More money is lost buying land in Lagos than in any other way this site covers. The same plot is sold to three people. Land under government acquisition is sold as if it were free. A family member sells what the family never agreed to sell. None of this is rare, and all of it is avoidable with checks that cost a fraction of the land.
Danger
Do not pay for land - not a deposit, not “to secure it” - until a lawyer you instructed yourself, not the seller’s, has completed the checks below.
Nobody owns land outright
Under the Land Use Act 1978, all land in a state is vested in its Governor, held in trust for the people. What you buy is not the land itself but a right of occupancy - in practice a lease, conventionally for 99 years.
Two consequences matter more than any other:
- A transfer needs the Governor’s consent. Section 22 of the Act makes any transfer of a statutory right of occupancy - a sale, a mortgage, a lease - invalid without it.
- The state can acquire land for public purposes. Land under government acquisition cannot be validly sold by anyone else, whatever papers they show you.
The titles you will hear about
| Title | What it means |
|---|---|
| C of O | A certificate of occupancy - the state’s grant of the right of occupancy. The strongest starting title |
| [[Governor’s consent]] | The Governor’s approval of a transfer of land that already has a title. What you need when you buy from someone who holds a C of O |
| Excision and gazette | Land the state has released from its acquisition to an indigenous family or community, published in the official gazette. The family can then sell parts of it |
| Registered conveyance | A registered transfer from before 1978, still recognised |
| Survey plan and receipts | Not a title. Evidence of a sale, nothing more |
A seller who offers “only a survey and a receipt” is offering you a transaction with no title behind it. It may still be buyable - a great deal of Lagos was - but you are buying a problem to solve, and the price should reflect it.
The checks
Your lawyer, and a surveyor you appoint, should do all of these before you pay:
- Search the Land Registry. At the Lagos State Land Registry, a search shows who the registered holder is, and whether the land is mortgaged or encumbered.
- Chart the survey plan. The Office of the Surveyor-General charts the plan against the state’s records and tells you whether the land is free, under government acquisition, or committed to a scheme. This is the check that catches the commonest fraud, and it is the one most often skipped.
- Visit the land. With your own surveyor, confirm the beacons on the ground match the plan, and see who is in possession. Ask the neighbours who owns it.
- Verify the seller. If it is family land, confirm who has authority to sell on the family’s behalf - usually the family head with principal members - and that the sale is approved by them, in writing.
- Check the excision, if the title rests on one, against the actual gazette.
Paying, and after
- Pay into a traceable account in the seller’s name, against a written agreement, never in cash.
- Your lawyer prepares the deed of assignment, which the seller signs.
- Apply for the Governor’s consent. The consent fee is 1.5% of the property’s value, and with stamp duty, registration and capital gains tax the state’s charges come to about 3%. The value is the state’s own valuation, which is not necessarily the price you agreed. Lawyers’ and surveyors’ fees come on top. Budget for all of it; it is not small.
- Register the transaction at the Land Registry once consent is granted.
Until consent is granted and the deed registered, your interest is weaker than you think. Many buyers stop at the deed of assignment, and many regret it.
Omo onile
On family and community land, expect to meet omo onile - people acting for the landowning family who demand payments for “foundation”, “roofing” and every other stage of building, sometimes with threats.
The Lagos State Properties Protection Law 2016 makes it a crime to use force or threats to take over or obstruct land, and to demand illegal levies from a lawful owner. Report it to the police and to the state’s property protection task force. Buying land with a clean title, and through a proper sale by the family’s authorised representatives, is the best protection from it in the first place.
If you are not Nigerian
A foreign national can hold an interest in land in Lagos, but needs the Governor’s consent and should take legal advice before agreeing anything. Most foreigners lease rather than buy.
Building
Owning land does not give you the right to build on it. Building in Lagos needs a planning permit from the state’s physical planning authorities before work starts, and buildings put up without one are demolished every year. Budget for the permit and your architect’s drawings as part of the land.