Procedure & Requirements of Land Acquisition in Nigeria

Acquision of land in Nigeria involves various steps and stages which are necessary for both the vendor and purchaser. Before progressing with a sale or purchase of a land, it is advisable one involves a solicitor to guide and ensure that the acquision smooth and proper

In this write up, we will summarize the procedure for acquision of land in Nigeria.

The Procedure for Land Acquision

1. ENQUIRIES ON THE LAND

This is needed to determine the existence or otherwise of any defects in the land to be purchased. It is also necessary to determine if the land is suitable for habitaon, commercial purposes or any other acvies depending on the purchaser's need for the land.

Enquiries made about the land would reveal exisng encumbrances, pending disputes and more about the land to be purchased.

The purchaser's solicitor owes a duty to the purchaser to examine the tle of the land, any exisng or potenal disputes, and the appropriate method of sale of the land.

2. DEDUCING TITLE

The vendor must prove to the purchaser that he has good tle to the land he seeks to sell.

Deducing tle is just a means of proving to the purchaser that the vendor has tle to the land to be sold and also has the right to sell the land.

The vendor's solicitor must deduce tle, and in doing so he must present the purchaser/purchaser's solicitor with the following documents:

Abstract of tle - which is an analysis of all the major transacons if any that has been done on the land.

Epitome of tle – which contains a list and parculars of all documents affecng the land as well as the copies of the said documents.

3. CONTRACT OF SALE

To show the interest and willingness of the pares toward the acquision of land, a formal Contract of Sale of Land must be prepared. This contract may be prepared by vendor or purchaser's solicitor. But usually, the vendor's solicitor prepares it.

The purchaser's solicitor where handed the Contract of Sale of Land prepared by vendor's solicitor must inspect the same and if sasfied proceeds with a meeng involving all the pares where the following events may take place:

· Payment of deposit of the purchase price by the purchaser to the vendor/vendor's solicitor.

· Signing of contract of sale by the pares and their witnesses.

· Issuance of purchase receipt by the vendor to the purchaser

· Handling over all informaon and documents that affect the tle to the land by the vendor to the purchaser.

4. INVESTIGATION OF THE TITLE

Invesgaon of the tle is done by the purchaser's solicitor aer the vendor's solicitor has deduced le. This step is very important and necessary as documents presented by the vendor's solicitor is not the final proof of the tle to the land to be acquired.

The steps for carrying out the invesgaon are as follows:

· Collecon of the abstract of tle and epitome of tle from the vendor's solicitor and examinaon of the documents.

· Search to be done in the following places depending on type of tle the land: o Land Registry - compulsory o Court Registry - if the land has been subject to ligaon. o Probate Registry - if it is the land of a deceased person. o Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) – if it is a company land.

§ Physical inspecon of the land.

§ Tradional history.

§ Search report - prepared by the purchaser's solicitor detailing the outcome of the search conducted on the land.

5. PREPARATION OF THE DEED OF ASSIGNMENT

*Aer the contract of sale of the land has been exchanged and the invesgaon to the tle of land has been conducted successfully, the next important stage is compeon, which involves preparaon of a deed of assignment.

The steps for compleon include the followings: o Where the vendor's solicitor agrees with the terms contained in the deed of assignment, he sets up a meeng in his office for the compleon of the sale of land. o Balance of the purchase price is paid by the purchaser o Execuon of the deed of assignment by the pares and their witnesses will follow o The vendor's solicitor hands over the original copies of all documents, duly registered survey plan, copies of the duly executed Deed of Assignment for perfecon and the duly executed Form 1 for the Governor's Consent. o Once the deed of assignment is executed by the pares, their designaon changes from vendor and purchaser to Assignor and Assignee.

· The purchaser's solicitor prepares the deed of assignment and hands them over to the vendor's solicitor for a review.

6. PERFECTION OF TITLE

This is the final stage to the acquision of land in Nigeria and it is done to perfect the assignee's tle to the land through the approval of the Governor in line with the Land Use Act.

Essenally, the procedure for the perfecon of tle includes three major stages to wit:

1. Governors Consent.

2. Stamping

3. Registraon

In conclusion, land acquision in Nigeria requires a lot of aenveness as purchasing a land does not come at a small cost. Hence a solicitor must exercise due diligence from the enquiry stage down to the perfecon stage ensuring that his or her client is informed of the progress of the transacon and give cauons and warnings where necessary