25/11/2021
UNDERSTANDING LAND TITLES IN NIGERIA.
1. DEED OF CONVEYANCE
Deed of Conveyance or Registered Conveyance was the authentic evidence of ownership until 1978 Land use Act that introduced Certificate of Occupancy.
Deed of Conveyance is old legal document used in transferring the interest of the owner of a landed property to another whom it is assigned, the assignee.
When ownership is transferred, the new legal document in use now is called deed of assignment.
2. CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY
A Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) issued by the Governor of a state officially leased the state's land to, the applicant, for 99 yrs.
All lands belong to the Government.
Once a C of O had been issued on a particular land, it's takes 99 years before it can expire after which it can be renewed.
You cannot process C of O on land that already has C of O.
C of O is C of O everywhere. When they said Global, it means the C of O in questions covers a very large expanse of land.
3. GOVERNOR'S CONSENT
A governors consent can only be processed on a land with either Gazette or an Existing Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
If a person with land with C of O decides to sell his land, the only documents that can give the new buyer or every other subsequent buyers the right of occupancy or ownership is a governors consent.
The powers of the Governor to consent to such transactions can be found in Section 22 of the Land Use Act of 1978 which states thus:
'It shall not be lawful for the holder of a statutory right of occupancy granted by the governor to alienate his right of occupancy or any part thereof by assignment, mortgage, transfer of possession, sublease or otherwise howsoever without the consent of the Governor first had and obtained''
This simply means therefore that even when a buyer has secured a land with a Certificate of Occupancy, he shouldn't stop there.
He needs to begin the process of obtaining a Governor's consent to make that purchase legal in the eyes of the government & be rest assured his land is safe.
4. DEED OF ASSIGNMENTS
Most people have the title documents to their cars intact & in safe places but fail to ask for the Deed of assignment to their properties which is several times more valuable than cars
A Deed of assignment is one of the transactional documents drawn up by a real estate attorney between the current title holder for a particular property & the new buyer.
In real property transactions, a deed of assignment is a legal document that transfers the interest of the owner of that interest to the person to whom it is assigned, the assignee.
When ownership is transferred, the deed of assignment shows the new legal owner of the property.
The deed contains very pertinent information for a real estate transaction. It spells out the date when the ownership of the property transfers from one owner to the other.
The deed also gives a specific description of the property that is included in the transfer of ownership.
It is very compulsory & mandatory for a Deed of Assignment document to be recorded at the appropriate land registry to show legal evidence as to the exchange of ownership in any land/landed property transaction in order to make the general public and government aware of such exchange or transaction.
5. GAZETTE
A Gazette is an Official record book where all special government details are spelt out, detailed & 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 & not anything outside those hectares of land given or excised to them.
Question: Is excision as good as obtaining c of o?
Is a person having excision still mandated to obtain c of o?
Answer: After a land has been excised & Gazetted, then you can either process your C of O or Governor consent.
Excision does not expire while C of O expires after 99 years.
The only advantage C of O has over Excision is that, it can be use as collateral for getting loan in the bank
Question: How long does it usually take on average for a land to be fully excised?
Answer: Excision is given by the Governor of the state & there is no specific time for issuance of Excision. Sometimes, excision can be delay due to political reason.
Question: Does this mean that "Lands has to at least be excised before it can be sold or transferred to someone else"?
Answer: You become rightful owner of the land once the government released it to you via excision.
Though Governments recognize ancestral land ownership as excision is the right of the indigenous land owners
Please feel free to direct enquiries to certified Surveyor, Town planning authorities and Legal practitioners to this
Regards
