VERY IMPORTANT REAL ESTATE TOPIC WE SHOULD KNOW
SURVEY PLAN:
A
Survey plan is a document that measures the boundary of a parcel of
land to give an accurate measurement and description of that land. The
people that handle survey issues are Surveyors and they are regulated by
the office of the Surveyor-general in Lagos as it relates to survey
issues in Lagos. A survey plan must contain the following information:
1. The name of the owner of the land surveyed
2. The Address or description of the land surveyed
3. The size of the land surveyed
4. The drawn out portion of the land survey and mapped out on the survey plan document
5. The beacon numbers
6. The surveyor who drew up the survey plan and the date it was drawn up
7. A stamp showing the land is either free from Government acquisition or not
EXCISION:
Land
Use Decree on the 28th of March, 1978 that vested all lands in every
state of the Federation under the control of the State Governors. The
Land Use Act coupled with other laws made it possible for the Governor
who was now the owner of all lands in the state to actually have the
power to Acquire more lands compulsorily for its own public purpose to
provide amenities for the greater good of the citizens.
Fortunately,
the government recognizes that indigenes of different sections of the
country have a right to existence . . . a right to the land of their
birth. Hence, it is customary for state government to cede a portion of
land to the original owners (natives) of each area.
An Excision
means basically taking a part from a whole and that part that has been
excised, will be recorded and documented in the official government
gazette of that state. In other words, not having an excision means the
land could be seized by the Government anytime without compensating you
even if you bought it “Legitimately” from the Baal or the Original
dwellers on the land.
DEED OF ASSIGNMENT:
A Deed of Assignment
is an Agreement between the Seller of a Land or Property and a Buyer of
that Land or property showing evidence that the Seller has transferred
all his rights, his title, his interest and ownership of that land to
the Seller that has just bought land.
The Deed of Assignment has
been exchanged between both parties, it has to be recorded in the land
registry to show legal proof that the land has exchanged hands and the
public should be aware of the transaction. Such recorded Deed of
Assignment come in the form of either a Governor’s Consent or Registered
Conveyance.
GAZETTE:
A Gazette is an Official record book where all special government details are spelt out, detailed and recorded
A
gazette will show the communities or villages that have been granted
excision and the number of acres or hectares of land that the government
has given to them. It is within those excised acres or hectares that
the traditional family is entitled to sell its lands to the public and
not anything outside those hectares of land given or excised to them.
A
Gazette is a very powerful instrument the community owns and can
replace a Certificate of Occupancy to grant title to the Villagers. A
community owning a gazette can only sell lands to an individual within
those lands that have been excised to them and the community or family
head of that land has the right to sign your documents for you if you
purchase lands within those excised acres or hectares of land.
If
the government based on some reasons best known to them decides to
revoke or acquire your land, you will be entitled to compensation as
long as it’s within the Excised lands given to that community.ad land to
buy.
The best way to know whether a land is under acquisition or
has an excision that has been covered by a Gazette is to get a surveyor
to chart the site and take it to the surveyor general’s office to do a
land information to confirm whether it falls within the gazette and
spell out which particular location it can be found.
CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY:
A
Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) issued by the Lagos State Government
officially leases Lagos land to you, the applicant, for 99 yrs. As
already indicated above, all lands belong to the Government.
A C of O, however, is the officially recognized Document for demonstrating Right to a Land.
What
happens after 99 years? That question is still subject to debate among
experts. Most have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Others postulate
that as the new owner of the land, you the buyer can renew the
certificate of occupancy when it expires. That makes sense, but for now
is largely a case of “We shall see when we get there”
UNDERSTANDING LAND SIZES AND MEASUREMENT:
Most
people who purchase land in Lagos and elsewhere don’t really understand
the meaning of these Real Estate terms. As a potential buyer wishing to
buy a land or build a new house you must be conversant with a few of
these figures. The first hurdle is to understand the system of Land
measurement in Nigeria.
In Nigeria today, Land is measured in
Hectares, Acres, Meters and Feet. These measurements are affected by
factors, which include development pattern, human and environmental
factors.
Let’s start by asking what is the size of a standard plot in Nigeria?
According
to the dictionary meaning of a plot: A plot is a marked out piece of
Land for the purpose of building or farming. The word ‘plot’ is an
arbitrary term used to describe a land division carved out for property
development.
The size of a plot can vary for different reasons but
according to Nigeria’s land division, the appropriate plot for a house
construction is 50 x 100ft which can accommodate a standard house with a
small compound. To better understand land divisions used in Nigeria,
different units of area are used as follows:
HECTARE:
A hectare is one of the least known metric units and one which potential buyers and Estate developers seem to struggle with –
It is a land measuring:
-100m x 100m OR
-328ft x 328ft OR
-10,000 sqm OR
-Two and half acres OR
-15 plots.
ACRE:
An
Acre is a standard unit of measurement used by Land sellers and it is
almost equivalent to the size of a standard football field. An Acre is a
product of any rectangular plot of land giving a total of:
– 4,046sqm OR
– 43,560 sq ft OR
– 6 plots (each measuring 60ft x 120ft)
PLOT:
In
Lagos State, the standard size of a plot is 60ft x 120ft (18m x 36m
i.e. 648 sqm), while in some other cities of the country, plots are
measured in 50ft x 100ft.
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