Being one of the highest rated real estate agent in Lagos, am well aware that as far as Lagos state is concerned, am sure that without doubt you may have heard horror stories of people buying land, even building their houses on it only for the government to later come demolish the house, and take over that land.
That is the no.1 costly mistake that people make when buying land that make them lose millions in the future. That mistake is buying lands that have a bad title.
So your first question may be, what is a land title? What are property titles?
Property titles are documents that determines the full range of rights you have over a property.
What you may not know is that according to the land use act of 1999, all lands belong to the government. According to this law, the entire land in a state automatically belong to the state governor.
This was done to enable the state government go about its duties of building infrastructures and projects without much opposition from the citizens which would lead to delays.
So the title on the land you are buying is what determines the level of interest the government has on it, thus if it is safe from government encumbrance or if it is in danger of being repossessed sometime in the future by the government.
So the first thing you must do when buying a land whether that land is in Lagos state, or Enugu state or anywhere in Nigeria is to make sure that that land has a good title.
What a good title does for you is that is protects your land from being taken over by the government, ever, and if things get so bad that they need your land to build an infrastructure then they will compensate you the full value of the land and whatever structures you have on it.
How do you protect yourself from making a mistake and buying land with bad title?
The first step is knowing all the different land titles that we have and which one best protects your land from the government.
So what are the different land titles and which ones protects your land from the government?
Read on to find out all the different land titles from the highest rated real estate agent in Lagos himself.
Lands are classified into two categories, freehold and acquired land. Free hold are virgin lands that the government has not shown any kind of interest in.
Their title can easily be perfected to C of O. 95% of lands in Epe are freehold.
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Acquired lands are lands that fall within areas designated as urban areas. Those lands can either be under committed government acquisition or global acquisition.
Lands under committed acquisition are lands that the government has expressed a clear interest in for a project.
Maybe they want to build a school, a hospital, a road or whatever it is. The point is that they have shown a clear interest in that land.
Lands that are under government acquisition must be avoided. If you make the mistake of buying such land. Just know that your money is gone.
Sooner or later they will come for that land and they won’t pay you any compensation.
There is no way you can recover it because the government can’t change their plans for you.
Lands under global acquisition are lands that fall within areas that the government has designated as urban areas but the government has not shown any clear interest in them.
Such lands can have their title perfected through a process known as excision. 90% of lands in Ibeju-Lekki fall into this category.
Excision simply means a process through which government release a portion of land that is under global acquisition to either the villagers, estate company or whoever filled the excision process.
It is risky to buy any land that has excision in process because the excision might not be approved.
In a case where an excision is not approved. Your money is gone because anytime in the future the government want that land.
They will demolish any structure you have on it without any form of compensation to you.
Gazette:
When a land that was under global acquisition is released, the title document that is issued for it is Gazette.
Gazette simply means that it was published on the pages of newspapers that the land has been released. Gazette as a land title is better than C of O.
That is because according to the Nigerian land use act of 1978, C of O expires after 99 years.
But Gazette has no expiry date. So anytime you see a land that has Gazette as the document. Buy it! It has a perfect title.
C of O:
This is a land document that gives you the right to a land for 99 years. In many ways it is the most popular land title document.
In Abuja it is also called R of O, which stands for Right of Occupancy.
C of O protects your land such that if your land has a C of O and the government for whatever reason wants it, you will be compensated the full value of the land and any structures you might have built on it.
Any land that has a C of O has a perfect title. Buy it!
Governors Consent:
This is a more personalized, and better version of C of O. When you buy a land that already has a C of O. There is no way your name will be on that C of O.
C of O can only be issued once on a parcel of land.
If for example you are buying a land from a real estate company or a family land. The name that will be on the C of O will be the name of the estate company or family you bought land from.
Now if you want to perfect the title further on the the land you bought.
You want the title to bear your name. That is where Governor’s Consent comes in. It literally means that the governor is consenting to the transfer of ownership of a property to you.
Governors Consent is a perfect title. Any land that has it, buy it!
Deed of assignment:
Deed of assignment is the most important document in any land transaction.
Deed of assignment is what confirms the transfer of ownership of a land to you. If you have finished paying for a land and the deed of assignment or contract of sale still hasn’t been given to you.
Bear it in mind that you haven’t bought any property. Once you finish paying for land. The seller must give you the deed of assignment. Without it the land is not yours.
If any issues arise on that land, the deed of assignment is what shows that you are the true owner of the land. Without it, the land is not yours.
I am Ugochukwu.
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