FREE REPORT
Some Tips on Land Documentation for Home, Housing, Building Construction
in Nigeria
According
to existing land policy in Nigeria i.e. Land Use Act of 1978, the legal title
to the land is the statutory right of occupancy and customary right of
occupancy in respect of urban and rural land respectively and the right is
evidenced by a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
In
the case of land that has registered title, if there is any transfer, the Land
Use Act again requires the consent of the Governor. This means, if the consent
of the governor has not been obtained to an assignment of legal title on land,
such transfer is voidable.
Land
documentation can also be done for land that had been acquired by government
but upon which individual or group have trespassed and built houses. This is
known as Ratification
2.2.1 PROCEDURE
FOR CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY (PRIVATE LAND)
The
promulgation of Land Use Act 1978 introduced the new improved title document
tagged certificate of occupancy. The Governor grants statutory rights of
occupancy in respect of urban land while the local Government grants customary
right of occupancy in respect of rural land.
In
Oyo as in similarity to any other state, there are procedures that must be
followed before the certificate is issued. The procedures in respect of private
certificate of occupancy include the following steps
(1) LAND INFORMATION
The
applicant for a Certificate of Occupancy should first apply for Land
Information to ascertain whether the land is within government
acquired/revocation area or free from government acquisition. The procedure for
obtaining Land Information is as follows:
(1)
Application should be made to the Surveyor
General for Land Information.
(2)
The application should be supported by survey
plan (paper copy)
(3)
Receipt of payment for Land Information
Upon
the issuance of the Land Information which shows that the land is free from
government acquisition, the applicant is at liberty to obtain the form for
certificate of occupancy (private) with the following documents and relevant
fees paid (receipt attached)
(i)
Purchase Receipt duly stamped
(ii)
Development levy (for state and only)
(iii)
Tax Clearance Certificate (3 years)
(iv)
Survey Plan ( 1 original and 7 copies)
(v)
Recent passport Photograph
(vi)
Building plan if the land is already
developed
(vii)
Land Information certificate
(viii)
Charting and endorsement fee
The
application is submitted to Land department through the office of Director of
Land for processing where a file is opened with reference number. The file is
then forwarded to Survey Directorate for charting to confirm the information
that the land is free.
2. PUBLICATION
Upon
confirmation that the land is free, the application for the certificate of
occupancy is published in the Newspaper for any possible objection(s) by the
members of the public. If there is no objection within Twenty Eight days of the
publication, the application proceeds to the next stage – Inspection
3. SITE INSPECTION
The
purpose of the inspection is just to confirm that the survey plan submitted is
in accord with the land. The assigned officer will invite the applicant or his
representative for the site inspection. The officer will also check the
pillar/beacon numbers.
The
officer at the end of the inspection will write a site inspection report. The
report is sent to the Director of Land services for approval. The file then
moves to the office of Permanent Secretary of the Land Bureau for final
approval. Thereafter the file moves for preparation of the certificate of
occupancy and signing.
4. GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE
The
Governor may appoint any commissioner or any officer through the official
gazette to sign the certificate of occupancy.
5. STAMP DUTY
The
law requires that instruments such as certificate of occupancy (land title)
attract stamp duty. The document will be sent to Board of Internal Revenue for
necessary stamping, after which the file will then be sent to Registrar of Title
for registration
6. REGISTRATION
There
is a requirement that the instrument be registered under the Registration of
Title Law. A registration number will be given to the certificate after
registration. The file with the certificate is then sent to the land use and
allocation directorate for collection.
7. COLLECTION OF THE CERTIFICATE
The
final stage in the processing of the application for certificate of occupancy
is the collection of the certificate. The certificate should be released to the
person whose photograph appears on the certificate for security reasons.
2.2.2 APPLICATION FOR STATE LAND
The
prospective applicant for state land will be required to purchase the
application form at a prescribed fee. The amount varies depending on the
scheme. The applicant is expected to fully fill the form and submit with the
following documents.
(1)
Receipt of Payment
(2)
Recent passport photograph
(3)
Tax clearance certificate
(4)
Development levy
In case of a company,
the following documents are required.
(i)
Certificate of Incorporation
(photocopy)
(ii)
Tax clearance certificate of two
directors.
The
form is to be submitted to the Land Services Department, (the Land Use and
Allocation Committee) whose duty is to advise the Governor to allocate or not
to allocate the land to the applicant. Where the application succeeds, letter
of allocation will be issued accordingly. The letter of allocation usually
states the amount to be paid as land charges, development levy etc on such
allocation. After payment, a certificate of occupancy is prepared in favour of
the applicant.
2.2.3 GOVERNOR’S CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENTS
The
Land Use Act of 1978 requires every holder of a right of occupancy whether actual or derived grant to obtain the
consent of the Governor before alienation. This means that when a land holder
transfers his interest in land to another person without the consent of the
Governor, the title as transferred could be useless as it cannot be used to
secure loan neither can such land be developed with loan capital. In fact any
further dealing with such land or title is voidable. I therefore consider it
proper to recount the procedure for obtaining Governor’s consent.
I APPLICATION FOR GOVERNOR’S CONSENT TOA
DEED
The
application for Governor’s consent is done by purchase of application form at a
prescribed amount from the department of Lands. The duly filled application
form is to be accompanied with the following
(i)
Certified true copy of the Assignor’s
title documents
(ii)
Tax clearance of both parties
(iii)
Passport photograph of both parties to
the assignment
(iv)
Development levy (if applicable)
(v)
10% of the consideration as consent fee
(vi)
Copies of the deed of assignment
(vii)
External Valuation report
(viii)
Ground rent
(ix)
Survey plan of the site
(x)
Photograph of the site
In
Oyo state the consent fee as well as other charges is based on the internally
assessed value of the subject property by the Land officer as against the
external valuation report submitted by the applicant.
It
is worthy to note here that the Lagos state government came up with flat rate,
for different locations, to be used in assessing the value consideration of the
transaction instead of the price reflected in the deed and instead of the
valuation of the property (just to eliminate fraud). Again, payment of land use
charge introduced by Lagos state will suffice for tenement rate or neighborhood
improvement charges requirement in Lagos as these charges are included in the
‘one stop payment’ land use charge.
Upon
submission of all the relevant documents to the Directorate of Land Services
office, a file is opened and assigned to an officer for necessary actions.
II CHARTING
The
charting of the plan is usually to ascertain the status of the property. The
file will be sent to the Survey Directorate to confirm whether the subject
land/property is within government acquisition or not. For free land, the file
is sent to Lands for further actions.
III SITE INSPECTION
Once
the property is free, the designated officer then conduct a joint site
inspection with the agent or solicitor handling the consent. The officer writes
a report wherein the value of the property is stated and forwards the report to
the Director who will approve or reject the report. Where the report is
approved, the applicant will be informed of the balance of consent fee to be
paid (if any).
IV CAPITAL GAIN TAX
On
full payment of consent fee, the file is sent to the office of the Permanent
Secretary of Lands for transmission to Ministry of Finance for assessment and
payment of Capital Gain Tax (5%) of the assessed value.
V FINAL ENDORSEMENT
As
soon as the capital gain tax is paid, the file is sent to the Attorney
General’s chambers for final endorsement on behalf of the Governor. Thereafter,
the document will go for stamp duty and registration before it is forwarded to
Land department for collection.
2.2.4 RATIFICATION
This
is a process where someone who has unknowingly bought a piece of land that
falls within the government acquired land (under acquisition) seeks governor’s
consent and recognition of the landholder. If the government is not really in
need of the land and decided to release it, the holding will be ratified and
the consent of the governor will be granted to the applicant. The procedure
normally follows application for governor’s consent.
