BEWARE OF SCAMMERS: KNOW YOUR DOCUMENTS (1)

In this part of the country, one of the many great achievements considered of a person is to be a land owner. People in Nigeria every day aspire to be land owners. The problem however does not lie in getting a land to buy, but getting a “fraud free land”. It is even more scary for a person that has no idea of how the whole transaction of ownership of property and title goes. Then questions like: “what if I get duped” starts running through your mind. The truth is the whole process of acquiring a land for some people will be easier because of the knowledge and experience in such dealings while for some it will be difficult because of lack of knowledge and experience.

But the good news is, it is not as difficult as it seems. But still you need to be very careful, you need to understand the pros and cons of land title and instrument of transfer of land. One of the very important ways of claiming ownership of land and land dealings is by having title documents that are relevant and recognized by statues and laws. The possession of any of these documents will help make such ownership claim or transaction legitimate after proper verification from the appropriate authorities. The need for a relevant title document to support land and landed property transaction/ownership is very important because of the complex nature of land alienation and acquisition in the country. I can go on and on talking about various principles of transfer of ownership of land but the basic thing to know are the instrument essential for transfer of ownership of a property. There are great number of things to look out for when buying a land in a place like Lagos Nigeria. Things like Deed of Assignment, certificate of occupancy, survey plans, receipt etc.

What are these documents? How do I know what is contained in it and what do they look like? This questions will be answered in the next post.