Buying Land in Lagos – From a legal stand point, Land signifies a portion of God’s earth surface and includes everything beneath it, like precious stones and minerals, and everything above it, like buildings and crops. In Nigeria, while everything beneath the land belongs to the government by law, he who owns land, owns everything above it.
Generally in Nigeria, by virtue of the Land Use Act of 1979, every land within a state in Nigeria is owned by the state and administered by the Governor of that state. All other individual or corporate interest in land is therefore limited to a right of occupancy. A Right of Occupancy can be described as a right to develop and use land for residential, commercial and/or agriculture purposes for a period of 99 years. The Governor of every state issues a valid Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) upon satisfactory proof of prior or subsequent ownership. It is this CofO therefore, that carries the Right of Occupancy. It follows therefore, that every genuine interest in a Land in Lagos, like every other state in Nigeria must be backed by a valid CofO. Sadly, acquiring land is not always that straight forward, and most problems encountered by land purchasers in Lagos can be traced to the complexity created by the unavailability of the CofO or a registered title.
At the advent of the Land Use Act, all prior occupiers of land were required to obtain from the State Governor or the Local Government Secretariat, a CofO, but for one reason or another, most Land owners in Lagos are yet to obtain this certificate. Also, a CofO is not issued twice. It follows therefore that subsequent transaction in any land for which a CofO has been issued, will only be evidenced by a document of transfer, usually, the Deed of Assignment, duly registered as a subsequent document on the back of a duly registered CofO[1].
Therefore, evidence of right of occupancy or ownership of Land in Lagos includes;
- Certificate of Occupancy
- Registered Deed of Assignment
- Written Evidence of ownership & long possession in cases where CofO is yet to be obtained e.g., “Baale” “Oba” or “Omonile” receipt, alongside a registered survey.
To avoid problems associated with acquiring land, a buyer is by law required to verify and ascertain the title of the seller before he commits himself monetarily in any land transaction. For registered titles, verification is as simple as conducting a search at the Lands Registry in Alausa, for State Lands, or at the Federal Registry in Ikoyi, in the case of land acquired and allotted by the Federal Government[2]. In this case, the ownership of the Seller is ascertained and if there is any defect, the buyer withdraws from the transaction. Incidences of fraud for registered titles are therefore very negligible. Problems are more usually encountered in instances where the buyer intends to buy an unregistered land. Since the land is not registered and no CofO obtained, ownership or interest in same cannot be easily ascertained at the Lands Registry.
Notwithstanding the lack of registered title, transaction is such lands can be successfully consummated if the following procedure is strictly adhered to.
- Hire a Lawyer
- Make inquire within the neighborhood to ascertain the seller’s interest.
- In the case of joint, collective & family ownership, ensure you deal with every adult member.
- In case of community ownership ensure you deal with the “Baale” “Oba” or any other designated leader of that community.
- Conduct a search at the Surveyor General’s office to ensure that the property is gazetted not subject to Government acquisition.
- Make sure that every signatory is photographed while signing.
- Ensure you collect all prior documents relating to the land (root of title) from the seller.
- Obtain a CofO & register your title as soon as possible.
- If barren or undeveloped take possession immediately and commence development as soon as possible.
If the above precautions are taken, incidences of fraud relating to acquiring an unregistered title in land will reduce. Also, the current Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State which has criminalized double transaction and other land related malpractices, will also go a long way to reduce Land frauds.
In all, with due caution, an unregistered land can be acquired even in Lagos. Though the risks are higher, the prices of buying land in lagos with unregistered documents are considerably lower.
[1] In practice, there are Lands already registered before 1979 in Lagos and there was never a CofO obtained for them. Those titles are commonly referred to as Registered Title/ Registered Deed/Registered Conveyance. They rank equal to CofOs.
[2] Lands held by the Federal Government for public purpose prior to 1979 were retained as Federal Lands. The Federal Govt can also appropriate Land for developmental purposes under the Land Use Act.
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