if they see no one to talk to, they will live us jejely and move to other threads.

As una see say we blank them 100%, e remain only catholics for here after more than one year. So abeg make una clap for me o jare!, lol

How una dey!

Oby, ebos and carlosein, before una yab me, i don apologize no vex, catholics for life!

An Enterprising I.T Retailing Company in the heart beat of Ikeja is in need of the following applicants:

1. Customer Service Personnel (Ladies Prefered)

Requirements
HND / BSC HOLDER
Adequate Knowledge of the Retail market
Sound communication and selling abilities
Very good on the phone.



2. Computer Engineer

Requirements
BSC HOLDER
Adequate Knowledge of the practical Aspect of Computer Engineering
Ability to work under pressure


3.Marketers

Requirements
OND/HND  HOLDER
Adequate Knowledge of the Retail market
Sound communication and selling abilities
Ability to work under pressure

Minimum of two years working experience as a marketer or marketing related activities


4. Accountants

Must have worked as an Accountant in at least two organizations in the last 6 years
Age must be above 30
Adequate Knowledge of the Retail market
Sound communication
Ability to work under pressure

Minimum of 5 years working experience

4.Office Managers

Requirements
OND/HND  HOLDER
Adequate Knowledge of the Retail market
Sound communication and selling abilities
Strong Ability to manage people and resources
Ability to work under pressure

Minimum of two years working experience

5.Caterer

Requirements
Good Culinary and catering expertise
Ability to work under pressure

6. Estate Agents

Requirements
Adequate Knowledge of the Real Estate market
Sound communication and selling abilities
Ability to work under pressure


Salaries for the above mentioned vacancies are very attractive.

Prospective applicants should be resident within or around the ikeja Environs such as iyana ipaja, egbeda, idimu, ikotun, dopemu, oregun, agege, ilupeju, maryland, ogba, berger and the likes.

Send your CVS and cover letters to:

jobs@damola.com

not later than 30th of September 2008

@24aik

Yes it will cost the same amount from me personally because we would just be attaching your business name certificate to the search and name availability form. The chances of it coming out the same is almost 90% except somebody has upgraded that name before you or the names are similar to an existing name already registered.

Be duly advised that this is my own give away price because i want to encourage nairalanders to become business owners and it is not the standard price other lawyers might collect

Cheers!

my email is barrister_matto@yahoo.com if you want to take up from there privately

@saharo

Sorry i havent been able to get back to you. It was due to events beyond my control. Now that i have been offically been confirmed by brownbonno as the lawyer to nairalanders, lol, I have to advise you and others on what to do. My fee is $2billion with oceanic bank interest of 23%, lol, Just kidding!

Now to the issue at hand:

I have read your complaint against your tenant and i would tell you authoritatively, it wont take more than 3 months at most and minimum 1 month to ejecct him out. I dont know what state your in now but the tenant/landlord legal relationship is covered by the Recovery of Premises Act/Law of the state or The Recovery of Residential Premises Law of the state of the question.

The aim of these laws to to prevent the unlawful ejection of tenants or the illegal holding over by tenants(As in your own case) and the arbitrarily increase in rents.

Now for you to use this procedure to eject the tenant, these rules must be followed extremely strictly and just one mis-step or mistake in this procedure would make the whole ejection process a waste of time ,so if you intend to use the law to eject him, follow these rules to the teeth:

1. I dont know the kind of tenancy existing between you and the tenant but there are 3 major types of tenancy that is common in Nigeria namely:

a. Weekly Tenancy

b. Monthly Tenancy

c. Yearly Tenancy

A weekly tenant is to pay his rent weekly and after he fails to pay for the forth coming week, he is liable to be ejected.

A monthly tenant is to pay his rent monthly and after he fails to pay for the forth coming month, he is liable to be ejected.

A yearly tenant is to pay his rent yearly and after he fails to pay for the forth coming year, he is liable to be ejected.

Now the information or quit notice to be given to the tenant should follow this rule:

1. E.g if your tenant rents a place on the 1st day of january 2007 on a sunday, his rent should expire on saturday the 7th day of January 2007. If your to give him a quit notice, it must be one full calendar week that must show before you eject him.

E.g let's assume you already have a problem with him on the 3rd of January 2007, you cannot give him a quit notice on thursday the 5th of january 2007 and expect him to give up the premises on saturday the 7th day of 2007. That quit notice you gave him on the 5th of january 2007 will start running from the 8th of January 2007 and he must give up possession on saturday the 14th day of january 2007.

The law states there must be one full clear week so that the person has the opportunity to look for other arrangements.

The same rule also applies to a monthly tenant and he must be given one full clear calendar month before you eject him.

E.G he rents the place on the 1st of January 2007, his rent will expire on the31st of january 2007. If you now want to eject him and you give him a quit notice on the 17th of january 2007 so as to make him quit on the 31st of january 2007, that quit notice would hold no water; instead that quit notice would serve as a valid quit notice for the tenant to vacate your house on the 28th or 29th day of february 2007. If you mistakenly issue him the quit notice on the 1st day on february 2007 so as to eject him on the 29th of february, the law would hold it against you. Instead, the law will calculate the quit notice from the 1st day of march 2007 and the tenant is expected to quit the premises on the 1st day of April 2007.

This is what is called COMPUTATION OF TIME IN LEGAL LANGUAGE and it was decided in the famous court case of GB Olivant V Oyekoya. The courts are very very strict in interpreting quit notices so you must be very careful.

Now in cases of Yearly Tenancy. There must be 6 clear months of quit notice before you eject a tenant. If you make that mistake of not complying with that rule, walahi, that tenant will just be enjoying in that house and you will just grow grey hairs because of that simple fatal error.

E.g You lease a property to a tenant on the 1st of January 2007 for a year, the rent should naturally expire on the 31st of December 2007 and he has the right to renew the tenancy agreement. If you dont want any form of renewal from that tenant, the latest time he should be given a quit notice should be June 30th 2007 so that the clear 6 months of july, august, september, october, november and december would show clearly.

If you mistakenly give him the quit notice on July 1st, the clear 6 months quit notice will start from August, september, october, november, December and January 2008. So instead of him leaving your house jejely on the 31st of December 2007, with your own hands, you have extended his tenancy for an extra one month free of charge.

So imagine if you now gave him the quit notice on November 24th 2007 You do the maths and knock your self on the head for failing this simple test.

The law is extremely strict with this and no matter how angry or aggrieved you might be, this rule must be followed. Most tenants actually use this medium to stay longer than necessary in a house because if the landlord fails to get a lawyer to manage his property and falls for this trap, these kind of problems will occur and the landlord is TOTALLY HELPLESS.

THE PROCEDURE:

Now that you know how quit notices are computed in law, these are the procedures to follow. A fatal mistake here will lead to a waste of time of the whole process:

1. There must be a letter of instruction from you the landlord to the lawyer authorizing him to recover the premises from the tenant. If you dont write this letter of authorization or instruction to the lawyer to authorize him to eject the tenant, you have missed the very first step and a very eagle eyed lawyer like me, will spot this mistake and when you go to court to ask the court to eject that tenant, all i need to do as a defence is to alert the court that there is no letter of authorization granting the lawyer the right to carry it out. Automatically, the case will be thrown out and you have to start the process all over again.

(The best way to avoid all these problems from the beginning is to engage a lawyer to manage the affairs of the house. By managing the affairs of the house, you will need to sign a power of attorney so that the lawyer is the one that issues the quit notices at the right time, probably collect the outstanding rents on your behalf when due and issue letters of warning and legal sanctions to erring tenants. With this power of attorney for one year at a time, you dont need to have any form of personal or business relationship with the tenants. All the rents, quit notices and anything that has to do with the house is the lawyer's problem. You the Landlord only need to briefed by the lawyer alone and check your bank account. No tenant has a right to see you concerning incrememt of rent or quit notice or nepa bill hasnt been paid. All correspondence to the lawyer and the lawyer corresponds to you the landlord)

2. After the letter of instruction has been drafted and granted by the landlord to the lawyer, the lawyer can now issue the Quit notice legally.

The purpose of the quit notice is to end the landlord and tenant relationship formally. A quit notice must contain all these facts unless it is a defective quit notice:

a. The name of the person giving the notice

b. The name and Address of the landlord

c. The nature of the premises i.e whether it is a room, flat, duplex or warehouse (If you fail to a specify what the tenant rented, the quit notice is defective)

d. The location of the premises: address of the place

e. The nature of the tenancy; whether it is monthly, weekly or yearly

f. The commencement of the tenancy i.e when the rent or tenancy started i.e 1st january 2007

g. The termination of the tenancy or the day the tenancy ended i.e 31st december

h. That the tenant should quit and deliever up possession of the premises

i. Dated and signed


The quit notice must be served personally to the tenant unless it becomes a major defect in the process. If it cant be served to the tenant personally, the lawyer should go to court to obtain a court order that grants the landlord the right to serve the tenant through a process called substituted service. This substituted service means the quit notice can be placed anywhere within the conspicious parts and premises of property and if the tenant likes, he can claim he didn not see it, that wont avail him in court. It will be deemd that he has been properly served

The above is what is called the statutory notice to quit and it must be followed strictly unless, i can't shout anymore o!

(Please try and engage a lawyer or alert one in time or in advance unless you would be giving both the lawyer and your self mega headache. the law won't bend for you at all o!)



NOTICE OF OWNER'S INTENTION TO RECOVER PREMISES: Part2

This part is very important so please read carefully:

If you have followed the required legal procedure of instructing the lawyer to carry out the ejection through a letter and the lawyer has issued the quit notice in a legal way following the rules of the recovery of premises procedure; whether it is a weekly, monthly or yearly tenancy, then you would know that in most situations, the quit notice does not usually make the tenant leave the premises. It is during the quit notice period that the tenant will start giving silly excuses to elongate his stay on the premises such as what the poster has said and begging you to give him time.

The next thing to do is for the lawyer to issue to the tenant on behalf of the landlord a new notice. This new notice is called OWNERS'S INTENTION TO RECOVER PREMISES. This notice is served to the tenant immediately the quit notice expires. The landlord is no longer called the landlord because the quit notice has effectively cancelled the existing relationship between the landlord and tenant. The landlord is now called the OWNER.

This notice gives the tenant 7CLEAR DAYS to QUIT AND DELIEVER UP POSSESSION. If the tenant still refuses to leave the premises after this 7 clear days owners intention to recover premises, then the lawyer can now apply to the court to issue the tenant a Writ of summons against that tenant who is holding over the premises illegally.

The Owner's intention to recover premises must contain the following:

a. The name of the person giving notice

b. The name and address of the landlord

c.Date that the notice to quit expired

d.Request that tenant should give up possession within 7 days

e.Date on which the writ of summons will be issued

f. Dated and signed.

This notice must be delievered and served on the tenant PERSONALLY unless it wont stand in court. The away around this is that if the tenant is trying to dodge or prevent you from giving or the tenancy doesnt want to recieve the notice, the lawyer applies to court to get an order that the notice should be served to him in a substituted manner. A substituted manner includes, placing the notice on any where conspicious within the premises where he can see if and if he chooses to pretend he did not see it, then that is his problem. The order of the court granting the substituted service and the owners intention to recover premises notice are both placed together in a conspicious place.

If you dont get that order from the court, you are not entitled to place it in a conspicious place. Failure to serve the proper notice renders the whole court action or ejection illegal.


OPTIONS OPEN TO THE LANDLORD/OWNER DURING THE COURT EJECTION PROCESS:

1. The landlord can recover his premises in court immediately if he follows the rule diligently because the tenant would have no defence and immediately the order to eject the tenant would be granted and court sherriffs or policemen would come and help you throw out the tenant sharp sharp with the backing of the law.

2. You can also sue the tenant for Arrears of the rent. Arrears for the rent includes money owed by the tenant during the tenancy. E.g The land lord rented the place to a tenant for 1 year and the tenant payed only for 8 months and promised to pay the balance before the tenancy expired, the landlord can sue the tenant for the arrears of the rent being owed by the tenant.

3 Also the Landlord can sue the tenant in another way to get his money. This process is called MENSE PROFIT. This Mense profit is money calculated due from the tenant for illegally holding over possession after the tenancy has been terminated. E.G The tenancy expired on the 31st of December 2007 and he was or is still in that property till the 4th of july 2008. The mense profit is the amount of rent due to the landlord between january 1st to july 31. It will be calculated in a manner as if the landlord as rented the property to anew tenant and it will be computed based on the open market value of the property. i.e including interest.

From the above complaint, it is a very very easy case. In fact too easy to handle and this is the kind of cases lawyers prefer, no wahala in ejecting the tenant because he has over spent his time on that property.

1. The time of the tenancy has expired, so technically, he is not supposed to be there. In law, he is known as a Tenant-in-sufferance or a Tenant-at-will. This means he is just staying there by your grace and if you kick him out tomorrow, no yawa. In fact you dont have to give him a 6 months notice but a simple 1 week notice will suffice since he has been there for over a year without paying rent. He is a weekly tenant at most in this situation.

2. You can also sue him for both arrears of rent and mense profit.

3. After you chop all that money from him, abeg remember me o! Na me leak the expo for you o!, lol

Cheers mate!

@ashland

Sorry, the illustrations i gave above were just examples of how much it might cost and not the total prices. I dont have lekki phase 2 with me but i would try and post how much ogombo village costs and i'll tell you.

Cheers!

@yimkus

What kind of pipes cost N45,000 and why is your labour N60,000?

I installed 2 split units this year one at one and in my office and it cost no where near what you have just written. Please break the labour down for me because i am curious to know and the pipes? What kind of pipes are you buying per split unit? You havent discussed the distance between the cooling engine of the a/c and the a/c proper for you to come to that price. Besides dont you measure the pipe by the length or feet at a go? A 52 feet pipe shouldnt go for more than N10,000 at most. I should know because i bought one.

Please re adjust your price so people can do business with you unless nairalanders go blank you o!

Everything depends on your budget. They are all feasible projects but your budget determines it all.
Cheers!

abujabooks:
@Ajileko and everyone,

I read Lawyer's thread and it states, I need the following:-

a) Survey plan
b) Structural drawing
c) Tax clearance
d) Legal fees
e) Purchase receipt.

My questions are:

How much is it to have a new survey plan?

How much is it to have a structural or architect's drawing of what I want to build on the land?

Can I use the Tax clearance issued by Niger State, which will expire this year?

Can I use an architect's drawing of another property, since I will be selling anyway?

As to your questions, i will try and fill in the blank spaces as much as i can.

1. As for the survey plan prices, that would be the exclusive preserve of estate surveyors on Nairaland to answer.

2. As for the structural building, i would prefer you inquire more about this from Third eye. He is a guru in this department and his opinion would be highly valued there.

3. As for the tax certificate of Niger, it cannot be used outside niger state to purchase a state land. You have to get the tax clearance of that state you intend to do business with in your area. In abuja, it is the federal tax certificate you would need to purchase property.

4. As to using the architechural building plans of the previous one, i think it would be acceptable since building plans are prone to change every now and then. The bottom line is just to provide one.

Cheers!

Unfortunately there are none but there is a comprehensive list of registered surveyors and estate valuers with registered offices and places of contact. If you are you are using a freelancing estate agent be extremely cautious and be on your guard. They might truely have properties at their disposal but try and get the direct owners to know more about it and ask questions or use a lawyer to conduct it on your behalf. They know the required searches to be done and if it goes awry, the lawyer can be held liable for professional negligence.

Cheers!

For Let

1. A 5 Bedroom duplex building @ Thomas Village Lekki Ajah with 2 sitting rooms, large dining room and garage to contain 3 cars conviently including 2 boys quarters.

All this going for a give away renting price for just @N1.2million per annum x 2 years

For Sale:

2. Two storey building (Marble House) behind Tantalizer Allen Avenue (For commercial use)

Asking price: N60 Million Negotiable

Title: C/O

Call 07036681104 or send me a mail for private information.

P:S: Any agent in the house that has a ground floor space fit enough for a fairly large and known supermarket on the mainland and more specifically on the road, should give me a shout out. The owners are desperate to expand beyond the shores of victoria island and ikoyi.

Cheers!

Yesterday, i was sadly briefed by a close friend who fell into the hands of wrong and fraudulent estate agents. The facts of the matter was that she wanted to rent a 3 bedroom flat in Maryland and she didnt know how to go about it. She contacted a friend who told her to look through the classified property adverts in Guardian Newspaper.

She ended up calling one agent who had what she thought suited her kind of property. The agent promised to meet her at her place of work and they discussed extensively on how to go about the renting of the 3 bedroom flat. For 3 weeks they went together on various inspections around the Anthony, ikeja and maryland axis to get one until she found one that suited her in Maryland for N1.8 Million per annum and she paid him for 2 years including the mandatory agency and legal fees.

She was introduced to the landlord of the said house and he showed her a sample tenancy agreement and she even paid an extra N150,000 caution fee which she was told was refundable. After the payment to the Agent, She was given the key to her new apartment. A week later, she decided to take her fiancee to her new apartment and on getting there, she found another couple painting the flat. After a brief hysterical argument, she decided to call the Estate agent to clarify the issues at hand. The number did not go through and it was reportedly said to be switched off. She tried the number of the Landlord and it was also switched off. She ran to guardian newspapers to trace the office of the estate agent as advertised but on getting there, there was no office of such and it was a petrol station that was there instead.

The worst part is that she kept on crying that it was a loan she took from her office since she was planning to get married and was 4months pregnant for her fiancee.

The moral of this sad tale is that you should know who your dealing with and investigate your estate agent, lawyer or who ever is handling your transactions for you. These are sensitive issues that deal with your well being and lifestyle and you shouldnt rely on mere online or media adverts of properties listed as 'sugar coated properties". Just the way you would investigate your finances, should be the way you should know the whereabout of your agent, lawyer or whoever. You should know their offices, addresses, kind of previous transactions made and ask questions from neighbours around about the veracity of that person. It is your inalienable right to do so and anyone that isnt ready to be straight forward with you to open up is a very very dodgy character and you have to switch places with such a person. Besides its your money that is in question!

Please dont fall into the same kind of mess my friend is and you should always seek physical good counsel in whatever you do. There are many good and honest Estate agents and lawyers but before you pass judgement you should verify their place of contact and analyse their lifestyles. Never conclude a transaction through a media outlet alone. If you do otherwise, you have no one else but your self to blame.

Cheers!

@Abujabooks

Am sorry i dont have the square metres of the abuja lands scheme because i think they are kinda different from the ones in lagos. Bu i would try and get the information for you asap.

Also Abuja does not do governors consent. Instead it is the minister of FCT or Works that signs the C/o deed of assignment since abuja is under the the control of the FCT

Cheers!

@Property4u

Do you have an email address?

Anyone else madly refreshing arsenal.com?

All I'm seeing is Mark Randall though, I want to punch him in the face.

why does Arsène mock us like this?! I feel so used and naked all of a sudden

Manutd sign berbatov, man city sign robihno and arsenal gives Eboue an extended 4 year contract, pssff!

I really dont think its over. Manutd have not announced berbatov's switch yet. Maybe its still possible for them to finally announce somone in 30 minutes time. Didnt this sort of thing happen during the cashley cole and gallas switch which was way past midnight of the transfer deadline day?

Where did u hear that cambiasso is coming to arsenal?

Anyway, its past the transfer day and arsenal hasnt signed anyone. Guess the suprise of the season is silvestre and wat an anti-climax that is. Its really sad and i kept a night vigil for wenger to suprise me and he really did suprise me

Where did u hear that cambiasso is coming to arsenal?

Anyway, its past the transfer day and arsenal hasnt signed anyone. Guess the suprise of the season is silvestre and wat an anti-climax that is. Its really sad and i kept a night vigil for wenger to suprise me and he really did suprise me

If you really want to buy a house or land and you have been dreaming of how best you can achieve this onerous task, then you have to read this and follow it to the book.

1. Buying a land or property is the most cumbersome and burdensome issue to most prospective buyers in Nigeria more especially Lagos. There are too many horror stories involved and they include:

a. Scammers and people who claim to own land but turn out to be 419ers or omonile
b. Dealing with difficult and corrupt and dishonest Estate agents
c. Greedy lawyers and fraudulent land registry government officials
d. Lack of a proper understanding on the fees and taxes to be paid when buying a land or property
e. Fear of engaging a professional or responsible person who you can trust to carry out the buying and selling process on your behalf
f. Fear of a potential law suit already occurring on that land that has been so sweetly advertised as very good land free from all wahala
g. Fear that the documents given to you are not valid enough or complete enough
h. Fear that the land it’s self is not properly gazetted or has not been registered in the land registry
i. Whether the land your buying is not under a mortgage or is ear marked for government use or destruction.

In fact there are so many reasons people have for going into a land purchase process in a very morbid and gloomy state of fear and are extremely skeptical about the whole process.

Well now these are the few secrets you should know when buying a property and what you should do from scratch to the end of the sale.

1. Budget, Budget and Budget:

Always set out your preferred budget before you even attempt to buy or purchase your property This is the number one problem prospective purchaser’s encounter before they involve themselves with a property purchase.

I have encountered people who tell me they have one million naira as their set budget and end up spending up to N5 million  to buy a land and obtain a C/O. It boils down from the mundane to the ridiculous. You set your budget for N1million and you end up seeing a land sweetly advertised as N1.5 million in a strategic place and you say you can squeeze out N500, 000. That N500, 000 is just the tip of the iceberg. You still have to pay 10% of the Estate Agent’s fees and 10% of the legal fees which has jumped to an extra N1 million naira that is not included in the budget.

You still have to pay the surveyor who is going to map out the area, you still have to pay for the required search on that land, you still have to pay the required government fees and taxes and probably if you bought it in a place where the community is traditionally inclined, you have to settle the restless community and youths so that you can build on it peacefully and so on and so forth.

Bottom line here is that you must have a realistic budget before you even attempt to dream of owning a land unless, your account would jump into red faster than you can say “How come? Wetin Happen? How my money disappear like this”.

E.g if you have N1 million in all totality and you do not intend to go over board and incur an over draft, you should just pencil the fact that the property you intend to buy does not exceed N250,000 to N500,000 at most unless you could end up miscalculating so many things.

From that N500,000 remaining, do the math and remove 10% of that amount for the estate agent and 10% for the lawyer jejely, leaving you with N400,000. With that N400,000, you can afford to pay the surveyor, settle the community and register your c/o with the government conviently. With this kind of prudent planning, then your on your way to owning your dream home.

Also know that with a budget like N1million, do not expect to buy a land in ikoyi, lekki or magodo. There are other places like ikorodu, ejigbo, eleko etc that fall within your budget. Always ask a property speculator, estate agent or lawyer to give you a valid price check on properties in an area before you buy one.

Dont Rush your purchase. Always take your time. Its not how long but how well. Remember that:



2. Search, Research and Search Again:

This to me is the ultimate problem people have when buying a land and this is the reason they always 95% of the time enter problems or trouble with the government or with a third party over that land.

Whenever you see a land or property you want to buy, don’t get too jumpy over it because that land has probably been on the market for almost 6 months or more and even if you don’t buy it, you will get another one. Maybe not in the exact place or location but you would buy another one definitely but before you attempt to even dream of buying it, you have to do a search on that property.

A search is a legal way of knowing whether that property is free from wahala or whether somebody has bought it before and your just buying another person’s property again or whether government has not approved it or it has plans for it or maybe it is under a pipeline or government has planned to use that land in the year 2013 and you don’t know.

The way to achieve this is by engaging a lawyer to do a valid search on it. Personally I don’t just do one search, I do a minimum of 2 searches

These 2 include:

a. Searching the land registry at Alausa to know whether that property or land is free from wahala or encumbrance. If the property has a C/o before, I make sure the land registry gives me a certified true copy also known as a C.T.C of that land to serve as evidence. In a C.T.C, it will state when the property was first registered. Normally a good property or land should have at least 40 years history to show how the property has passed down over the years.

The C.T.C will also show whether the land has been used for a mortgage before and whether that land is free from that mortgage, if not, it will still reflect that the land is under mortgage.

Also the C.T.C will also show whether it has government approval or not.

If the property is not documented as one with a C/O and it is a family land, the search will require a Land Information Report. This land information report will show that such a land exists and which family has a right to own the land including the required survey map from the government.

b. The second kind of search I do after all these, is to go to either Ikeja High court or Igbosere High court at Lagos Island to do a court search. To me this is the most important search because the land registry search can show that the land has no wahala and its free from government acquisition but it would not show whether 2 or 3 people or families are fighting over that land and that land matter is in court.

The bad thing about buying a land that is under a law suit is that as long as you have paid money for that land, you may never recover that money for years due to an injunction to prevent all parties claiming that land till the matter has been settled in probably 22 years time. A famous case involving Oshodi V Oshodi comes to mind. The case took almost 20 years before the court awarded it to one party. All through these years, the true owners couldn’t sell or allocate lands legally to anyone and most of the parties to the suit died in between without enjoying the fruit of their labour.

Please don’t fall into that category for no reason what so ever. Once you rush to buy a house or land and you don’t exercise patience to know the outcome of that search, then you have no one but your self to blame.

I have heard people complain that that how can they pay N50,000 for a common search. I just laugh and shake my head because that N50,000 is your lottery jackpot fee. If the search turns out successful and there are no worries in it, then you could be a proud Nigerian Home owner. If you choose to ignore it or by-pass the process and go for jankara search to shave off money, trust me, when the wahala comes you can't stomach,,your children will swear profusely at you.

Remember Search is the key to your survival and happiness. Even if you don’t have the will to do it, abeg cover eye and do it. If you do a valid 2 way search, you will realize that 95% of landed problems would be eliminated.


3. Real estate Agent, Negotiating and tracking the owner:

Now that you have done your budget successfully and you have done the search for that land you intend to buy, then your already half-way to a successful transaction.
The next thing is to know who your contacting to do your transaction for you. At this stage, most people always involve or contact relatives or paddy paddy to do their transanctions on their behalf. To me this is a major red flag and your just gambling with your money.

I can not stress enough why you should always contact a property lawyer you trust to handle these things for you. A property lawyer knows the ins and out of this business and would see potential booby traps that the naked eye cannot see when it comes to land transactions.

What your paddy or relative is interested in is, is his commission for the sale of that land and that’s all. All the legal documents, searches, contacting the right surveyor, negotiating with the agent or direct owner and so on are out of the expertise of that relative or paddy.

These are the major things that go on after the search or even before the search in most situations.

a. He would look at various properties in the market and evaluate their current worth.

E.g if you say you need a land in Lekki and your budget is N10million for the land alone, he would look at all the potential lands in lekki and determine which one makes more sense in respect of:

1. The location
2. The size per square meters
3. the amount you would pay to government per square meters
4. The likely hood of if that land is under government control or family control
5. The chances that the property would be sold at a lesser price
6. the chances that he can negotiate the agency fees
7. The chances that the land has proper documentation
8. The chances that the land is allocated for either residential or commercial areas
9. The chances that the property is not embroiled in a legal suit

and so many other things filtering in his mind. After this, he writes an official letter of offer to purchase the land to the estate agent or direct owner in charge. This letter of  Interest provides for salient issues to be trashed out immediately such as the size of the property, the kind of title or documents the land has, the asking price, the agency fee and other questions.

The estate agent or a host of agents at this juncture send their respective bulletins or property listings elucidating the various benefits of purchasing their lands or properties and don’t worry, if you were only interested in one, you will be surprised to see more than 14 various lands in good locations with good offers for that property.

Once the lawyer choses or selects a few that fall within the client’s budget or specification, he then makes a formal contact with the agent and asks for an inspection of the properties physically to know whether it exists and know what it looks like. Normally it is good to carry along a registered surveyor to check things out yourself and do a visual calculation of the square meters because most agents might tell you the place is 800 square meters but on getting there, its not more than 400 meters and once you pay for it, your doomed.

If he finally settles for one, then he writes a letter of a counter offer and probably proposes to buy it for N7million instead. Sometimes these properties are major attractions and the agent might stick to their original offer of N10million but if the property has been on the market for a long time, the chances of negotiating a lower fee might be a success.

Factors that affect negotiation for a lesser fee includes:
1. Agent lying that the land is 800m2 but it is 600 m2 on investigation
2. The land not having enough documents
3. The land having very few documents that would require the new owner to spend money to obtain a C/O
4. The land not in a highly attractive place for development
5. The agency fees being too high

After all this, the lawyer now asks to see the direct owner or family involved. It is very important to know who is selling this property directly to you unless you could be in big soup tomorrow. I have experienced agents taking me to fake people posing as the true owners and until I did my own special and private investigation, I could have sworn they were the true owners.

The reason for finding the owner is to inspect the original documents in possession of the owner who intends to sell the property. This inspection requires an eagle eyed individual unless you could be holding a worthless piece of paper after sale. The owner also performs another duty, whereby he signs the purchase receipt and deed of assignment personally or on behalf of a family.

Family lands are more difficult because he the person signing it has to have the authority to sign on behalf of the other members of the family. He must be the head or a representative of that family unless legally you have no right to that property in future.

Proof of family owner ship and tracing the family land comes into play to determine who the true representatives are and if the land is a partitioned land, it gets even more complex.


After ascertaining this complex process and finding out who is really the true owner, then you can now pay the full price after negotiating and let the lawyer draw up the deed of assignment or conveyance agreement. Normally it is the owner’s lawyer that draws up the agreement but in my own opinion, it is always safer to let the purchaser’s lawyer draw up the agreements.

These agreements include:

1. Deed of assignment. (This deed of assignment contains the name, parties to the agreement, the fee paid for the land, the location of the land and the information on the survey plan. If it is registered as a land with a C/O, it must contain all the information in the c/o and make sure that the owner selling it MUST REIMBURSE THE BUYER if anything wrong goes on with the sale of that property)
2. Purchase Receipt: A purchase receipt agreement should also be compulsorily demanded to be drafted and signed by the owner unless he might deny collecting such an amount and state that he wasn’t the one who gave you that receipt and it wasn’t him that signed.

After this, you collect the survey plan, other necessary documents, probably settle the community hooligans or omoniles with some money so they won’t disturb your quiet enjoyment of the land when building.

After all these, then you can call your pastor or imam to pray for the land and pop your champagne peacefully.

Hope you now know what goes on in buying a land and how to avoid pain and sorrow when purchasing a property. Follow these rules strictly and you will be on the right track.

For those that want to take it to a different level and register the property with the land registry to obtain a C/O and Governor’s consent, read my post on how to calculate a C/O Yourself.

Cheers!    

janykute:
Chykeo,How do you go about getting the 3 years tax clearance if you are not residing in the country, or is there any other document they will accept in place of the Tax clearance?

If you dont reside in Nigeria and you need to clear the tax clearance part when you want to register your c/o, it costs N60,000 flat payable to the land registry.

The land registry wont take any other kind of document from you. If you insist, then you would be treated like an Alien and you would be required to get the governor's consent to acquire land in Lagos.

Cheers!

abujabooks:
@LAwyer,

You have proven to me, without a doubt that, you are a LAWYER.

Well done for that breakdown.

@abuja books

Many thanks, Gracias!

Hardar4lag:
I have calculated both the Transportation and my own money everything and mind you i not the one to do it is my Lawyer so don't be too talkative if u fighting for your own interest

How hilarious.

One minute your saying you have calculated both the transportation and your own money and later you said your not the one to do it, because it is your lawyer.

Which are are we to believe now?

Why dont you let your lawyer come out and proffer a better and cheaper way of registering a company instead of you holding brief for something you dont do and do not know about!

Hardar4lag:
is 100, 000 thousand naira

@Hardar4lag

Why do you intend to cheat people? This is a forum to educate one another and help each other out. What are you registering for N100,000? A company limited by shares with a basic share capital of N1 Million naira can be registered for N65,000 including attorney fees.

Why then did you say N100,000? I don't think your being kind and honest to the folks here on nairaland and you should purge yourself off this make money at all cost schemes. While you might need another person's help on nairaland someday, do you now expect that person to reap you off because your ignorant about certain things and professions?

If you meet outsiders or road side clients, you are at liberty to charge a billion naira for all i care but definately not in a forum where we all educate and help ourselves grow in our various businesses.

Please be advised to govern yourself accordingly lest i report you to the moderator for attempting to scam people.

@blue horizon:

I think i replied your mail. If not please resend it again and include your nairaland sceren name.

Cheer!

hmm@Ebedi

Ebedi:
I would like to share my personal experience on this topic.

I bought a plot of land at Abijo GRA, Lekki from Lagos State Government in 2002 at a cost on NGN 1.5M. We were asked to the total cost within 90 days. I eventually pay the total cost within 30 days. When I applied for C of O in 2004, I was told that the people at Alausa made a mistake in selling the land at a cost of NGN 1.5M. I was told the cost was supposed to be NGN 5M. My land has now been re-alloacted to someone else. The same thing happened to my friend.

My lawyer wrote to them sometime this year. I was asked to come and pay the balance of NGN 3.5M. It is ridiculous. It is even riskier buying land from the Government than the so called 'Omo onile'.\

Ebedi, your story is a little bit weird to me, because after you bought the property in 2002 from the government, you didnt state the documents you were given by the people or government who sold it to you.

Did you get

1. a purchase reciept?

2.A letter of allocation

3. Did you do any search on the property before buying it?

4. Did you attempt to perfect the title of your property after buying it?

Because if you got some form of documentation from the government that you bought the land from them, they ought to have issued you a reciept as proof of purchase and that reciept holds water over any new laws or prices given to you. And with that receipt or letter of allocation, your property can not be relocated to another person without government compensation.

There must be something really wrong in this story and i strongly believe you didnt use a lawyer to do the initial search and investigation before you bought the property because if you did, it is that same lawyer that can fight them tooth and nail to make sure this kind of injustice happens.

If you used a third party or omonile, then, !!!

I dont know what to say again

LASYEM:
@All, hi guys, its been a while. its seem most people are finding it hard perfecting their land title, as well as the latest trend with the approval process, i.e no C of O or Governor's consent no building plan approval.
Also, the stage that is, the operation 30-30,which is not visible, is it for the good to curb the prevalent building collapse or just a format used by the government to extort money from the people.

What do you think is the way forward about:
The prevalent collapse of building in Lagos state?
The awareness of the people about development of buildings and what it entails?
The role of the government in educating the public and their responsibility on making land available to those that needs them?
The issues of 'omo onile' ,government land, aqusition, ratification, excision (excised land) and other confusing terms used to bamboos the people?
Views, opinion, expirence and education/enlightenment is required from fellow nairalanders to educate one another.
its good to be back.
Cheers

The real issue Mr. LASYEM is that people or prospective purchasers of land or property dont want to do the right thing and spend money. Time and time again, i have written links on nairaland on how to get a c/o both cheaply and speedily but the typical nigerian psyche is that since they have heard rumours from others that it cant be done quickly, then what is the use?

That is totally false. The aim of forums like this is to meet like minds that can assist each other in our various businesses and lifestyles.

I dont understand how someone is able to cough out more than one million naira to buy a land but is finding it difficult to pay roughly N80,000 to acquire a C/O that can make you have rest of mind for life? Isnt that penny wise, pound foolish?

I dont understand why someone would go the whole hog to buy properties from agents and wouldnt investigate the title before it is bought just because they are not willing to shell out N20,000 OR N30,000 to pay a lawyer to conduct a valid search report on that property.

It totally befuddles the mind when you see prospective purchasers, haggling with agents over agency fees that could probably run to Hundreds of thousands of Naira but cant shell a paltry amount to get a c/o and other documents.

Tomorrow, when the property is almost completed, they will now hear either the land is under government acquisition, it is under a pipeline or the place is mapped out for a road or bridge plan or the land doesnt belong to the person who sold it to them or omo-onile has sold them a defective land and so on and so forth, thereby leading to a long and windy law suit and the amount the purchaser will pay to the lawyer might even triple the amount used to buy the land in the first place.

Would the agent give you his commission back?
Would the omo-onile be ever found?
For every day you delay to acquire a proper C/0, the boys in Alausa will continue to increase the price.

All because a purchaser of land or property is either too stingy or skeptical about dealing with government officials. If that be the case, why not contact or go through the proper channel? Even though it might take donkey years at least you are doing the right thing.

The number of houses and lands Fashola is about to destroy and take over from land owners this year and the next, is going to come as a rude shock to many of them just because of a paltry sum of N80,000.


Future buyers of land and property, a word is enough for the wise. That money can be used to buy shacks for all your friends or a good shoe to boast to your friend, but that same money can make your childrens children pray for you and praise your foresight 200 years from now!
How SAD

honeywood:
Many thanks for response.Does the samething goes for the federal government land?

Yes!

ajileko:
Thanks lawyer for your detailed information. But my question is what if I live abroad and don't have a tax clearance for the state of Lagos. Although I have one for the state of Georgia in the US. Will that work ?

Ouch am sorry ajileko but i don't think the lagos state government will take the georgian tax certificate as a replacement for it. this actually is a first for me and to be frank, i think you just have to go through my wuru wuru style of paying them the N60,000 jejely before you can get the documents. Shebi its just roughly $450 dollars. Our yeye exchange rate will help you scale that hurdle, lol

EKENEA:
'The Law'

Thanks again, does the deed of release normally come with c of o or I have apply for it differently?

Nope they come separately but if you have the funds, you can pay for it once and just get everything at once instead of getting it piece by piece

thirdeye:
Always as incisive as ever.
I've linked to this post
http://www.buildingcontractorsecrets.com/2007/11/certificate-of-occupancy-c-of-o-in.html

Thanks, much appreciated. I try to do my best to let people get informed just the way i learn from others in other topics in Nairaland.

Cheers!