Safety Tips To Take When Buying A Property In Lagos

We noticed a lot of people have always been duped while buying properties in Lagos. we would outline safety tips to take when buying a property in Lagos. A lot of ads have been going around in Lagos, concerning buying cheap properties all around Lagos especially in Places like Ibeju, etc

When buying landed properties in Nigeria (especially in Lagos), make sure you put all these tips into consideration and do thorough research.
I want to thank Omo Onile Lawyer and Grandezza for some of the tips it came in handy.

These tips would help those that live abroad especially.

It doesn’t matter if you are buying the land from a friend or a close relative whom you trust. Buying land in Nigeria is a financial transaction and should be treated as such. Don’t make yourself an easy target for a scam.

Let’s get started

Make sure the land or property you are buying has proper documentation: It must have a valid C of O or other documents. ask for the title document of the property e.g. proof of ownership. Most developers don’t own the piece of land they constructed the property on. They usually do joint venture agreements with the true holders of the land.
you should ask for the following documents:
The Certificate of Occupancy (C of O)
The Survey Plan
The Tax Clearance Certificate
The Deed of Assignment
In most case, the document the original owner of the land has, contains a lot of deficiencies such as survey plan issues, wrong location of where the property is supposed to be on the layout, fake governor’s consent or C of O or deeds of assignment that were not properly executed by the family or outright fake documents to deceive the buyer

Investigate the property location by getting a competent lawyer: Before you buy a property make sure that the location is not facing a lawsuit, get a competent lawyer to help you check these issues. Don’t buy a land that is facing a lawsuit already this could be by family issues or fraudulent transactions. Most people think because the area is developed there would be no more issues only for them to discover 2 major communal families have been fighting for decades concerning the ownership of the whole town.

Don’t buy Properties from Omo-Onile, Buy from Professionals: Buy properties from competent real estate firms with established track records. Don’t be thinking you are wise by buying lands from omo-onile and end up being duped and looking stupid. Some of these Omo-Onile can send land to more than 20 people. A lawyer, Surveyor, Architect, and a Real Estate Consultant, are the 4 most important people you must get in touch with before you buy a land. The lawyer is the only one that can draw up your contract papers legally. Any other landed document drawn up by any other person is null and void and you would not be allowed to process your papers at the Land registry.

Take Note of Fees: Before you buy that house, do your surveys to know the ancillary cost of buying a property that must be paid so you don’t run into debts before you take possession. Agency fees are 5% of the cost of the property (negotiable), Legal fees to prepare all documents is 5% of the cost of the property (negotiable), Survey plan for a house is above N200,000. If it’s a semi-detached duplex each survey could cost N350,000. If you buy it in a Government scheme, only a government surveyor can draw a survey plan to divide the property properly. It’s called a subdivision and costs N750,000.

Visit the site in person: A growing number of people have been swindled just because they were too busy to carry out a thorough inspection of the land before making payment. For those living abroad make sure you send a relative or a friend, you can trust before you buy that property.

Written down transaction details, pictures of parties involved, and even video recordings can go a long way if something later goes wrong.

Take Possession of Your Land Immediately: Don’t wait, if it’s to fence round about it do it immediately and put a sign to scare of fraudsters and people that might try to be scammed too. Don’t just leave it fallow and expect it to wait there for you when you are ready. Somebody else would end up encroaching on your land and steal it.

I hope this helps