October 2016

Monday 3 October 2016

Tips on Regularization of Land Title in Lagos State

For unsuspecting members of the public who have encroached on a Lagos State Government Land, there is a window of opportunity to get a valid tile on such a land known as Regularization, the policy avails buyers of uncommitted Government Land the opportunity to obtain legal title to the land based on two main conditions. Firstly, that the land is not situated within a Government Scheme, Estate or Committed Area. Secondly, that the land is situated within an area that conforms with Urban and Regional Planning regulations and standards of the State (the appropriate distances from drainage systems, canals, oil and gas pipelines, PHCN transformers, high tension wires, electricity and telephone poles, water pipelines is observed, the beacons on the survey plan conforms with what is on the subject site and that the subject site does not fall on road alignments and is not within forest reserve).

To ascertain the status of land, a Land Information Certificate must be obtained from the Office of the Surveyor General, located at 133, Obafemi Awolowo Road, Alausa Ikeja. The certificate is the result of a search done on the land which will show if such a land is any of (A) Under Acquisition but Not Committed, (B) Under Acquisition and Committed or (C) Not Under Acquisition. Regularization is required for category A, category B is out of bounds to anybody while category C does not require regularization.

Apart from titles to land, the Directorate of Land Regularisation located at the Lagos State Lands Bureau (Block 13/ 14), Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja is also charged with the responsibility of processing applications for the grant of building plan approvals in a situation where structures have already been erected on the land.

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Documents Required for Regularisation

· A covering letter by the agent or person filing the application for regularization must accompany the application. This covering letter should contain the following contact details of the applicant: address, telephone numbers, and mobile phone numbers and where possible an e-mail address.

· A duly completed application made on (Land Regularisation Form 1) obtainable from the Lands Bureau. Application forms for Residential Plots cost =N=5,000.00, while forms for Commercial Plots cost =N=10,000.00. The Form must be dated and signed by the applicant and sworn to before a magistrate or notary public.

· Four passport sized photographs of the applicant

· Land Information Certificate

· Photocopy of Purchase Receipt duly stamped

· Current Special Development Levy N100.

· Evidence of payment of Income Tax

· Sketch Map of Site Location

· Three Original Survey Plans.

· Photocopy of Proof of Identity (national ID Card, driving license, Voter card, or the data page of international passport).

· Letter of Authority (if the application is filed by a person other than the applicant)

In a situation where a building has been erected on the land, the additional requirements are as follows:

· 5 Sets of Architectural Drawings

· 5 Sets of Structural Drawings

· Clearance Letter in lieu of Title Documents Sunprint Copy Of Survey Plan

· COREN Letter of Supervision

· Sworn Affidavit in Lieu of Tenement Rate

· EIA report if land Title to be granted is commercial (2Copies)

· Payment of processing fee for building plan approval

· Photograph of property

How to Rectify Errors on Registered Land Title Documents in Lagos

No matter how minute or unintentional, an error or defacement on a registered land title documents like a Deed of Assignment, Purchase Receipt, Certificate of Occupancy, among others is, it can lead to the cancellation of a transaction or even a future litigation.

While such errors could be in the form of: incorrect description of the property such as its area and dimension, incorrect description of the parties to a landed property transaction such as their names and addresses, incorrect address and survey number of the property, incorrect details about ownership and property measurement as well as the terms of the transaction; issues concerning defacements could be in the form of torn pages and mutilated pictures, signatures or other details on the title document. When any of this is detected, the document used to correct it is known as a Deed of Rectification.

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The Deed of Rectification, which should be prepared by a well-grounded lawyer in the area of property transactions and documentation, should include the following information: the name and address of the rectifier/vendor, details on the principal title document as well as the details of the rectification to be made. To be registered at the Lagos State Lands Registry, the Deed of Rectification should be accompanied with an application for registration to be addressed to the Director, Lagos State Lands Registry, Block 13/14 Lagos State Lands Bureau, Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja, four passport sized photographs of the applicant, evidence of payment of Income Tax, sworn affidavit for the purpose on which the Deed of Rectification is being made, Photocopy of Proof of Identity and a Certified True Copy of the principal title.

A sum of N100,000 will be charged by the Lands Registry for registration, N5,000 for stamp duty and N10,000 for endorsement; payable to any of the Lagos State revenue collecting banks. It should however be noted that the Deed of Rectification cannot be used to correct any error made on points of law such as nature of the transaction or a change of scope from the original title (such as a Deed of Assignment cannot be registered as a Deed of Gift ). If there are mistakes related to law in the principal title, a separate procedure is to be followed and they cannot be fixed through the Deed of Rectification.

Sometimes, an error may re-occur in the registered Deed of Rectification and may require further rectification. A supplementary Deed of Rectification can be executed in such cases to correct the error(s).

Below is the summary of the requirements for the rectification of errors on a registered land title:

An Application Letter addressed to the Director of the State’s Lands Registry.
2 copies of Deed of Rectification.
2 copies of Sun print Survey Plan (for Survey Rectification).
Half-page publication in a widely circulated newspaper (for Rectification of Name).
A valid means of identification (national ID Card, driving license, Voter card, or the data page of international passport).
Sworn affidavit with photograph attached. Four copies of passport photograph are required.
Receipts of payments for:

Stamp duty – N5,000
Endorsement – N10,000
Registration – N100,000
Tax payments

How the anti-corruption war will change Abuja real estate forever!

Located at the seat of the Federal Government, Abuja real estate has always been directly impacted by actions of Government officials. Unfortunately a large enough number of these officials are driven more by personal interest than the public good (corruption). So when the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari started its anti-corruption campaign, real estate was at the heart of most of the allegations. The sight of ‘EFCC – Keep Out” painted in red on many buildings came to be a familiar sight. These outwards signs masked a change in the market dynamics: demand dropped significantly with a resultant effect on values. Victor C. Ofoegbu. Regional partner – Jide Taiwo and co (north) explains.

The anti corruption war is a mixed bag of plus and minus. Mixed in the sense that genuine prices of properties are now being expressed. In the past, it was escalated and not a true reflection of a properties real and true value.

The movement of the seat of the Federal Government created an upsurge in the demand for properties in Abuja which in turn created a rise in prices as properties were scarce and people, mostly agents and landlords got greedy. Property usually appreciates naturally and rarely depreciates. But the increase in demand of properties by large numbers of government associated workers into Federal Capital Territory led to excitement and greed amongst agents this automatically led to the uncontrollable hike in property prices in Abuja. At this rate, accommodation and properties were almost unaffordable to the common man.

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Then came the monetization policy by President Olusegun Obasanjo. At this period, the agents and landlords in Abuja started feeling the effect gradually of the monetization policy. This policy brought with it some sanitization to the real estate market in Abuja. At this point, the government, which was a major player and participant in the property market, significantly reduced its activities in the market and this led to houses going vacant for long periods and this compelled landlords to review their prices to enable little movement in business.

However monetization only helped stabilize this issue a little but did not entirely cure this problem of overvaluation of properties in Abuja. After the first phase of transition and settlement into Abuja as the new Federal Capital Territory, which led to the first surge in property prices and valuation, the second phase of hike in Abuja property price was as a result of looted funds moving into the market.

Lots of people with free money and had no place to hide it became players and participants in the Abuja property sector, and so we started witnessing individuals purchasing large scale properties of about 27-50 properties, paying billions of Naira.

Technically, individuals were hiding money in real estate purchases, most of which were never rented, just acquired and locked up. Even when proposals are given to them on how to turn things around they seem to show lack of interest in that and seem satisfied in hiding their money in these purchases.

But the game changed after this Government came in. individuals who would have been in the Abuja property market have slowed down a lot as the major players in the Abuja property market are now being hunted by EFCC or know they could or would be targeted soon.

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Abuja Property Market: Lucrative Properties on Offer

Overall, it’s a mix-match…. Yes some people have enjoyed the good days in the past but now it’s time for lamentation. These days, only properties of low prices like block of flats and bungalows of about Fifteen to Twenty Million Naira are on the move. So basically, the anti corruption war has pushed away many players, investors and participants in the Abuja property market.

But on the brighter and positive note, the anti corruption war is helping in sanitizing the real estate market in Abuja because the real and actual prices of properties are being expressed now. No more additions and padding attached on property prices because it’s individuals that suffered to make their money that are partaking more in the Abuja property market now. As such, any buyer trying to invest or purchase a property in Abuja will conduct proper findings and involve real estate valuers to get the real value of the property before purchasing.

So currently, the real estate market in Abuja is more sanitized with the real values of the properties being declared and professionals being consulted before purchases are made, unlike before the anti corruption war when there was money ‘everywhere’ and reckless over hyped deals were being closed without decency and consultations.

HOW TO CALCULATE GOVERNOR’S CONSENT FEES IN LAGOS STATE

The following is required when calculating the Governor’s consent fee in Lagos State.
REQUIREMENTS:
1.    Dated letter of application with address and phone Nos.
2.    Completed Form 1C (Sworn to).
3.    Certified True Copy of grantor’s (seller’s) title document.
4.    Grantor’s (seller’s) Tax Clearance Certificate/Development levy receipts.
5.    Grantee’s (buyer’s) Tax Clearance Certificate/Development levy receipts.
6.    3 Nos. duly executed Deeds of Sublease, Assignment, Mortgages or Power of Attorney.
7.    Chartable Survey Plans.
8.    Evidence of payment for charting, endorsement and Form 1C (N10,500).
9.    Evidence of payment of Ground Rent/Land Use Charge.
10.    Letter of confirmation of payment of Capital Contribution from NTDA in respect of
Lekki Peninsula Schemes I & II, Abijo GRA, Isheri North and other affected Govt Schemes.
11.    Building Plan & photograph of the property with date and time.

4 Nos. Passport photographs; individuals (assignees only).
Certificate of Incorporation/Registration; Companies/Registered bodies (assignee only).
Applicant’s/Agent’s means of identification.

Sunday 2 October 2016

Is Buying a House a Good Investment?

I’ve been emphasizing the fact that buying a house is better than renting one. In the article, Rent or Buy: A Guide to Finding the Right Home, the advantages and disadvantages of the two options were explained but in my opinion buying a house is a better option.
However, you want to make a better judgement when considering buying a house.Hence, the following are reasons to back my claims that buying a house is a good investment.

1. Sometimes real estate prices increase adequately for people to make money
As in the present economic recession of Nigeria, the price tag on houses is higher although the demand is reduced. This is a good avenue for real estate investors/builders in the country to make more money.

2. House is something you can see (tangible) and people like tangible investments
I think this is self-explanatory. But let me add that investors are more likely to succumb to tangible investments like real estate than intangible investments.

3. People think they are getting enough value by living in a house, and anything they ‘make’ while selling it is an added bonus.

4. Various parties benefit every time you buy and sell a house – real estate agent, attorney, bank: hence they want you to buy and sell as often as possible.
However, the following factors determine when buying a house is a good investment:

1. The price you paid for the house
You won’t agree that purchasing a highly priced house is a good investment especially when the building is of inferior quality.

ALSO READ: Fulfilled Prophecy: Number of Vacant Houses Increase in Lekki & Ikoyi
2. The rent you would have paid for the house if you rented it instead of buying it.
If the projected amount you would have paid as rent over a substantial period of time is less than the price of the house, you can conclude it’s a good investment.

3. Additional expenses that you pay, do not ignore them.
Since the price of a house is exclusive, there are hidden costs you may be overlooking but will have to settle sooner or later. Hence, the amount of such hidden cost determines how good a house purchase investment is.

ALSO READ: 4 Hidden Costs of Renting an Apartment
4. The price at which you will be able to sell the house
From the seller’s perspective: economic conditions determine how much houses are sold just as in the case of Nigeria’s economic recession, developers are forced to sell at lower prices in other to recover the demand being stolen by the recession.

ALSO READ: Are Properties in Nigeria Cheaper During the Recession?
5. The transaction costs involved: buying and selling is not easy
Don’t forget the following people would need to be paid for the services rendered: real estate agent, attorney, bank offering mortgage etc.
Therefore, you would have to weigh the pros and cons of buying and selling a house to determine whether it’s really a worthy investment.

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