How to prevent losing your hard earn money to Fraudstars during Land Purchasing - Kingsley Oligie

On daily bases, thousands of Nigerians at home and abroad hope to buy lands in Nigeria more especially in popular cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Benin, etc but a common night mere that filters through their minds is how to prevent the risk of losing their hard earn money to Land Fraudsters or lose their Lands to the Government coupled with the terrifying stories that normally accompany the smooth transfer of these lands because of the prevalent nature of Land Scammers and dubious Real Estate companies.

Before buying a Landed property in Nigeria especially Lagos, The following mandatory documents must be available and these include;

• Receipt
• Approved survey plan
• Approved layout
• Power of Attorney
• Deed of assignment
• Certificate of Occupancy ( C of O)

The People from which you can buy any parcel of land can be categorized into three:

• ·         An estate developer,

•       An individual  and

• ·         Family who claims to owns the land.

The following are the fees associated with a Landed Property;

• ·         Cost of signing the documents- ( An unusual tradition in Lagos)

• ·         Cost of putting up a fence to secure your land immediately you purchase it

• ·         Legal fees- 5% of the cost of the land

• ·         Agency Fees- 5% of the cost of the land

• ·         Survey Plan-  This amount depends on the location of the land and state.

• ·         Cost of perfecting your documents with the Government at the Land Registry such as a C    of O, Governors Consent, Ratification fees, Survey Land information, etc.

Once you have finished adding up these hidden charges, you can now know the actual budget you have and this budget will now determine the location and type of land that would tally with your budget.

NOTE: It is very important that you have a good property lawyer before embarking on land/property purchase. Reason being that your lawyer is the one who ensures that you don’t run into legal trouble with land/property documents after purchase. It’s your lawyer’s job to verify the authenticity of any title document backing the land/property. 

To be continued …