UNDERSTANDING LAND TITLE AND DOCUMENTS.

Land documents are legal and non-legal documents that are generated in the course of buying and selling of land. While some of them confer title (ownership) to the buyer, others don’t. In this piece, it is necessary to take an overview of these documents and highlight their importance in land transactions.

A). 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐈𝐏𝐓
A land purchase receipt is a normal receipt issued by the seller to the buyer or document reflecting the receipt of payment for a particular property or land. The seller issues the receipt to the buyer as evidence of payment for the land. However, the receipt does not transfer the title of the land.

B). 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄
This document is used to show an agreement of sale of land from the seller to the buyer. It is relevant when any property is being purchased by anyone. It must be followed with other documents transferring title in the applicable property.

C). 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 surveyed 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.

D). 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 the state government to cede a 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.

E). 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.

F). 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.

G). 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 the right to a land.
What happens after 99 years? That question is still the 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 it is largely a case of what we shall see when we get there.

F). GOVERNOR’S CONSENT
Many people do not know that Governor’s Consent is a superior Land title to C OF O. A simple formula to follow is this: The first person on a Virgin Land that has neither been occupied by another person nor under acquisition by the Government is entitled to get a C Of O on that land.

If that person with the C of O decides to sell his Land to another person after so many years, that person must now obtain the Consent of the Governor before that transaction can be deemed legal in the eyes of the Government. If the new buyer now decides to sell the land again, to a third owner in the future, that Third owner must also obtain a new Consent of the Governor before the transaction can be deemed legal in the eyes of the Government, and the process continues every time the property changes hands to a new buyer.

H). 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐆𝐀𝐆𝐄.
A deed of mortgage is issued in mortgage transactions to show that land or property has been transferred from the mortgagor (borrower) to the mortgagee (lender). This emanates mostly when a financial institution is giving a mortgage loan to a borrower. It is a temporary transfer in the sense that the mortgagor shall be entitled to retrieve this property back from the lender when the total loan amount, together with the accrued interest, has been paid.

I). 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐈𝐅𝐓.
Deed of gift is a document that proves that a piece of land or property has been gifted from one person (donor) to another (donee). A deed of gift can be used to transfer interest in a landed property.

J). 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓.
The judgment of a court is another essential document which may affect or transfer an interest in a specific property from one person to another. In Nigeria, the legal interests in several properties have been transferred from one person to another through the decisions of various courts. In fact, in most places in Nigeria where ownership of the land is disputed between individuals or communities, final court judgement is relied on to ascertain the ultimate owner(s). When property ownership has been derived through litigation or any property has been subjected to a lawsuit, it is essential to examine the full decision of the court in respect of such property by obtaining a copy of the judgment.

Visit: https://Fomayproperties.com

Follow us on:

Facebook: Fomay Properties

Instagram: @fomayproperties

LinkedIn: Fomay Properties