A lot of people investing in real estate don't know
what the different land documents mean. As a result, make costly mistakes. This
is to give you a basic knowledge of the common land documents in Nigeria.
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. The people
that handle survey issues are Surveyors and they are regulated by the office of
the Surveyor general in Lagos as it relates to survey issues in Lagos. A survey
plan must contain the following information:
1. The name of the owner of the land surveyed
2. The Address or description of the land surveyed
3. The size of the land surveyed
4. The drawn out portion of the land survey and mapped out on the survey plan
document
5. The beacon numbers
6. The surveyor who drew up the survey plan and the date it was drawn up
7. A stamp showing the land is either free from Government acquisition or
not
EXCISION
Land Use Decree
on the 28th of March, 1978 that vested all lands in every state of the
Federation under the control of the State Governors. The Land Use Act coupled
with other laws made it possible for the
Governor who was
now the owner of all lands in the state to actually have the power to acquire
more lands compulsorily for its own public purpose to provide amenities for the
greater good of the citizens.
Fortunately, the government recognizes that
indigenes of different sections of the country have a right to existence, a
right to the land of their birth. Hence, it is customary for state government
to cede portion of land to the original owners (natives) of each area.
An Excision
means basically taking a part from a whole and that part that has been excised
will be recorded and documented in the official government gazette of that
state. In other words, not having an excision means the land could be seized by
the Government anytime without compensating you even if you bought it “Legitimately”
from the Baale or the Original dwellers on the land.
GAZETTE
A Gazette is an Official record book where all
special government details are spelt out, detailed and recorded. A gazette will
show the communities or villages that have been granted excision and the number
of acres or hectares of land that the government has given to them. It is
within those excised acres or hectares that the traditional family is entitled
to sell its lands to the public and not anything outside those hectares of land
given or excised to them.
A Gazette is a very powerful instrument the community
owns and can replace a Certificate of Occupancy to grant title to the
Villagers. A community owning a gazette can only sell lands to an individual
within
those lands that
have been excised to them and the community or family head of that land has the
right to sign your documents for you if you purchase lands within those excised
acres or hectares of land. If the government based on some reasons best known
to them decides to revoke or acquire your land, you will be entitled to
compensation as long as it’s within the Excised lands given to that community.
The best way to
know whether a land is under acquisition or has an excision that has been
covered by a Gazette is to get a surveyor to chart the site and take it to the
surveyor general’s office to do a land information to confirm whether it falls
within the gazette and spell out which particular location it can be found.
CERTIFICATE OF
OCCUPANCY
A Certificate of
Occupancy (C of O) issued by the Lagos State Government officially leases Lagos
land to you, the applicant, for 99 yrs. As already indicated above, all lands
belong to the Government. A C of O however is the officially recognized
Document for demonstrating Right to a Land. What happens after 99 years? That
question is still subject of debate among experts. Most have adopted a
wait-and-see attitude. Others postulate that as the new owner of the land, you
the buyer can renew the certificate of occupancy when it expires. That makes
sense, but for now is largely a case of “We shall see when we
get there”
DEED OF ASSIGNMENT
A Deed of Assignment is an Agreement between the
Seller of a Land or Property and a Buyer of that Land or property showing
evidence that the Seller has transferred all his rights, his title, his
interest and
ownership of that land to that the Seller that has
just bought land.
The Deed of Assignment has been exchanged between
both parties, it has to be recorded in the land registry to show legal proof
that the land has exchanged hands and the public should be aware of the
transaction. Such recorded Deed of Assignment come in the form of either a
GOVERNOR'S CONSENT or REGISTERED CONVEYANCE.
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