23/05/2018
Historical/Hierachical Stages Of A Landed Property Documentations
Compiled by Bolarinwa B. Fasakin (Realtor/Entrepreneur)
Naturally, every Land belongs to the Government of the day either Federal or State. For any prospective land buyer, who most times are scared of the challenges prevalent with documentations or genuineness of either free or committed land, the followings are the information and stages of a good and genuine land.
We have 2 kinds of landed property:
1. Excised or Excision
2. Acquisition or Government Acquisition
Excised: These are lands that have been released to the original settlers or families or villagers as the cases may be by the Government either State or Federal . These are lands that are free for sale by the general public or families or original owners. Any selling or buying outside an excised expanse of land is a fraud and it's criminal. It is called encroachment into Govt Lands...
Note: This is the very first step of any free land and any land at this level is good to buy or sell. It's like a new born baby, he/she is a potential man/woman irrespective of the status. This is a normal context and not a fraudulent context. Any land with excision file number is a good land in very normal situation...
Acquisition: This is a government reserved areas and such NO ONE IS EXPECTED TO EITHER BUY OR SELL. BUT BECAUSE OF FRAUDULENT PRACTITIONERS, THE CASES ARE DIFFERENT. THEREFORE CAUTION, DILIGENCE AND SEARCH ARE MOST IMPORTANT BEFORE ANY FINANCIAL COMMITMENT IS MADE OR DONE. ONLY GOVERNMENT HAS THE RIGHTS ON SUCH LAND TO SELL OR USE...
The problem with most people is lack of trust in the people they have around them or betrayal from previous projects and or the need NOT to carryout or conduct search or do the due diligence before making payments. They simply rely on what their representative says and after money had been paid they now found out that they have run into a huge problem. Thereby putting the cart before the horse. Hence, every business man is doubted... This is not a universal situation, only a fraudulent agent will hurt his/her client not minding continuity or relationship. But for any serious minded business man, protecting your client's interest is the hallmark of his/her game. Thus, there are cool guys out there to render you a service, please look out for some of us...
Back to the main issue, after the families land have been excised or land released to them, they proceed to getting the gazette plan for the whole land released to them accordingly to the families that constituted the excision. Making each families to have their boundaries internally without encroachment or interference by each other. Once this is done, the next thing the families will do is to do the Survey according to each families portion for proper Documentation.
After all these, the Families will now get the Deed of Assignment also known as Agreement with the Government that all that happened above are true, genuine and free for their use and sale...
Now, any individual that is buying a land or house needs these above documents first before Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) or Governor's Consent. Any land with these 2 i.e CofO or Gov Con is an advantage and it means the buyer has taken the documentation further higher to what was given him/her by the families for complete or legal ownership. These documents are State or Federal Govt final approval or endorsement that indeed the subject is Now the owner of the said property or land. Any encroachment at any level/stages listed above is against the law. Our ignorance of the law or our rights most times are the core problems...
Another importance of CofO or Gov Con is that these two documents are used in further business transactions like loans, credit facilities, collateral etc which hardly will survey, deed of assignment or family receipt may not get you. Not that they are not genuine documents, but they are not a requirement for any formal transactions but CofO and Gov Con is... So if you see a land that is first free from government acquisition then the land is so so genuine and good to buy or sell... But first, make a search at the Ministry of Lands Bureau of the State/Federal Government to confirm if the land is free or not...
Thank you for your reading and your questions are welcomed too. Your contribution is allowed and suggestions welcomed once they are in the context of the write-up and once informative and educative...
Thanks
-chidi
