The need to Investigate before Buying Property in Nigeria
Property matters are very emotional on many fronts. Your first property acquisition makes you feel you have finally begun to settle in life and achieve true wealth. You want to get into it quickly, either because you are so sure you will build on it your dream home or you will resell it in the future at what would cost the buyer a fortune. Also, it is truly exciting to finally begin to be the owner of an asset by which you gain greater significance in terms of personal recognition among people, suddenly you are among the Landlords in the City!
In my experience as a property documentation expert, I have found it quite difficult to keep people’s urges to buy in check. They are ever in a hurry to buy land especially when they are financially capable. In fact, some of my earliest customers would have paid for the land already without my advice only to return to me with issues that I cannot resolve as money has changed hands.
Think of a woman who was cheated by her husband and so her name did not appear on their property documents; she told me she was going to get her own land and build her own home while she was young and earning. I supported her but told her to chart it before going ahead with the purchase as the state governor at the time was acquiring lands almost everywhere. The next time she called me she had paid 250,000 for a plot around a polytechnic in Ogun state. Needless to say, the land was already under acquisition and remains so till today. How about the fellow who I asked to hold on till my Land Information search was done(some areas take more than 48 hours to check). But he was also a first-time buyer. Eventually, the land turned out to be Government land, and well he is still seeking a buyer today as he is trying to resell the land.
I just concluded a prepurchase investigation for someone in the infamous Okunfolu village of Ibeju Lekki, an area that the Government of Lagos state has held onto for decades yet Omo-onile’s claim ownership and keep trying to sell to unsuspecting buyers some of who have fallen for the trap. You had a vendor telling us they had applied for the Excision of their village land from the acquired area with their gazette being processed, but upon conclusion we found their claims to not only be false but dubious. We advised the client not to buy any property and well, I attached the letter so you can see how we did that.
Our Land investigation process typically includes physical site visits with a Land Surveyor and a Lawyer, background checks on the family and vendors, as well as a check on the existing documents. We also guide the clients on what documents to seek from the seller/vendors as we take these to confirm the root title and the number of times which interests have been transferred on the property. We confirm the validity of whatever is provided including the financials and the business case. Our advisory document is then released which would state details of our search and indicate our key warnings among others. Again this depends on the scope of our investigation.
Our advisory service typically costs as low as N25,000 and sometimes way more depending on the depths we have to go to get you information on the Land, the vendors, and the tax information around it. But no amount you pay will ever compare with the value you lose when you pay a fraudulent seller. Some have literally lost hundreds of thousands or millions of Naira to land related frauds.
