The Nigerian real estate market is saturated with different people involved in the transaction of buying and selling of land and landed properties on daily basis.
And because of this, it is important that in buying a land,you have to be careful,avoid negligence, be knowledgeable with the right information and work with the right professionals to ensure that your hard earned money does not go into the hands of posing real estate agents who are fraudsters and scammers. This set of agents can dub you of your money by showing you a land that is already sold to someone else, or a land that is not for sale, or a land that have legal and family issues and a land that have no authenticity and traceability couple with fake document that are unverifiable.
Most buyers who are naive and neglect the need for the service of real estate professionals (estate surveyors and valuers, estate/property managers and real estate consultants) do fall victim to agents who are scammers and fraudsters almost on daily basis.
My advice to anyone who wants to buy a land in Nigeria without adequate understanding of land transaction of which I know most of you don't should ensure to consult the service of real estate professionals because they have your interest at heart to securing a valid and authentic land for you their client who is their main priority couple with vast knowledge and experiences theoritcally and practically on real estate and the real estate market. So, taking advice from them would go a long way to guarantee safety in your land transaction.
Most times, some people want to prove they are smart, wise and to avoid paying professionals especially if the land is a virgin land and unregistered decided to neglect the need for professionals and go ahead with the land transaction. Well I wish such a person good luck. After all the outcome will be on you either good or bad.
Apart from consulting real estate professionals, it is good to ensure that proper investigation of the land in question is been done to know the real owner, nature and condition of the land, and to avoid problem in respect to the land in the nearest future.
This article will highlight what you should check for when buying land in Nigeria. Take the following steps:
- IDENTIFY THE LAND FOR SALE:
This simply mean to do inspection on the land so as to know the location, the topography, to ensure that the land is not on the right of way of which should have a distance of 1.5m from the main road, to ensure that the land is not situated beneath a high tension cable transmission line, to ensure that the land is not close to a commercial activity center such as public market, and to ensure that the land is free from any underneath gas or crude oil pressure pipelines. In most cases, land with this characteristics, ownership can be easily revoked by the government and used for public purposes without adequate compensation. I am sure you won't like not to be compensated for a land you purchased and erected a structure on it.
The inspection can take up to 1-2 weeks as it depends. After that the next step is to
- CHECK FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD FEATURES AND THE LANDLAW IN THE REGION.
This is important and can be done together with the first step, the inspection process.
You should ensure that the neighbourhood features suit or conform with the purpose you are buying. If you are buying the land for commercial purpose, check if there are commercial properties that are developed in the area. If it is for residential purpose, check if there are residential properties developed in the area. This is because you won't like to develop your residential buidling close to a filling station, a bank or a factory.
After that check for the landlaw prevailing in the area to know if it permit the type of property you intend to build. Such laws include: zoning laws, land use control, buidling regulation control and others. They regulate and control development of land to avoid haphazard development in every city. Therefore ensure that where the land is situated is zoned for the purpose you at buying for be it residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial and others.
- SIGHT AND VERIFY THE TITLE DOCUMENT
Here, to be sure that if the land has a title document, make a request and sightit. The title document should either be a certificate of occupancy, a survey plan, a certificate of deposit and a deed of assignment or conveyance with details of the owner and registration number of the land.
In a situation where the land has no title document, ensure to do proper verification of the real owner before proceeding to pay for the processing of title document such as a survey plan and a certificate of occupancy.
Also, ensure to verify that the land land does not have any accumulated taxes and fees by the previous owner. If there is, then it should be settled by the previous owner before ownership is transferred to you.
And lastly, ensure that the family members of the landowner confirms him or her to be the real owner with the right to sell the land to you to avoid family issues arising in the future.
Verification of land can be done by the following steps:
- For land that has title document such as certificate of occupancy and survey plan, you can make further verification of the land from the ministry of land and urban and development of the city. (Deeds and registry department). They have details of all the land registered within the locality.
- For virgin land that has no title document, you can verify from the village head and council chiefs.
- Also for both land with or without title, you can further make enquiry from the neighbourhood possibly the next building, or 2 to 3 buildings that are close or adjacent to the land.
N/B: Please ensure that the seller should take legal attestation and affidavit in the court with his or her legal consultant witnessing it and also with your legal consultant.
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