What to check before you buy land or property in Nigeria
In property, the buyer generally inherits the problems. Investigation before payment decides whether the deal was a good one.
Sample article 5 min read
Property is one of the few transactions where risk is heavily weighted towards one side. Once money has changed hands, the buyer generally carries whatever was wrong with the title. Investigation before payment is not a formality.
Verify who the seller is
Is the person selling the registered owner, and can they prove it? If acting for someone else, an estate, a company, a family, is their authority documented? Where property is held by a family or community, ask who is entitled to consent and whether all of them have.
Trace the chain of title
Ask for the history of how ownership reached the current seller, and look at each transfer. A defect at any point can affect what the seller can pass on. Missing links, undated documents and inconsistent descriptions are all reasons to slow down.
Search the relevant registry
A search at the appropriate lands registry is the core of the exercise. It confirms the registered position, reveals encumbrances, mortgages, caveats or litigation, and shows whether the land is subject to acquisition or a government scheme. Do not accept a photocopied document as a substitute.
Inspect the land
Visit. Confirm the physical location matches the survey plan, look for occupiers, structures or evidence of a competing claim, and speak to neighbours if you can. Documents describe a parcel. Only inspection tells you what is on it.
Check planning and approvals
If there is a building, was it approved, and was it built in accordance with approval? Is the intended use permitted there? Unapproved development can lead to enforcement against the current owner, not the person who built it.
Understand what is being sold
Interests in land differ, and what a seller holds determines what you can receive. Understand the nature of the interest, its remaining term, and any conditions attached. Informal descriptions and legal reality often diverge here.
Budget for perfection
Completing the purchase is not the end. Consent, stamping and registration put the transaction on the official record. They cost money and take time, and skipping them creates real difficulty when you later want to sell, develop or borrow against the property.
Be willing to walk away
The most valuable outcome of due diligence is sometimes the decision not to proceed. A price that looks attractive relative to the market is occasionally attractive for a reason a search will reveal. Ask why.
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