Property acquisition is a real business in Nigeria and the world, going into such lucrative business requires huge capital, strong determination and knowledge of law not to be duped but to excel.
Like every other businesses, property acquisition has nitty gritty which requires deep knowledge of the business probably through a real estate company to enlighten you on property acquisition process in Nigeria. It’s pivotal to engage the services of Solicitor(s) to help verify the proposed properties may be such properties have been acquired or not . The essence of this is not to fall into fraudsters hand who sell a property to more than one persons.
In Nigeria, certain methods are laid down in acquiring properties according to expert, they includes: Through Probate or Letter of Administration. A probate is a Court ordered process where the will of a testator is validated. It is the authority a beneficiary has to assume ownership of any gift or properties granted in the will. The Will alone cannot convey title in a real estate to a beneficiary, it is only after the probate has been applied for and obtained that the beneficiaries can have unlimited access to the gifts granted in the will while Letter of Administration is the authority given to an Administrator to administer, manage or distribute properties of a deceased without a will.
Moreover, Gift refers to giving out something voluntarily without compensation which may not necessarily be documented. However, a deed of gift could be executed to forstall unnecessary arguments or rifts in the nearest future.
Also, Sale of Real Estate
which involves transferring of the rights, title and interest in a land or building from the vendor to the purchaser for valuable consideration.
Having acostomed or understood the methods and basic requirements for successful acquiring properties, it’s also Paramount to knowing the documents one needs to collect or have.
To start with, one needs to be in possession of an approved
Survey Plan which must be handy before anything. The survey plan provides the buyer with information on the exact location and boundaries of a property. It also reveals whether the land is under any government acquisition or not.
Furthermore, Deed of Assignment must be done. Deed of Assignment is a document prepared to transfer an interest in a property from one person to another. In a related Development, Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) is a very important document that certifies the legal ownership status of any land or property in Nigeria irrespective of its use.
Consequent upon the aforementioned, Governor’s Consent is very germane being either the approval of a state governor by himself or through a designated commissioner to any property transfer. This is where the Cof O works effectively.
More importantly, the procedural approach to acquisition of properties in Nigeria are further segmented into pre-contract stage, contract stage, post contract stage, completion stage and post completion stage.
According to Olufe Popoola, an expert of many decades in properties acquisition and Estate management elucidated the fragments of acquisition thus;
Pre-contract stage. He opined that the buyer physically inspects the property he/she wants to buy to ascertain whether the property fits the description given by the vendor and to whether the property is in conformity with planning laws and other relevant laws in Nigeria.
While describing Contract stage, he termed it “The negotiation and conditions of sale” where price is involved while Post-contract stage is where the purchaser does a thorough investigation on the title of the property.This involves carrying out resarches on the property at relevant places/government agencies such as Ministry or Bureau of lands to ascertain the authenticity of the Vendor’s title.
The Completion stage the purchaser makes complete payment for the property and the Vendor executes and hands over all original copies of the property’s title documents thereby conferring the entire title and interest on the property to the purchaser and finally the Post-completion stage, The purchaser is required to perfect the title to the property which is done by registering the title at the relevant land registry in Nigeria.
Conclusively, acquiring properties in a legitimate way requires deep knowledge of the business, engaginging the services of legal practitioners, of course it’s capital intensive but in the end, it’s a lucrative ventures .
