Every Nigerian wants to own a home of their own, whether they are building from scratch or just simply buying one. However, buying a land with a land with a fake title or fake Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) is one mistake you do not want to make.

It is important to conduct a search with due diligence when purchasing a land or property to clear any doubts, ambiguities, and confusion. The only way to ensure that the land/ property to be purchased in a transaction has a good title is to conduct a complete and thorough search in the listed places and many other places as it may apply to a particular transaction.

Retaining the services of a property lawyer to follow up on the process of buying property in all locations in Nigeria is also important, so as to ensure a genuine property with good title is transferred to the owner.

But don’t just rely on the information given to you by your surveyor or Lawyer, make proper investigation and pay close attention to the specifics of  buying a land so you will not fall into the hands of the wrong hands.

Before the verification of any document, it is important you know the right documents to ask for. For most people though, there is no adequate knowledge as per the land documents to request for other than C of O. The first step in ensuring a title is what it appears to be is to check for authenticity. A clean title is no good if it isn’t a genuine title in the first place. 

If you are in this category, here are some important documents that prove your ownership of a certain land:

Survey Plan

A Survey plan is a document that measures the boundary of a parcel of land to give an accurate measurement and description of that land. A survey plan must contain- the name of the owner of the land surveyed, the address or description of the land surveyed, the size of the land surveyed, the draw out portion of the land surveyed and mapped out on the survey plan document, the beacon numbers and a stamp showing the land is either free from Government acquisition or not.

Deed of Assignment/ Deed of Transfer

This is the document that transfers legal ownership of the property to the purchaser, however, to perfection. This document is very important, the purchaser needs to ask for it when buying a house from someone who previously purchased it from another person. Although the abstract of title, the epitome of title, and payment receipt ought to have been in a different documents, but are in practice contained in the Deed of Assignment.

Certificate of Occupancy

The Certificate of Occupancy is one of the most important land documents in Nigeria. It can be used to certify the legal ownership status of any land in Nigeria. It is the document that indicates that an individual has been granted a statutory right of occupancy by the Governor of the state or a customary right of occupancy by the Local Government Chairman, where the land is situated in a rural area. This document is also very essential where the property in question is on a land that was acquired through a state grant.

Gazette

A Gazette is an Official record book where all unique government subtleties are spelled out, itemized, and recorded for public notice. The gazette will show the networks or towns that have been conceded excision and the number of sections of land or hectares of land that the government had purposely given to the public use or to a customary family. It is mostly common in urban areas or states. It is so common in Lagos state especially in areas like Lekki and Ibeju lekki axis.

Power of Attorney

A power of attorney is a document usually under seal whereby a person (donor) authorizes another person (donee) to do on his behave anything that the donor can do lawfully. Since this is an instrument of delegation, it is usually required where a person is acting for another person.

If you are looking to buy a land or house without the fear of falling into the wrong hands, save yourself the trouble, 4Point has got you covered, drop a comment below or visit us.