LAGOS ENDS OMONILE MANACE


I was amazed when a client of mine was harassed for building fees for foundation and roofing etc. she objected and called the authorities who quickly picked them up and today her house stands thanks to lagos state governor. also, If you sell another person’s land that doesn’t belong to you either knowingly or unknowingly, you are going to jail for 21 years; so don’t attempt to sell a land that does not belong to you personally.in the bill titled law to prohibit forceful entry and occupation of landed properties, violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed properties in lagos state, the lawmakers also proposed 10 years for any owner of a landed property who uses violence to seek repossession of his property. The proposed law, which underwent public hearing on wednesday 22nd of january 2014 stipulates that as from the commencement of the law, a person or group of persons are prohibited from using force to take over any landed property in the state. “any person or group of persons who, having used force to take over a landed property in the state…after the commencement of this law, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a prison term of 21 years,” states section 2, subsection 1 of the 17-section bill.
No more room for these violent rapscallions to invade other people’s land forcefully to resell them. They risk a 21 year jail term
If you believe somebody has taken over your land and you use area boys or police to forcefully remove that alleged trespasser from the land you are liable to go to jail for 21 years. Learn to use the legal remedies available to you. This law is directed mostly to omoniles that take over people’s lands forcefully. Please don’t be part of them.
The law also stipulates a fine of N300,000 or a prison term of three months for anyone who trespasses into another person’s land and refuses to leave even when the original owner of the land obtains justice. It also bars the use of thugs, vigilantes or any other such group for the purpose of taking possession of a landed property in order to execute a court judgement.
The court has given an order or jugement that a land belongs to someone and the person occupying the land that has lost the case still forcefully occupies the land after he has been told to vacate by the court is liable to pay a fine of N300,000 or spend 3 months in jail.
Section 6 of the proposal states that, “a person who enters a property without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, and has in his possession any offensive weapon with the intention to cause mayhem in respect of the property commits an offence and is liable on conviction to 10 years imprisonment.”
If you enter another person’s land and your trying to claim ownership of the land and you have in your possession any kind of offensive weapon such as matchets, knives, guns, broken bottles etc to try to intimidate or cause wahala with respect to that property, you are liable to go to jail for 10years. (my advice is to keep your guns or knives at home when sorting out a land dispute from today)

Using thugs to tresspass on other people’s lands with violent offensive weapons could land both you and the omonile in jail. Use all legal means to get your land back and avoid using thugs or force
Section 7 (1) also forbids the sale of a piece of land to multiple buyers stressing: “any person who offers for sale, or sells a property knowing that he has no lawful title to the property or that the property has previously been sold by his privies; or who, as agent or attorney and, without lawful authority of the owner sells the property entrusted to him, commits an offence under this law and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 percent of the value of the property or to imprisonment for five years or both.”
Those who are experts in reselling other people’s lands to multiple people and trying to feel smart should know their time is up. Anyone selling another person’s land that he knows he has no right to sell or has any document to give or knows that the land has been sold previously to someone else is liable to go to jail for 5 years and a fine in equivalent of 100% of the value of the land wrongfully sold.
Its sub-section 2 forbids anyone from selling any family land or property or any part of it without the consent or the authority of the head of family or other accredited members of the family.
 any omonile that sells a family land without the consent of the head of the family or accredited members is liable. This section is equally important to purchasers of family land who just buy lands from omoniles without consulting with the accredited representatives of the family. Such a transaction will be null and void and you will have yourself to blame.
Section 8 of the law also states that it is an offence for any legal practitioner or other professionals, in the conduct of their professional duties, aid violent activities of land grabbers in the state. It stipulates six months imprisonment for such lawyers as well as “further necessary disciplinary actions as may be imposed by the council of legal education.”
Unscrupulous lawyers are now in deep sh***t!!! I know so many that collude with land swindlers to defraud people and hide under the guise of client-attorney privilege. Their time is up and this should prevent lawyers from aiding omoniles to commit havoc in lagos.
Section 9 of the bill forbids anyone from demanding a fee or levy in respect of construction, roofing, repair or restoration of any property or disrupting construction work. Such a person or group, according to the bill, commits an offence and upon conviction, would be liable to a fine not exceeding N200,000 or two months imprisonment or both. It vested the power to implement the law, when passed, on a task force under the state governor.
Any omonile or land seller who demands for omonile fee for foundation or roofing or any omonile or land seller that disrupts work because the buyer refused to pay foundation or roofing fees, such omonile or seller is liable to a fine of N200,000 or 2 months imprisonment or both.
This is a very commendable proposal that i support 100%. My prayer is that such rhetoric and laws be matched with actions unless these omoniles will just brush these laws aside and continue to wreck havoc without any repercussions.


Smart Home & Automation

How Smart Is Your Home?

Home automation is exactly what it sounds like: automating the ability to control items around the house—from window shades to pet feeders—with a simple push of a button (or a voice command). Some activities, like setting up a lamp to turn on and off at your whim, are simple and relatively inexpensive. Others, like advanced surveillance cameras, automatic change overs, power inverters may require a more serious investment of time and money.
There are many smart home product categories, so you can control everything from lights and temperature to locks and security in your home.

Create a smart home with our home automation systems today

Here is a list of products to provide comfort, security and energy management below.
  • Automatic changeovers (Eliminate the electrical risk of changing over between PHCN and Generator) when the generator is on and NEPA restores power supply. Automatic changeover changes automatically to NEPA supply without any power interruption. Your decoders, tvs and other household appliances remains on. you can now enjoy the football match without interruption. Sleep with your two eyes closed closed at night while Generator is on because the automatic changeover will switch off your Generator, save your fuel and changeover to NEPA automatically. Also protects you and your appliances from voltage surge and electrocution. (24Months warranty)
  • Inverter and solar systems
  • Curtains, sun blinds, shutters, gates
  • Access control, security
  • Temperature: heating, cooling and ventilation
  • Audio, video, TV, home theatre
  • Communication (door phone, smartphone, PC, internet)
  • Gardening sprinklers, fountains
  • Lighting, including full-color control, power sockets
OTHER SERVICES INCLUDES:
Sales, Installations, Maintenance and Consultancies services of ICT and Security Gadgets such as:
*Intercom PABX System
*CCtv/IP Camera
*Access Control
*Video Door Phone
*Fire Alarm System
*Public Address System
*Bugler/ Intruder Alarm System
*Gate Automation
*Public Address System
*Car Park Management System
*Solar
*POS System
*Boom Barrier
*Security/Bulletproof Doors
*Electric Perimeter Fencing
*Standalone Gas Detector
*Structured Cabling
*Security Camera Watch and Pen
*Computer/Internet Networking.
Dedicated technician are always on ground to help choose and advise on a system that best suit you.
For more info,contact us today. Tel. 08087887878
(Also have free Maintenance Inclusive).

Former British PM Cameron resigns from parliament

Britain’s former prime minister David Cameron has resigned his seat in the House of Commons, he told broadcaster ITV in an interview Monday.
Cameron stepped down as prime minister in June, hours after Britain voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in which he had campaigned to stay in the bloc.
“In my view, with modern politics, with the circumstances of my resignation it isn’t really possible to be a proper backbench MP as a former prime minister,” Cameron told the broadcaster.
“I think everything you do will become a big distraction and a big diversion from what the government needs to do for our country.”
Cameron’s resignation from parliament is unusually quick — former prime ministers have typically retained their seats for a number of years after leaving the official Downing Street residence. i just hope those this example is meant for learn from it.

Basketmouth robbed at gunpoint in his Lagos home

Comedian Basketmouth was robbed this morning in his home in lekki phase 1 between the hours of 2am and 4am, 7th of September 2016. He and his family were held at gun point while the sad episode lasted. Nobody was hurt. Valuables were taken including the CCTV device. A report has been made at the police station. He can’t be reached at the moment but will be back on as soon as possible.” According to eyewitnesses, the comedian was spotted at home laughing with friends and didn’t appear to be bothered about the robbery as neighbours sympathised with him. Could it be his popularity? well i still love being famous. lol

HOW TO DETECT A PROPERTY FRAUSTER OR SCAMMER

Rental Scams in Nigeria: What You Can Do

Whether you're an owner or a renter, you can dramatically cut the risk of being scammed by taking just a few simple safety measures:
* Always seek and confirm the identity of the person you're dealing with. You want a confirmable name and address or even a notarized ID. For renters, you should be able to confirm ownership of the property on county registers. HELLO CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OUR PROPERTIES   
* Check out average rental prices in the locality. Realtors and managing agents can help. Or visit a sites  which compiles rates for big metropolitan areas.
* Never rent or lease a home sight unseen. When you think of it, who would really agree to such a thing?
* Never wire money to someone you don't know, no matter how plausible their story, and never hand over cash for rent or deposit without confirming ownership (as discussed above) and without seeing, reading, and double-checking any lease agreement before signing.
* If you own but don't live in a home (whether it's for rent or not) keep a close, regular eye on it and, if you do rent it out, change the locks between tenancies.
* If you're renting, it may be preferable to work with a bona fide rental agency. Some owners do legitimately rent out privately, but just be more wary when dealing with them.

It's bad enough that the slump in the real estate market has led not only to growing numbers of foreclosures, but also foreclosure scams. Don't allow crooks to make it even worse by falling for a rental scam too.
That's all we have for today, but we'll be back next week with another issue. See you then!

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Empty Homes Open the Door to a Rental Scam


Rental scam artists are taking advantage of the flood of neglected, empty houses on the real estate market caused by the huge increase in recession-driven foreclosures.
Homes owned by banks and other financial institutions may take months or even years to sell, leaving them unchecked for the duration and sitting targets for the scammers.
In one recently reported case, an individual lived in and paid rent on a house for 15 months before discovering it was a rental scam and that the "landlord" didn't own the house.
Often, the crooks gain entry by breaking open lock boxes, and sometimes they even change the locks so the real owners or their representatives can't get in.
In addition, as we previously reported, rental scams for apartments advertised on the Internet are also on the rise -- with both owners and renters falling victim.

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Scams targeting renters

Most commonly, the con artists merely copy listings of genuine house and apartment sales or rentals, re-advertising them with a different email address or phone number (usually a cell phone).
Or they tour neighborhoods and scour newspaper legal notices, to identify empty, foreclosed homes that they can commandeer.
If the scammers can break in, they'll happily show their victims around, posing as either the owner or an agent.
If not, they'll claim they're out of the country or make some other excuse as to why they can't show you the home.
But these con artists will send photos (also "lifted" from the original ads or realtor listings) and maybe even a set of fake keys in exchange for the rental payment -- thereby delaying victims' discovery that they've been scammed.
A particularly sneaky trick that targets would-be renters happens when the scammer actually does rent a home.
He then advertises it as being available, showing the place to prospective tenants while he lives there and collecting first and last month fees, and maybe an additional security deposit from each one, before skipping the scene.

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Rental scams targeting owners

Many of the cases where owners are the rental scam victims bear all the signs of an advance payment Nigerian scam, tricking the victim into forwarding electronic cash to the crook.
In these cases, the scammer usually claims to be out of the country and may also tell a convincing tale suggesting the rent will be paid by a relative who owes them money, a corporate sponsor or an international charity or aid agency.
In each case, the owner receives a check for more than the rental cost, with a request that the balance should be forwarded to the "renter." The check bounces, of course, and the owner is out of pocket for the cash they wired.
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12 Signs of a Rental Scam

Often, your instinct will let you know there's something not quite right about a proposed rental deal, but here are 12 tell-tale signs that suggest something's amiss:
General (typical of a Nigerian scam):
1. Communication is exclusively by email or cell phone.
2. The "owner" or "renter" claims to be out of the country.
3. Communication is urgent -- the person seems in a hurry to close the deal immediately.
4. Messages use poor spelling and grammar and, frequently, religious terms like "God Bless."
For Renters:
5. The house has a "For Sale" but not a "For Rent" sign.
6. The lock box is broken or the "agent" appears to have his own, different key to let you in.
7. The "owner" or "managing agent" is based out of town.
8. The home appears to contain someone else's personal belongings.
9. The rental sum is lower than the going rate for the locality.
For Owners:
10. The inquirer asks questions that are already answered in your flyer or ad (like when the place is available or what the rent will be).
11. The "renter" claims he's prepared to take the deal sight-unseen (usually a prelude to an advance fee scam).
12. The "renter" requests that you buy things or hire a contractor to do some work on the place first (usually the scammer is the "contractor").
Don't forget, too, that vacation rental scams provide another real estate route for the crooks to get into your wallet. You can read about them in one of our recent articles about holiday scams, How to Spot a Holiday Scam -- and Find Genuine Bargains.

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Rental Scams: What You Can Do

Whether you're an owner or a renter, you can dramatically cut the risk of being scammed by taking just a few simple safety measures:
* Always seek and confirm the identity of the person you're dealing with. You want a confirmable name and address or even a notional ID. For renters, you should be able to confirm ownership of the property on county registers.
* Check out average rental prices in the locality. Realtors and managing agents can help. 
* Never rent or lease a home sight unseen. When you think of it, who would really agree to such a thing?
* Never wire money to someone you don't know, no matter how plausible their story, and never hand over cash for rent or deposit without confirming ownership (as discussed above) and without seeing, reading, and double-checking any lease agreement before signing.
* If you own but don't live in a home (whether it's for rent or not) keep a close, regular eye on it and, if you do rent it out, change the locks between tenancies.
* If you're renting, it may be preferable to work with a bona fide rental agency. Some owners do legitimately rent out privately, but just be more wary when dealing with them.
It's bad enough that the slump in the real estate market has led not only to growing numbers of foreclosures, but also foreclosure scams. Don't allow crooks to make it even worse by falling for a rental scam too.
That's all we have for today, but we'll be back next week with another issue. See you then!

Which is safer to buy in lagos a land or a house?

From the experience I have had, buying a house is safer considering the fact that most of the lands in Lagos have been bought and those that have not been bought are difficult to verify. Also, most lands have no occupants and therefore can be easily resold compared to a house which usually has occupants. Buying a house in Lagos is the easiest way not to lose your money, it is the best way to protect your capital and a way to save you the stress and fear of Land deals.

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 Don’t just buy a house, but buy a vacant house with no occupants, as soon as you make payment, occupy the house and take immediate possession, it makes it impossible under the law to eject you until it is proven otherwise that you are not the rightful owner under a law court. It takes the Grace of God couple with a trustworthy estate agent to close a land deal successfully. Also, you need to know how to fight against land sales scam. It takes weeks and months to verify land not under government acquisition; it takes time to verify the true owner of a land which is mostly done through private investigation. The state government can only do very little to determine ‘who owns a land’ except if the land has C of O or Governor Consent and this is why more people continue to fall victim of ‘Omo-Onile’.

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The best way to buy a land in Lagos without regret is by first contracting the job to an experienced and trustworthy real estate agent, buy a land with C of O, Governor consent though it may be more expensive alternatively a land with a Government Gazette indicating that the land is free from government acquisition.

Secondly, the best house to buy is the one that has a Governor Consent, this is a statutory right of the owner to sell or transfer the property to another person. Within 24 hours you can verify ownership of a property with a Governor Consent. If you are satisfied with the verification of the Governor Consent and Deed of Ownership between original owner and the seller, you can make payment, but ensure that the house is without an occupant, collect the key and take immediate possession.

Thirdly, buy a house that comes with a C of O, though its a long procedure to get a C of O This Title reassures you that the land is safe with a Government Title, it is easier to verify this in the land Ministry, though both C of O and Governor Consent add more to the cost of the house, but the cost is worth the pain of losing all your money on the property.

Finally, you can buy a house that comes with a Government Land Gazette and a Deed of Ownership. This is the most common and comes with a lower price, but ensure the house is vacant to take immediate possession after payment. Once you have verified that the land is free from Government acquisition and the Deed of Ownership is genuine and the house is vacant, it is safe to make payment.

On a final note, when making a payment, instruct your lawyer to write a statement to purchase and it is critical to pay by cheque, attach the cheque with the statement, make a copy of both and let the owner endorse and acknowledge that he receives the document, also make it a crossed cheque to give space should in case you want to stop the payment before maturity.

"the best house to buy is the one that has a Governor Consent, this is a statutory right of the owner to sell or transfer the property to another person. Within 24 hours you can verify ownership of a property with a Governor Consent. "

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But what if the deed has been done?

 What if your already a victim of Omonile or you have been defrauded or the land you saved Millions of Naira to purchase has been sold to 2 or more people, or your documents have been discovered to be forged or fraudulent, or you have left your land unattended to after you bought it and the day you decide to go and clear the grass you see another person has started foundation work on your land or even the land you bought legally with no complains at all and when you begin work, your workers call you that somebody has brought some thugs to pursue your workers claiming true ownership of the land and the person is banding around an old purchase receipt given to him by the family head he bought from in 1978 etc. In short you have all come across these kind of stories either personally or heard about them from either a family member, friend or colleague and most have given up or abandoned the land and forego the millions spent to purchase the land and moved on quietly to count their losses and regrets and lose faith in purchasing lands. Well it shouldn’t all be like this because now I will show you some of the legal remedies you have when such issues arise with some personal examples to aid you. Now I have to warn you here that most of these remedies have been successful 85% of the time and there are some that end up badly but this is just a guide and aid to assist you to prevent such an issue happening and if it is presently happening to you, follow some of these steps and God willing your land or something better should come back to you.

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QUESTION 1: I JUST BOUGHT A LAND AWHILE AGO AND 6 MONTHS LATER I HAD A CALL THAT SOMEBODY HAS ENCROACHED ON MY LAND AND IS CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND I BOUGHT FROM ONE AJAMGBADI FAMILY MEMBER AT LANGBASA IN IBEJU LEKKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND HE HAS TOLD ME WHEN I WANTED TO BUY IT THAT IT WAS HIS FAMILY LAND AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN SOLD TO ANYONE. THE OTHER PARTY THAT ENCROACHED MY LAND IS TELLING ME ANOTHER FAMILY CALLED AGBALAGBI CHIEFTAINCY FAMILY CLAIMING TO BE THE FAMILY HEAD SOLD THE SAME LAND TO HIM 9MONTHS AGO AND HE TRAVELLED TO THE UK TO GATHER MONEY TO DO HIS FOUNDATION AND NOW HE IS BACK TO CLAIM FULL OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND. WHAT DO I DO? I HAVE INVESTED MY LAST SAVINGS IN THIS LAND AND I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY MONEY AND LAND. I AM CONFUSED! WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP I SHOULD TAKE TO RE-CLAIM MY LAND? ANSWER

Before you take that matter up to go to the police station or attempt to go to court that your land has been trespassed upon by an Usurper, you must first check yourself and the documents you possess as proof of ownership to know whether you have the following right documents to aid your case:

A. An Omonile Family Receipt from the Accredited Family Head and witnessed by both the Family Secretary and Principal Member stating their Family name and the date the Land was bought including the location of the plot of land, amount and known Family address.

 B. A Duly signed Deed of Assignment showing the parties to the Agreement, the Family Members who sold the piece of land to you which must include the Family Members who sold the land to you which must include the Family Head, Secretary and Principal witness and it must be duly stamped.


 C. A Valid Survey Plan showing all the Beacon Numbers, the Survey Plan number, the name of the Surveyor who surveyed it, the Year it was Surveyed including proof of Lodgment of the Red copy at the Survey-General’s office.

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 D. Mode of Payment both through a Bank Check or Draft and including witness to the Transaction. This is the Position of the Law that was established in The Supreme Court Case between NWOKOROBIA V NWOGU IN 2009 where it was stated that One of the Ways to prove ownership of title to land is by Production of Documents of Title. What this means is that for you to prove that you have a better title over the person claiming ownership of the same land, you must have a lot of Documents to boost your claim of Ownership of that land better than the other person. TRUE STORY: There was a client I assisted to buy 2 plots at Okun Mopo Ibeju last year owned by a particular Omonile family branch. They were the toughest I have ever encountered. Over the years they had sold lands to various people and issued them only family receipt nothing more. They were so ignorant about their lands that they didn’t know their lands had a government Excision and till date they call their Excision >>>> ‘ EXTINCTION’ . So if you ever venture to Okun Mopo Ibeju and you meet a family member telling you that they now have good papers including Government Extinction, don’t be alarmed. They mean Excision . . lol Anyway, apart from the receipt, they issued no other form of documents to back up the Buyer’s claim and even a Survey plan wasn’t something they recommended. They would normally demarcate lands using Bamboo sticks to show which land they sold and the ones separated. I fought with them for weeks that apart from the Receipt, they should acknowledge a proof of receipt of the money via a Bank Draft. That one caused Wahala because they were used to collecting Millions of Naira in CASH so that they would share the money immediately amongst themselves. Using a Bank was a Taboo and I stood my ground for them to accept payment via a bank draft and acknowledge it. Also I finally forced them to sign a deed of assignment. In fact this one was akin to the Iraq war. They refused wholesomely because they weren’t used to such protocols. They abused and rained insults on me as an ‘ , LAWYER TOO GOOD, MR PROTOCOL ETC’ I wasn’t deterred and made sure I finally had my way and my Client had all the documents he needed. They collected another 100,000 Naira for the signing of the documents and my client complained bitterly about that extra 100k and I should have just taken the receipt and walked away. Little did he know 1 year after that ‘LAWYER TOO GOOD” Stubbornness of mine will come to assist him. When another person came from no where to lay claim to his own land saying that’s where the Omoniles gave him, he could only produce a receipt showing payment for one plot of land. That one plot was not described or defined in any way and he couldn’t trace the exact person who signed the receipt for him and when we got to the police station, We tendered our deed of assignment from the family directly, the Survey plan showing the exact specification and location of the land, a signed copy of the acknowldgement of money and official receipt including a copy of the Excision tracing the land to it and counter signed by the Cabinet Office at Alausa plus a picture of the Family receiving money and signing the documents. The other party was weak and kept on studying our documents till he gave up and promised to come back to shoot all the family members if they didn’t return his money. What killed the other party’s claim to the land was the lack of production of Documents to title. If he had all his documents intact and was as thorough as me, he won't have had this problem. So please get all your documents intact so as to aid your case tomorrow in case there is any dispute on your land.

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QUESTION 2: OK WHAT IF THE OTHER PARTY CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND ALSO HAS ALL THE SAME DOCUMENTS I ALSO HAVE? WHO THEN OWNS THE LAND? ANSWER: The Position of the Law is that WHEN THERE ARE 2 CONTENDING PARTIES IN THE DISPUTE DERIVED FROM A COMMON SELLER, THE FIRST IN TIME TAKES PRIORITY. This means the First person on the land who bought his first has the strongest title and the second person must give way to the earlier Purchaser no matter how painful it is for the second buyer. This was stated in The Supreme Court Case between AYANWALE V ODUSAMI IN 2011. Here the First in time means the first person who first bought the land through all the evidences of the documents he has before the second person bought the land unknowingly. That is why you must do a search properly before you buy any land so that you don’t fall victim of this Rule and be the unfortunate second person on the land. Omoniles are extremely fond of this whereby they resell the same land to 2 or more people because of their greed or because the land has been left unattended to. Please be careful and be wise here.

3.QUESTION : BUT WAIT LAWYER YOU SAID IF THE LAND WAS BOUGHT FROM A COMMON SELLER WHICH MEANS THE SAME PERSON BUT THE PERSON WHO SOLD IT TO ME SAID HE WAS THE FAMILY HEAD OF THE AJANGBADI CHIEFTAINCY FAMILY WHO SIGNED MY DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSED BY A PRINCIPAL MEMBER OF THAT AJAMGBADI FAMILY AT LANGBASA IN IBEJU LEKKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND WHILE THE OTHER PERSON CONTESTING THE LAND WITH ME ALSO BROUGHT DOCUMENTS SHOWING ANOTHER FAMILY HEAD OF THE AGBALUMO CHIEFTAINCY FAMILY AT LANGBASA IN IBEJU LEKKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT WHO ARE ALSO CLAIMING TO BE THR TRUE OWNERS OF THE LAND SOLD TO HIM. WHO THEN ARE WE TO BELIEVE AND TRUST AND HOW DO WE DETERMINE THE TRUE TRADITIONAL FAMILY THAT HAD THE RIGHT TO SELL THE LAND? ANSWER: The Legal Rule here is that a party relying on Evidence of tradition in proof of ownership of land when it relates as to the true ownership of the Land Family Wise, must establish facts as to the following: A. WHO FOUNDED THE LAND B. HOW THE LAND WAS FOUNDED C. HOW THE LAND WAS TRANSFERRED TO THEIR FAMILY FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL AND IT MUST STAND ON PURE TRADITONAL HISTORY WHICH CAN BE FURTHER CONFIRMED. D. THE FAMILY WHO SOLD THE LAND TO THE BUYER MUST ESTABLISH THEY ARE THE TRUE AND GENUINE OWNERS WITH COGENT, CREDIBLE, CONSISTENT AND UNCONTRADICTED EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT THEY HAD THE CAPACITY TO SELL. Evidence that are not Consistent, but have discrepancies cannot support a party’s proof of ownership to land. (This is where it is important to do a proper family search to determine the true owners of the land. Due to our traditional family culture, Land is passed down to many wives and Children and each portion of land is Partitioned to give each branch of family its own portion to manage, Use or sell and it’s the Buyer’s duty to determine which family land has been properly partitioned and has the capacity to sell. The problem arises when another Omonile member from another portioned family decides to go and sell lands that doesn’t belong to his family side or that has been properly apportioned by the General family head and he ends up issuing false receipts and signing false documents under the pretext of being the True Family head. The Law will not back you up because the transaction was dubious from the beginning. So a proper family search will aid you here so that you don’t look like a fool in front of the Police or Court when your trying to prove your case because it will definitely fail in favour of the other party also claiming ownership of that same land. TRUE STORY: I Assisted a Client sometime in 2008 to buy some plots of land somewhere in Langbassa Ibeju Lekki . Now this wasn’t my kind of land I usually assist people to buy because the Land was a large expanse of Virgin land that just had a general Perimeter survey plan and the Gazette that time was still under processing at Alausa so it really didn’t have any legal document to back the claims of the sellers of the Land apart from the Perimeter Survey and the family stories of First ownership of the land from time immemorial due to conquest from another rival village and their great grand father took possession of the lands which has devolved down to the children over time. There was no way to ascertain ownership of the land at Alausa or at the Survey General’s office apart from the land was under acquisition and that the community were applying for their Gazette. The client was adamant that he want to buy those lands because they were cheap and that the Family head had told him there was no wahala on the land and no other person or group of persons could lay claim to the land other than his family. On the strength of the Family Head’s claim, I reluctantly agreed to the purchase of the lands and he was issued a Deed of Assignment and Family receipt. One major thing I fought for before I made my client part with money was to Incorporate in the Deed of Assignment the stories how the Family head claimed Ownership of land transferred to them over the years and made sure the family head and 7 other family members sign the deed of assignment and consented to the receipt issued by the Family head. The client was happy he had secured a good deed and left the land unattended to and news now filtered to him sometime last year that Another person had started clearing his land to build and when he came to confront the person it led to a shouting match and police coming to arrest all parties. During the Investigation, the new person couldn’t trace his ownership of the land to the family properly and how the land transferred to him while the Family head attested to the ownership of the land by calling all the names that from time immemorial was in possession of the land till it got to my client. This proof of Traditional evidence helped my client regain his land and his lawyer even had to drop the case because his client couldn’t prove he had the traditional evidence to trace the title of his land.

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4. QUESTION: BUT WHEN I SAW THE SURVEY PLAN OF THE OTHER PERSON CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND I FOUND OUT IT IS NOT THE SAME LIKE MY OWN. THE ADJOURNING LAND AND STREET DRAWN ON HIS SURVEY PLAN IS DIFFERENT BUT HE IS CLAIMING THAT MY LAND IS HIS LAND AND THAT IT IS WHERE THE OMONILES TOOK HIM TO, IS THE SAME LAND REFLECTING ON THEIR OWN FAMILY SURVEY PLAN. HOW DO I RESOLVE THIS DUPLICATE SURVEY PLAN WAHALA? ANSWER: There are 3 Steps here to ascertain True ownership of land with respect to a Survey Dispute: A. A Survey Plan must be tendered showing all the features of the land and showing clearly the boundaries as properly described. B. A Competent Registered Surveyor must test and ascertain with certainty that the Survey Plan he is holding is an accurate survey plan and it has been properly lodged in the Surveyor general’s office for the record and matches the one in their record. C. The identity of the land must be clearly ascertained and it must match what is on the Survey plan and the boundaries must be shown with all certainty. If your survey plan is not properly drawn and described properly and most especially it isn’t lodged in the surveyor general’s office and the survey plan cannot properly show it is connected with other adjoining lands beside it, then your survey plan cannot help you in swaying the property in your favour. Read more about fraudulent Surveyors and Survey plans here: Top 10 Land Survey Plan Scams By Fraudulent Land Surveyors! Study It Carefully http://www.nairaland.com/921525/top-10-land-survey-pla

5. QUESTION: WHAT HAPPENS NOW THAT THE SELLER HAS GIVEN ME FAKE DOCUMENTS, FAKE RECEIPT, SHOWED ME A WRONG LAND AND HAS NOT RETURNED MY MONEY AFTER MUCH DEMAND FOR IT? WHAT ARE MY REMEDIES HERE? ANSWER: This is a clear case of Fraud or Obtaining under False Pretext because the Seller had no capacity from the very beginning to sell the land, so you have not title. So the remedy open to you is to report the matter to the Special Fraud Unit of the Police or if the cost of the land is above 5Million, the EFCC will handle the case for you to recover the money for you and or prosecute the fraudulent seller or sellers on your behalf. To be honest a lot of people are under the delusion that we are still under Military Rule and that when there is a land dispute, Soldiers, Police, Lawyers and para military men should immediately come in, beat everybody up and immediately the land will be restored back to you. This is not true. A land dispute is a civil matter and its only the courts that can resolve the issues at hand. Unfortunately most people don’t like this option because of the incessant court delays but that is the law and that’s the only option open to people who feel that their lands have been trespassed upon. The police cannot solve a breach of contract or a dispute as to land based on documents discrepancies because its not under their jurisdiction to do so except there is a clear case of fraud or forgery or obtaining money under false pretext. So please know your choices and don’t run afoul of the law. That’s why it is always advisable to make sure you do a proper search from the beginning and get your lawyer to get ALL THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS in your favour to assist your case as proof of evidence of Ownership.

6. QUESTION: WHAT OTHER ALTERNATIVE IS AVAILABLE OTHER THAN GOING TO COURT OR THE POLICE WHEN THE SELLER HAS DISCOVERED HIS MISTAKE OR HAS NO MONEY TO REFUND BUT HAS OTHER LANDS AND IS READY TO RELOCATE THE SELLER TO COMPENSATE HIM? WHAT SHOULD HE DO IN THIS SITUATION? ANSWER: The truth here is that RELOCATION is the only way out and this is a very painful choice to take and swallow but in most situations, it is the best situation to escape the anguish, pain, police wahala, court delay, shouting, screaming, complaining, fighting and a host of other knee jerk reactions when it happens. All the shouting on this planet will will not bring your money back or land back because the Seller has “Chopped” the money and he cannot refund it and the land has been awarded to the other party. So accepting relocation from the original location compared to the you bought seems the best option. Although it is painful to assimilate this option after going through the whole process of buying a land for you to finally accept a relocation, but it’s the best way to resolve the whole wahala because land never devalues and new locations will always spring up to make it attractive for you and you can resell it in future to make a profit. In this situation at least your still holding on to something tangible. What if the Seller dies during the court case, what if he absconds, what if he value of that area he intends to give increases? You have to look at all the positives involved here instead of the negatives so that at least you gain something. This is Lagos. Land transactions are not always smooth. Its filled with a lot of hiccups and issues and its not a perfect scenario. Even i that is so meticulous in the way i do things still encounter new landed issues everyday that throws me off balance and i have to find a way to make it successful. So embrace that option if you are opportuned. Its my own candid advise that most people that find themselves in this situation should embrace reconciliation and arbitration if the opportunity arises and take the land they intend to relocate you to as long as its legal, free from defect and genuine and if possible the seller should do something extra to try and appease the buyer such as assist with foundation money or blocks or something to help mitigate the whole pain but if you’re the type ready to go to court till you ascertain your right, take that option. Its all a matter of choice. But this rule does not apply to a fraudulent Seller or Agent who willingly and knowingly sold defective lands he had no capacity to sell from the beginning or someone who knowingly defrauds you by selling a land to 2 or more people. Such a person is a dupe, scammer and fraudster and that’s where the police or EFCC has the right the right to arrest and prosecute on your behalf and if he is not ready to return your money in full, his assets will be sold and he will still serve time for his crimes. Such people do not have the capacity to relocate anybody because they didn’t have anything to sell in the first instance, so they should be dealt with with an iron hand and the authorities must be involved so as to serve as a deterrent to others. There are many more remedies available when there are Land Disputes but these are the ones I can remember now off hand. You can always consult your Lawyer to give you more tips on how to go about it or get in touch with me privately to assist. Do have a wonderful day ahead of you and we pray to God you and your children’s children should not encounter such Land Wahala in future.

Rules And Tips For Buying A Property In Lagos




419 is rampant in Nigeria and its extremely prevalent when it comes to buying landed property in Lagos. These people are tough and cold hearted and they take no prisoners when it comes to making you part with your money. So below are some rules and tips when buying property and please learn from them because i also was a victim when i of all people let my guard down.

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1. Rule number one and the most important rule: TRUST NO SELLER OR AGENT NO MATTER WHAT TILL YOU HAVE GOTTEN YOUR DOCUMENTS SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED.

2. Don’t believe all the Marketing Bullshit adverts from Sellers or Agents till you have done your own personal search to confirm. The more they tell you they have a good track record for sales done properly, the more you should be prepared that you might be the first person where things will go wrong and your money will disappear.

 3. Every land you are interested in, always and i mean always ask for these documents:

a. The Survey Plan
b. The deed of Assignment and how the property was transferred from time immemorial to the present day Seller:
 c. Copy of the Original receipt the Seller used to purchase the land and from whom he bought it from
d. Copy of either the gazette, C/O or governors consent of the land. e. If possible visit the property personally or send a representative you trust.

 Never buy a property directly from a property magazine or website without you seeing it personally or sending your representative to see it and comment on it. If a seller tells you he is not ready to release a document because it’s a private document, please walk away. Every landed document is a Public document of record that can be investigated and searched. The more they tell you they can’t release it, the more suspicious you should be and after demanding it strenuously and its still rejected please walk away fast. Sweet Talking by a Seller or Agent will only put you in more trouble. If the Seller or Agent says it will take him time before he gets the document but you should fast track the transaction till he gets the document because other people are interested in the land, let him go and eat the land. Without these documents for search, your only falling victim to these fraudsters.

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CASE STUDY NO 1 IN OKOTA: 
 A client contracted a lawyer to do a search for him in respect of a land he wanted to buy. He contacted an Estate Agent who introduced him to the owners of the land and they claimed to be family members of the Okota Ruling family. When i got to the Omonile's place of residence, i asked them to identify themselves and they brought out everything including driver’s licences, Nepa bills showing their names and addresses, bank account statements, letters and certificates showing they are affilated with the Okota Ruling families. In short everything i asked from them in terms of identification scaled through. On a further Personal inspection of the land i noticed it was a fenced land and had a small gate man's house there. I asked the Omonile when he bought the land he said in 1978 and showed me an old receipt of the purchase with these old 5kobo stamps attached to it and he told me to take it to the Okota palace to verify it and even gave me a name to meet there to cross check which i did and the person he directed me to brought out a book showing all the transactions since the 1970s till date and confirmed that the original Okota family sold it to the omonile. I asked the Omonile why he was just selling it after 20 something years and why didnt he build on it since Okota was a prime place, he told me he was short of money when he fenced the land and built the gate mans house 5 years ago and abandoned it but he was now ready to sell the land for N6 million. I asked him where he was living and i traced his address to the place he gave me as his official address and i couldn’t help but try to compare the Okota property he said he was building and owned and the squalor home he is living in presently to see the differences. I had serious doubts about the seller but i couldn’t find any fault so far. I now decided to up my game by demanding for the documents of the property and he gave me a registered deed of assignment registered in Alausa in the 1980s and upon search it was found to be duly registered in their name and i finally encouraged the client to do a survey plan search which finally checked out. After all said and done, i had nothing else to search and had to endorse the sale for the buyer and the property was going for N6.5Million but my spirit still wasn’t convinced that all was right but i couldn’t point out precisely what the problem was and how to detect it. The Agents kept on adding pressure on the Buyer that he should buy the land because other buyers were also interested and in return the Buyer added more pressure on me to endorse it quickly because he didn’t want to lose the land because to him it was a steal. On the eve of the night of paying the sum, i felt very uneasy and i took the receipt and deed of assignment and kept on going through it over and over to see if i could pick any faults but i couldn’t. Driving home that night i suddenly had that urge to park along the road to review all the documents properly and that’s when God decided to open my eyes. The Deed of Assignment registered in Alausa in the 1980s was a perfect clone from the one i was reviewing. Everything was properly typed out and stamped exactly and dated exactly[b] except one very tiny mistake[/b]. The person who drafted the clone Deed of Assignment was an expert forger but he slept off at the end of the drafting and in one small corner he forgot to proof read his work thoroughly. In a particular line of the deed of assignment where it was to be dated 16 of April 1983, he ended up typing 16TH OF MAY 2010. That small error was all i needed to cancel the transaction. I took that same cloned deed of assignment to Alausa and gave it to 4 experts there and none of them where able to discover the error until i pointed it out and they were extremely amazed at the level of forgery. It was’nt discovered due to human power but through God i must confess and when i confronted the Omoniles about the fraud, they simply demanded for their papers and said they weren’t selling again. The next day i came to confirm about the owners, i was told they had disappeared and moved out from the place they were staying. I further learnt that they planted a mole in the Oba's palace in Okota and doctored the log book that recorded all the transactions for people who search to be convinced its real and i finally discovered that the plot of land belonged to professor in The U.S that bought the land in the 80s from a third party seller and was developing his land little by little but didn’t know Omoniles where attempting to sell his property at his back. So the moral of this story brings out the following tips: a. Never trust any Omonile who brings out any document for a property that you can see that is quite new but the documents are old looking b. Always be wary about properties that are fenced. Try to get to the bottom of it why the so called seller fenced the property and he is ready to sell because he might be selling you another man's property c. Whenever you see foundation on a property, always demand for the building plan approval to confirm unless they might be selling you another man's property d. Always demand for the survey plan for a fenced property and try and trace the beacon numbers either on the ground or on the wall and compare them with what you have on the survey plan and compare the date the survey plan was made and drawn and the name on the survey plan. e. Never be in a hurry to buy a land and don’t let the agents or sellers push you till you have completed your search and convinced all is well unless when your pushed, you part with your money and you won’t see both the agent and seller again. f. Always try and visualize a person selling a multi million naira land and his personality. Someone that looks like a person that hasn’t counted or seen N500,000 EVER CANNOT CLAIM TO BE AN OWNER OF LAND THAT RUNS FOR MILLIONS. G. Please, Please and Please Investigate the Owner and the documents thoroughly. Don’t skimp on the search fees it could save your bank account and family savings. I get it all the time people shouting they can’t pay N50,000 for search but are ready to throw away N2 Million and above and later come back to cry to me where things went wrong.

CASE STUDY NO2 (DODGY SURVEYORS) 
 Everyone knows that i have been a foremost promoter of doing a survey plan search with a surveyor before buying and if possible going to the land with an Alausa Surveyor to confirm whether it is free from acquisition or not. Well i also fell victim of dodgy surveyors i recommended to people that ended up colluding with the omoniles to decieve buyers and me. Such instances occured in Okun Ajah, Mopo Ibeju, Sangotedo, Ikorodu, lafiaji, Eputu, Akowonjo and mowe. These surveyors have found a way to beat the system because of their greed and its almost next to impossible for a buyer or me to know where they have gone wrong. If it is a familiar place they have been and they have met the owners of the land before and upon their search they have found out that the area is not free from government acquisition, they end up colluding with the omonile and the omonile ends up promising to give them a free land or induce them with money far above what the buyer will give them for surveying the land. So when they are to go to the land to investigate it with their GPS, they will search the coordinates and come back with a favourable report that the land is good. Because they are authorities in this department, you have no choice but to accept their word. You end up giving them the contract to do your survey plan and later on when you bring another surveyor there to investigate the land you realize that the land is committed or not free. Even on the survey plan of the land you have bought, they will be so bold as to stamp FREE FROM ALL KNOWN ACQUISTION but in reality your land could be sitting on a Pipeline or Coastal road for all they care. You confront them and all you hear is SORRY or that the instruments they used then were faulty blah blah blah. The Omoniles have learnt to use them thoroughly to their own advantage since they know you might want to do due diligence. The truth is that it’s very rare or let’s say BIG MANISM that will make a Registered Surveyor follow you to the site to do a routine land search. They usually send their boys and whatever coordinates the boy writes for the oga, the oga just stamps it as being okay without even seeing the land sometimes. Some of The Alausa surveyors i trusted last year really messed me up atimes and i had to give up recommending anyone again. Most of the time the buyers end up blaming me for introducing them when in reality i had no idea this was what they were doing to buyers and collecting money plus free lands from the omoniles to distort the truth. This Greed and Fraud extends to all sectors of our country and its getting more difficult to see who you can trust. When i confronted a past surveyor general of Oyo state on this issue, he told me point blank that such practices will not stop unless they change the procedure of checking land coordinates in Survey General's office and the buyer is ready to pay the right fees for a thorough survey check. He says the law on survey check states that a survey plan must be done on the site personally and after that a[b] LAND INFORMATION WILL BE DONE WHICH COULD TAKE UP TO A WEEK AND THE SURVEYOR GENERAL WILL SIGN ON IT TO SHOW WHETHER ITS FREE OR NOT AND IF IT ENDS UP NOT BEING FREE BUT IT WAS ERRONEOUSLY SIGNED AS FREE, THE STATE GOVERNMENT WILL COMPENSATE THE BUYER[/b]. But the flaw in this system means that the proposed buyer must shell out almost a[b] N100,000 or more to do a survey plan and register it before the Land Information is drawn up and gotten and if at the end it is found that the land is not free, the buyers money goes into the drain and he performs this process all over again till he gets the right property to buy.[/b] The Bitter truth is that how many people will be ready to go through this process? Virtually 1% of buyers so we still have to rely on these Surveyors doing their thing and hope for the best that they are competent enough, loyal enough to you first and trust worthy to deliver. So despite the Ups and Downs of with some dodgy Surveyors, i promised myself not to introduce anybody to any surveyor personally again again but i have also found out that not helping other people because of a few dodgy surveyors means am not fulfilling Gods work to assist because of my anger of the system and untrustworthy surveyors. I have now found 2 surveyors that i can alternate with to introduce people to help with their various searches. I can only vouch for my own work that its almost perfect and i take blames for my own short comings but not the short comings of other people because i introduced them to you. While i believe they are morally upright people that SHOULD DO YOUR JOBS PERFECTLY, still have it at the back of your mind that they are human beings and can also go hay wire so they must be monitored seriously. Remember RULE NO 1: DONT TRUST ANYBODY. So the Moral of this story brings the following TIPS: a. Once i introduce you to the surveyor, whether private or Alausa, make sure you know his office and where he works. Your not paying me money and i dont share their money, so you must know who your giving money to and if your satisfied with him.. So also get to know where the surveyor works and know what works he or she has done I can only recommend based on previous good works and monitor them for you but your the one paying them. b. Also when a surveyor is going on a search, make sure you ask him or her about the GPS to take the coordinates. Most of them have computers where the whole coordinates is stored in so once they punch the coordinates in the system, they should have the answer in minutes. Please try to make them show you the coordinates through the system personally or scan it out to you. It replaces the land information to an extent since your coming through the back door to be 100% sure of what you’re buying. If your surveyor can't give you concrete facts to back up his case, please abandon him in a Jiffy. Don’t get sentimental. I was a victim in because i was sentimental. This 2011, Mr. Sentimental has Died. No Dulling!!! c. Most surveyors charge exorbitantly but one thing i will advise from now on is this. Never pay a surveyor his full money until he has done the survey plan and has placed the beacons on the land. Also demand for the red copy after the survey has been done and pay that extra money for land information search to cover you. PENNY WISE POUND FOOLISH is the cause of so many landed problems and i vow to be very hard on them on behalf of buyers who can’t have access to them because of distance or work schedule. d. Talking of the beacons: Make sure your surveyor places these beacons on the ground after the survey has been drawn. The absence of beacons lead to boundary disputes and gives omonile the opportunity to steal lands because it cannot be identified properly. Don’t let lazy surveyors take advantage of you.

CASE STUDY NO 3. IKORODU: 
(How to Detect Land Owned by Another Person that is being offered for sale) A Friend of mine saw a bungalow he was interested in and decided to buy it in Ikorodu. Upon search we found out that the Seller was the true owner and had all the documents to back it up. In fact he was living in that bungalow for the last 2 years after he just built it and put it up for sale for N7Million. My friend was really interested in it and[b] he had an agreement with the seller that he would pay him N4Million as the first installment and the remaining balance of N3Million for the second balance in 2 months time[/b]. Everything was agreed to and the first N4Million payment was made to the seller in his lawyers office and as an extra security for my friend i said the seller should collect the keys of the bungalow to move in and after he settles the final balance, the original documents such as the survey plan, deed of assignment and original receipts including the building plan will be given to my friend. The seller agreed and handed over the keys and took the N4Million and a contract of sale was drafted and signed in his lawyer’s office and witnessed by a lot of people. My friend immediately took possession of the bungalow and moved some of his things in to show intent / immediate ownership and hoped that before the end of the 2 months he would balance up the remaining amount owned. Due to the nature of his job off shore, he was away for about a month and a half and when he got back to his bungalow; he noticed the bungalow has been over taken by another person who had moved into the bungalow. The place was repainted and totally newly furnished and all my friend's loads and properties had disappeared as if they never existed . The new owner claimed that he bought the same property from the Seller 2 weeks before my friend came back for N10 Million Naira and he paid at once and in exchange he was given the survey plan, deed of assignment and receipt by the Seller and when he moved in he did not see any property in the house to make him realize that it was being inhabited by anyone previously. All attempts to locate the Seller till date has proved abortive to either arrest him for fraud or sue him for fraud and breach of contract. The lawyer and Agent kept on denying that they haven’t seen the Seller but because of the pressure on the Seller's family, the N4Million was refunded but my friend lost a lot in terms of other fees he paid to get the property i.e survey fess, legal fees, agency fees, miscellaneous etc and all his belongings he left in the house but at least he was fortunate to get his original capital paid. The Moral of this Case study provides the following Tips to learn from: a. Be very careful before you attempt to enter into any installment payment. Look at the people your dealing with. Investigate them properly. Cover all your lose ends. More especially if you can pay at once to get the property please follow that route. There are so many bad people in the property business that are ready to exploit that loop hole especially since if a second buyer comes forth they can resell that same property to him for a higher price and refund your money if they are kind enough or deduct from it and tell you stories. b. Also if you’re buying a land, always try and look out for signs to show that land doesn’t belong to the omonile. Once you see it has been newly cut as if they want to start construction work, immediately know its a stolen land because nobody will cut his land today and sell tomorrow. c. Also learn to know how to identify fenced lands and the blocks used. If a seller is telling you that he just fenced the land but the fence looks very old with the blocks as if it has being molded in the last 10 years, know the seller is trying to trick you to buy another person’s land. d. If the fenced walls looks new, ask him why he wants to sell so soon after spending so much to fence it and try to get the architect who fenced it for him to confirm. Use that trick that you need the same architect to assist you in constructing a structure on the land and when the seller begins to dilly dally about the whereabouts of the same architect that built his own fence then you know he is a scammer. d. Also when you get to a land and you see beacons around the land; ask immediately for the survey plan to compare the name on the survey plan with the sellers name and the beacon coordinates with the ones on the ground. Also check the date the survey plan was made and the surveyors address on the Survey plan to confirm and cross check whether it was the same surveyor that did it. If the seller is playing games with providing the survey plan for the same land that has beacons then you should just walk away. To be honest there are so many stories and tricks i learnt , but i have to stop here for now and learn too from these tricks to become a better and smarter Property Transactional Lawyer. Also please i implore you to learn from these tips too to perfect your property transactions. Before you part away with your money perform these searches or contact me. I have become very very good at this in spotting fraudulent landed deals, although not perfect and still learning new scams everyday but this year i hope to save people millions and millions of Naira especially those living abroad that do not have access to know what is going on here and how to go about it and pray these land fraudsters change their ways and learn to get a job instead of scheming on how to steal and defraud people's money. Next time i would add more tricks i learnt when people want to sell Government Schemes, Omoniles who resell other people's lands bought and how to protect your land from being resold and why its necessary to document your papers in Alausa after you have bought it to prevent land scammers from playing on your intelligence. Cheers Note If your buying property from a traditional family or omonile as they are called, its almost impossible to stop them. But there is a way i do it. After negotiating for the land on your behalf and they tell me their price and we come to a conclusion, we factor the price the omoniles are demanding and add it to the purchase price and commit them to sign as witness to the deed of assignment. That commitment irrevocably places a burden on them and their assignees to leave you alone when you are erecting structures and if you intend to sell that property to another person i future. Usually it could be in another form of agreement called a deed of ratification to be signed and honored by them that they ratified this sale in exchange for so so so amount of Naira and your home and dry.

BEFORE YOU BUY THAT PROPERTY ( Must read!! )


1. QUESTION: I AM INTERESTED IN BUYING IN A LAND NOW IN LAGOS, WHAT STEPS SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM FALLING VICTIM TO LAND FRAUDSTERS AND GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS? ANSWER: Follow these simple steps judiciously:

1a. Visit the land personally after you have signified interest to buy the land from the Agent. Never buy a land without viewing it yourself or through your trusted representatives. I will not do this for you guys again this year. Its your land so you must know what you want to buy.

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1b. If your abroad make sure its someone you trust that has no vested interest in that land that you should send to look at it for you on your behalf. Try as much as possible to avoid close family members or friends that would still benefit from the transaction in some way i.e Someone that you would be sending money through his account continuously or someone that would be supplying blocks or could collude with the sellers to make a profit off you.

 1c. Also try to make the agent take pictures of the place or land before you visit the land so that when your back home you can compare and contrast what you have seen through pictures and what you have seen personally or via pictures .

 TRUE STORY: This happened last year to a client in Malaysia (Name withheld). He saw an advert on properties about a land advertised at Ijede Ikorodu and instead of inquiring further to know more about the property or contact me, he was more attracted to the cheap price tag of N500,000 per plot and saw it as an awoof land to scoop up. The agent kept on pressurizing him to pay for the land because according to the agent there were several people interested in the land and the price might increase anytime soon. The client was so anxious and fell for the tricks of the agent that was putting pressure on him to buy the lands and instead of sending someone to check it out or contacting me to do the search he paid money (precisely N3Million for 6 plots@ N500,000 PER PLOT)directly to the account of the so called Seller and he was issued a receipt and promised a deed of assignment will be drawn up very soon. After 3 months he didn’t hear anything again from the agent and the more he bugged the agent with numerous phone calls to ask about his documents, the more the agent became hostile and evasive towards him. He was forced to finally call me to explain his predicament and was now ready to contract me to confirm the status of his lands and get his documents. I got in touch with the agent posing as a neutral buyer since he obviously hasn’t met me before and told him I wanted to buy some plots at Ijede . On getting there I felt like weeping for the Buyer. First of all the lands weren’t located in Ijede as advertised. Its another 30 minutes from Ijede. We are talking off the very very interior part of Ikorodu and to make matters worse the lands were very marshy and swampy that I was trying to decipher how the agent or seller knew where the buyers land started or stopped. To make matters worse I went with a surveyor to get the coordinates and she later found out that the place is under Government acquisition and was a no go area talkless of documents. When I gave him my search report that it was a very bad place and I won't have recommended it to him if he had contacted me earlier and now he is begging me to look for a buyer to buy those defective lands which I will never do because I will never willingly endorse or recommend a bad land for another person to buy except I have no idea in any form or manner that the land is defective. So the Keypoints to this Question above is to:

 A. Always inspect the land you want to buy physically or through a trusted agent. If your abroad, plan your vacation or free time to come and see it physically before you commit yourself unless you will have yourself to blame.

 B. Always contact a property lawyer to investigate the land for you. Don’t use any lawyer just because you have a lawyer neighbour or family member who is a lawyer. If He or she is not versed in property tricks your digging a hole for yourself.

C. Always contact a surveyor to take the coordinates of a land before you buy whether you see the land physically or not unless you might just be buying Gbese(Debt)

D. Never pay money to anybody that you haven’t met or know 1 or 2 things about the person selling the land to you and never pay money to anybody either an agent, seller or property company without bringing another person to act as a witness and making the seller and agents plus your witness general witnesses to the transaction. Another popular Question from Nairalanders I get every now and then is this:

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2. QUESTION: THE OWNER OF THE LAND AM INTERESTED IN BUYING IS NOT AROUND AND HE IS ABROAD, SO DO I PROCEED WITH THE TRANSACTION? ANSWER: To be honest this is a very very tricky question but from my experience I would say NO. Because we live in a society where land fraud is very prevalent. Its even more difficult to proceed with a land investigation when the Owner isn’t available talkless of paying for one to someone you cannot ascertain. But if you are still determined to still go ahead with the transaction make sure you follow these tips so you wont be defrauded:

A. Continue to pester the agent or the seller why can't he come over to conclude a transaction? He is receiving close to N2Million or more and his plane ticket isn’t more than N200,000, So why cant he come down for a day or 2 to identify himself and pick up his check?

 B. If the Seller continues to provide excuses why he cant make it down, ask him for a copy of his passport and a letter from his bank that he is an account holder of whatever bank he intends to lodge his check or cash

C. Ask him to provide all the copies of the documents of the land and hand them over to your lawyer to check it out such as the receipts of the land who he bought it from, the deed of assignment, survey plan and if possible the building plan and make sure you cross check from all the people who prepared all the documents presented to you that it’s the same person that is selling the land to you that they prepared the documents for in his favour.

 D. Compare Signatures from all the other documents and if possible try and meet a relative of the seller to compare notes to trace the history of the person selling the land to you.

E. Force the Seller to swear an affidavit or draft a power of attorney duly stamped by a commissioner of oath that he is the true and legitimate owner of the property and give your lawyer to examine and confirm its authencity.

TRUE STORY: I was faced with this dilemma early this year when a client was interested in buying a land in the Ajah environs. He had inspected the land and he was very happy with the land and did his survey search to confirm it was a good land but when it was the turn for the agent to provide the documents for further scrutiny, he said the owner was in Ireland and said he will only release the documents only if my client will pay the N4Million to his account first and then he will sign the documents for the client via DHL if I prepare the deed of assignment. I queried the arrangement because it made no sense to me. I hadn’t seen any document either real, photocopy or imaginary from the Seller except through phone calls and he was demanding immediate payment before he signs the documents sighting his reasons that he didn’t want his time to be wasted by time wasters and if they were serious they would pay the money and he will honour his path of signing the documents. I told my client that was pure rubbish talk and if the so called seller was ready, he will do everything possible to prove to me that he was the authentic owner before I endorse it. Because I was proving too difficult by not bending over till the Seller provided me with documents, the Sellers agent was able to coerce the Client that I was delaying the transaction and other people where interested in the property and the Seller wasn’t interested in Selling to my client again because I was too ‘rude and problematic’. (Am only difficult, rude or Problematic when i smell a fraud and i dont care what people think about me from that moment on) My client then systematically pushed me aside and hired another lawyer to handle the transaction for him who was ready to hob nob with the agent and the Seller and he paid the N4Million to the Seller who in turn signed the deed of Assignment and he didn’t tell me about the transaction with the Seller. 4 or 5months later he started to Fence when 2 rival parties came to the land to prevent him from working. Apparently the land in question was a land in dispute and has been in court for 6 years now and the omoniles where fighting a Wing Commander in the Airforce over that piece of land. The Seller was fraudulently sold that land by an Unsuspecting Omonile some years back and he too didn’t know the land was under dispute and he had no title to the land and wanted to quickly dispose of it fraudulently that’s why he didn’t have any paper to prove ownership whatso ever because there was none from the very start that’s why he was very hostile with me because I was unto his tricks. Now he can't trace the Seller neither can the agent be found and he now called me to step in to assist to do something. I simply ignored him and advised him to use the lawyer he used for that transaction and he told me that one has been evading him and not picking his calls too. He cannot even take the matter to court or the Omoniles because he has no right by mistake to the land because he failed to do the right thing and exercise patience. Buying land is not like buying Gala on the road. It takes time, patience and experience to conclude a landed transaction especially in Lagos So the key point for the above question include: 

 1. Don’t settle for less for a Seller abroad that you cannot see physically. Make sure he or she ticks all the boxes and don’t ever do anything without a lawyer. Its too dangerous.

2. The burden of proof for the Seller abroad is far higher than One in Nigeria. Make sure he double satisfies you that he is the real owner by demanding everything you need to confirm authencity.

3. If the Seller gets hostile or angry that either you or your lawyer is being a pest to demand for documents that are public records, please walk away and look for another land. God didn’t destine that land as yours and the more you push it the more a disaster awaits you.

4. If possible if the Seller is in a country or vicinity that you have a person, friend or relative that stays there, send the prepared deed drafted by your lawyer to that person so that he carries the document to the Seller so that he can put a face to the person signing it. Another Very Popular Question I get virtually every week:

3. QUESTION:THERE IS A LAND AM INTERESTED IN BUYING BUT THE SELLER OR THE PROPERTY COMPANY SELLING THE LANDS HAVE SAID I CAN PAY INSTALMENTALLY AND TRUTHFULLY I DON’T HAVE THE FULL MONEY TO PAY FOR IT IN FULL, WHAT THEN ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF PAYING FOR A LAND INSTALMENTALLY. WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE? ANSWER: Very Simple. If you can’t pay for it in full, sit down and gather the money till you have it to pay for it in full. Discipline yourself and save the money till you can purchase the land wholesomely. If your not disciplined enough then you can’t invest in big projects. Installment payments of land in lagos or Ogun state is the number one Land Scam perfected by the ‘educated Omoniles’ as I call them. They include Property development companies scattered around offering estates all over with 100% guarantee that your land will be transferred to you when full payment has been completed. Only 20% of Property development companies or Sellers honour that agreement and don’t default. Its better than a Madoff Scheme where they take your money because your desperate to secure the land and you pay a certain down deposit on the land promising to pay the remaining in some few weeks time or months. No Seller will tell you that you should’nt drop a deposit but when you drop that deposit that’s when all the wahala starts. These are the problems you face when dealing with installmental payment:

A. You don’t own the land or possess a fraction of it in anyway. The best the Seller can do for you is that he will give you a receipt that he has received part payment for the land. He can resell the land to a higher bidder and return your money to you despite all the efforts you must have put in to find the land and try to secure it. A seller that refunds your money is God sent and you must kiss his or her feet for 3 months for returning it without any wahala.

 B. Let’s talk about the Wahala ones that wont refund your money; i. They have chopped your money and used it for other projects and will continue to deceive you using mind games that they will refund your money soon and for the next 1 year your pursuing them from pillar to post. ii. They will hold you ransom when they find another bidder who is also interested in that land and because they have seen that you have grown emotional to that land, your willing to add some extra thousands or millions to secure that land because they have scared you with another buyer. iii. There is no way you will agree with a seller to buy a land for a certain price say N1Million and you split the money twice or thrice and the seller doesn’t bring up hidden charges towards the end because he knows you don’t own that property till he hands over all the documents to you. iv. Finally I can’t help but go back to reason no 1 about chopping your money and playing games with you. Most of the estates around Lagos and Ogun springing up are the kings of perfecting this scam. Because most of them have an arrangement either with the family owners or banks who financed the estate to survey the place, clear the bushes and build fences around, they have to recoup that money spent unless the bank will not lend them more money or the families/investors become impatient that money is not entering as expected. So any money they receive as deposit from you as installmental payment is not kept in a safe place till your ready to either complete payment or in case you default and they refund your money back. Rather as soon as they receive that small installmental payment from you the money is immediately expended on other things either salaries, surveyors, shares, bonuses, payment of loans etc or something other than the true intention of the deposit. Their major prayer is for you not to default so that they can continue using the money for other uses and the moment you default and you call back for your deposit then your in trouble because they SIMPLY DON’T HAVE THE MONEY TO GIVE BACK TO YOU. That’s why even those that have paid completely for all the land when dealing with these people still have problems knowing where their plots are or having any document to validate ownership and possession of the land because they have collected so much installmental payment from people and until a certain amount of people pay their money in full, you cannot individually lay claim to owning a piece of land in that estate or area. There are so many cases in court and With the EFCC with respect to this particular scam of installmental payment by land sellers and its only through the Grace of God you can be amongst the lucky few Sellers who honor their agreements to hand over the land to you when you pay in full or refund your installmental payment when demanded. Bottom line to me do everything in your power to caution youself from paying installmentally for a land. Its too dangerous and it gives you no guarantee or possession of the property. The best you can get is suing the person to court for Specific Performance but that again is fraught with difficulties and also consider the legal costs involved in suing someone and the time the case might be settled. And as long as there is an Injunction or one court ruling or the other, you cannot touch the seller once the matter is in court and your money is hanging till they determine the suit. If you go through police, they will only chop 2 of you and finally realize that it’s a civil matter after they have skimmed you dry. But if you choose to pay through installmental payments please be very wise and smart and watch out for the bosom traps these Con Artist want to lay for you. 2

TRUE STORIES A client saw this advert where he could buy a plot of land in Ajah via one of these new Real estate companies and they were offering him instalmental payment of this property to pay for this land at N7.2Million but he could spread the payment in 12months, 24months or 36months but the premium would be higher if he spreads it and the total price of the land could shoot up to N9Million If he chooses the 36 months payment option. He decided to go for the 12months option of paying N600,000 for 12months and he was given an account to pay monthly. On getting to the 9th month he had difficulties meeting up with his payments and he invoked the clause in the contract of sale stating that if he defaults the Real estate company will deduct a certain percentage of what he has paid and refund the remaining sum and that’s when the whole wahala started. They kept on giving him different stories that he will be refunded and that the money was in a fixed account and will be released in 3months time. 3months turned to 9months and stories kept on changing. When he contracted me to go and find out what the problem was it was the usual horror story. They were not allocating plots to subscribers because they were having financial issues with the bank that was financing them and instead of keeping the money collected by the firm as instalmental payment, they were using it to finance bank interests and couldn’t meet up with the promises of a well planned estate blah blah blah. In fact almost 200 subscribers had taken them to court for money owed exceeding N1Billion and the company is untouchable because the matter is in court and until they settle the matter no body will get kobo. The client has no money neither does he have any land and has to split his losses with 200 or more people whenever the case will be settled. (Call me privately and i will reveal the name of the Company. You will be shocked because its a very popular Real estate company in Ajah doing big projects; All that glitters is not Gold ooo!

STORY 2 (This story hurts me very much because as tight as I am with this person, he refused to involve me in this transaction until kata kata burst) A friend from my University days decided to buy a land at ABORU around the Iyana paja side and they were selling the land for around N1.8Million or so. Now he had N1Million in cash and was so desperate to get a land and met an agent who introduced him to the seller and the baale of that area. They told him that he could pay the N1Million and balance the remaining N800,000 Within 3 months. He was very happy with the arrangement and paid the N1Million. The following month he brought N350,000 so as to balance N450,000 and to his surprise 2 days after he had paid the N350,000 he started hearing another story that the baale said the land was sold too cheaply and it should be going for N2.5Million instead of N1.8Million and that the family members complained seriously. He was in shocked and rushed to beg the baale to honour his agreement and upon several quarrels and persuasion the baale finally agreed to settle for N2Million and he brought the other N450,000 to make it N1.8Million and promised to bring the remaining N200,000 soon so that they will give him a receipt for final payment. When he brought the remaining N200,000 a month or so after he noticed someone had started fencing the land he was paying installmentally for. He challenged the Baale that he saw some people fencing and he told him that the family people did not agree for the N2Million and resold the land to a woman for N2.7Million and he will be refunded his money but the bale couldn’t give to him at that time because they used the money to do Igbeyawo ( Marriage) and they will refund him back installmentally when they sell other lands. (Long Hissss . . . Mscheeeww! Can you imagine) He was furious at first and decided to wait for the baale to honour his statement of refunding the money and he waited for 4 months no show until he decided to tell me. I wanted to run mad and we rushed to Aboru and asked the Baale why didn’t he relocate my friend if he couldn’t repay him instantly, he said unless my friend was ready to pay an extra N700,000 before they could relocate him because the prices of the lands had increased and they were not ready to cut short their profit and he had to wait until they recoup his money. Immediately I rushed to the nearest police station and that’s where all the deceit came out.

1. The land in question was under Federal government acquisition so the Omoniles had no right to sell. It fell under the Federal Government Scheme Baruwa so they were just reselling official government land.

2. The so called Baale wasn’t even an indigene of that area and he was just masking as a baale in conjunction with some other people to deceive him.

 3. They had squandered his money and had no way of repaying it because they had no asset whatever. The police dealt with them seriously and promised to charge them to court, till tomorrow no court, no money, no land and no criminal because they absconded the moment they were bailed .

 So the Key Points for the Above Questions include the following:

1. If you can pay for the land or property in full, don’t do ijebu and stagger the payment because it sounds convenient to you. Pay for it at once and collect your documents and own the property on the spot. No stories.

2. If your tight with cash and you must do the installment payment thing, please spend part of that money to know who your parting money with. If it’s a real estate company, ask for their certificate of incorporation to investigate the company at the corporate affairs commission whether they exist or they have been proscribed or queried in anyway or to know who the directors are. Take that name to the nearest high court, pay a clerk to check their files whether there is any existing suit between that company and subscribers over landed issues. Talk to your banker friends to probe deep whether that company has taken out some loans to finance the project. Almost everybody knows 1 or 2 people that work in banks so such information should be so privileged. Go to the company and ask them for samples of previous clients they have dealt with and people you can contact to verify they have dealt with them. Ask for all the documents you will get immediately you pay for land and how soon you will get them. Make sure you go to the proposed land that your buying so that you can see what your buying physically and it must correspond with what the contract of sale stipulates. Make sure a Property Lawyer helps you handle this installment payment process. This is the number 1 mistake people make because they believe the process is so simple to exclude lawyers and you can do it yourself, meanwhile at the end of the day its lawyers that will chop money finish when kata kata crops up.

 3. If its an individual your dealing with make sure you play hard ball or something. Try and make him give you the original document of something in exchange for a considerable sum as installmental payment. You bear a greater risk with an individual who can abscond or resell the property at your back and still not refund you your installmental payment or tell him he should give you the right to start fencing so that you can protect your own interest and if you don’t fulfill your part he can either seize the land from you, gain the fence or whatso ever but try to fight to gain something in your favour.
 
4. QUESTION: I WANT TO BUY A HOUSE FILLED WITH SITTINGTENANTS, HOW DO I PROCEED WITH IT: ANSWER: Buying a house isn’t that complicated and its almost a fairly simple transaction once you can identify the true owner but the real problem comes when your interested in buying a house that has sitting tenants whose tenancy has not expired. It’s a very tricky situation whereby if your not careful you could inherit the tenants in that house and not gain any profit or investment from the house you have just purchased, so these are the steps you need to take before you buy a house filled with sitting tenants and what you should look out for:

 1. Always ask the Selling Landlord to tell you about the history of the house he intends to sell i.e How old the House is, When it was built, How many tenants he has rented the place to over the years, the Original receipt of the land when it was bought, a copy of the Original architectural drawing, copy of the survey of the land, proof of payment of tenement rates or past previous water or Nepa bills going the last 6 months.

2. Try to get in touch with one or 2 of the tenants to tell you one or two things about the landlord and the history of the house. Also get to ask neighbours on the street to tell you one or 2 things about the House you intend to buy to know whether the Seller is the genuine owner of the property. A House that is going for sale and the tenants don’t know its for sale or the neighbours is a recipe for disaster and problems. The Cons of buying a House could be found in the following and the Buyer must shine his or her eyes well to avoid the following:

a. The tenants are not willing to go after the new Seller has paid and they start to cause problems.

 b. The Buyer refuses to check the tenancy agreements of the tenants and the tenants invoke their tenancy clause to finish up their tenancy unless they will take the new Seller to court and the tenant ends up staying in the flat till the suit has been settled and the Seller will never enjoy his House because of that tenant. c. The Landlord promises to pay the Tenants off before their tenancy expires to deceive the Seller but as soon as the Seller pays for the House, he disappears with the money and the Seller inherits bad tenants and finds out that the Seller deceived everyone and the Seller will have to re-negotiate with the tenants all over again and shell out huge sums of money to push them out. d. Also before you drive out the tenants even after their tenancy has legally expired, you have to spend a lot of money to push them out because they demand a lot. They will drop all their family problems on you and the Seller who is in a hurry to take possession of the House will succumb to their demands especially if the tenant is a new one whose tenancy hasn’t expired.

TRUE STORY: 1. A Buyer was interested in buying a 4 bedroom flat in Soluyi Gbagada and sent his agent to scout out a property for him to buy. He found one with Sitting tenants and told me about it and that he was interested in buying it because of the price. I immediately cautioned him that the price wasn’t the important thing here but knowing the status of the tenants unless it would spell diasater. He told me that it wasn’t important because he would use “BOYS” to pursue the tenants if they refuse to go. I told him that its not as easy as he is saying it and we have to investigate further and take things slowly. The more I told him to be patient to do things properly the more he found me as an antagonist especially as the Seller kept telling him another person was interested in the same property and was about to pay soon. At my back without doing any background check, he arranged to meet the owner privately to pay money to at Abeokuta where they showed him one old man as the owner but he had retired to the village after building the flat. The Seller was happy that he had bought the house and contacted me to do the C/O immediately and upon a private background check I found out that the Previous owner at the Village just rented the place newly to new tenants for 2 years each and he hadn’t given them the proper 6 months quit notice and he lied to the Buyer that he had told the tenants previously and has issued all of them quit notices. The tenants refused to leave the house and blackmailed the new owner that unless he pays each of them N500,000 Each they wont leave. He attempted using the so called boys to threaten the Tenants which did not work and they ended up suing the Seller for violating the tenancy agreement. This is almost 8months now and the Buyer has not taken possession of the House because of a court injunction and the Tenants are not bound to leave or renew their tenancy till the Suit expires and that should take 3 or more years at the rate the case is going on. The Buyer keeps calling me now on what he should do now because its as if he has bought “GBESE” aka 'DEBT'. I Ignore him most of the time because he refused to do a simple background check and rushed to buy a property without professional help.

TRUE STORY 2 B. This had nothing to do with the negligence of the Buyer but rather the deceit of the Seller and the need to not involve sentiments in doing anything as long as it’s a transaction that involves exchange of money. The seller here was a woman who wanted to sell a property at Ibafo and she had 2 sitting tenants. The Buyers are truly reputable people and I can vouch for their integrity any day any time. (Kudos Mr Adewole and Thlala Kolo Ltd! I Appreciate you and keep learning from you The Buyers negotiated a particular price to buy the property off the woman after doing so many preliminary investigations to establish the validity of the ownership of the property and the Seller even brought her lawyer along to stand for her. She promised so many things about the issue of the tenants and how she would pay the tenants off and even provide alternative accommodation for them once the Buyers pay her. She went as far as saying they had been intimated way back that she wanted to sell the property and their tenancy had almost expired so they didn’t have any other reason to stay 1 extra day after she had paid them off to vacate the premises. She did everything possible to prevent us from interviewing the tenants personally because she said if they knew about the immediate transaction, thieves could attack her and the tenants would want to demand more money for them to leave. Being honorable men, they decided to trust her words including Me and hoped since It was a woman, we should expect much hassles or such Omonile type behavior. How wrong we were. Infact She is one of the most despicable Women I have ever come across. Right from the bank she demanded to cash over N10Million to put in her bag to carry home because she didn’t trust the Buyers to issue her a draft which would also equate as Cash at hand. Thank God the bank refused such request to hand her such a huge sum and the tantrum she threw at the bank was just the beginning of the drama. Immediately she cashed it, she disappeared and nobody knew her whereabouts. The buyers now decided to confront the Tenants a week after to confirm whether the Seller had given them the money for them to relocate and they feigned ignorance of even knowing that the Property was even offered for sale and One of the tenants even said he just paid his rent newly because the he was getting married and needed a new apartment and the week the Seller was paid was the week she accepted new rent from the newly wedded tenant. The Onus was now on the Buyers to negotiate with the tenants to tell them that ownership had changed hands and the tenants demanded a huge sum of money for them to relocate peacefully and they should also be given time to move. It took months before they left before the Sellers could do anything meaningful in that place It was a difficult time for the Buyers to still shell out more money to sort out the tenancy issue and it really made them upset that they trusted the Woman. Everything would have been sorted out if we had had access to the tenants to get the true state of things before paying rather than relying on the word of mouth of the Woman and her dodgy lawyer .
 [b]5. QUESTION: THE AGENT/OWNER SHOWED ME A SURVEY PLAN WITH LAYOUT (WHAT DOES THAT MEAN; THE PROS AND CONS OF BUYING A LAND WITH SURVEY LAYOUT ALONE) ANSWER[/b]: Buying a property alone because the Agent or Owner showed you a Survey plan layout does not guarantee that the land is free from Government acquisition or that is a good land. It has been a popular scam I noticed especially last year that Agents used to con people for them to believe the land or lands are properly designed and designated and its rampant where you see Agents marketing proposed Estates in Mowe or in Ajah. It comes in the form of the Owner or Agent pulling out a large Survey plan showing so many Hectares or Acres of Land fully mapped out into smaller plots and broken down into smaller sizes showing well laid out proposed schools, hospitals, police station, roads etc. It gives you them the aura of invincibility and confidence that they have done their jobs properly and all you need to do is point the particular area from the Survey Layout and pay the owner and within days you will have your land. What they won’t tell you is that you should bring your Own Surveyor to come and verify and map out the coordinates personally. They will tell you that their company surveyor or personal surveyor has done it so you shouldn’t bother yourself but these are the following problems that emanate from issues like this;

 1. It may be a different Survey plan layout they are showing you and it might not represent the area you intend to buy. You might be interested in buying a land in Ogombo but the layout is showing another set of lands in Ibeju Lekki.

2. You cannot determine if the Coordinates of the land or Survey layout shown to you represent the same area. They might be showing you a plot in the midst of all the other lands and telling you that its free but that when you search harder through a Surveyor you will be surprised that that particular plot falls outside the Gazette or C/O of that area and once your hooked you can’t run away.

 3. A Survey layout isn’t a Proper Survey and anybody or group of people can draw up a Layout to confuse you and you don’t know whether its free from Govt acquisition or not and its only your own Surveyor that can draw up your own personal Survey plan after he has gone to the site to confirm whether it is a good land or not. 4. Finally a Survey Layout can never guarantee that the land isn’t stolen or belongs to you. 2 or more people can own that same plot of land and they will be deceiving you that the reason they haven’t allocated the land to you is because they are doing some background work and you should exercise patience. By the time you wait for a while and demand for your documents you will discover that other people are also fighting for possession for the same land and the merry go round of wahala begins.

TRUE STORY: A Buyer wanted to buy lands at Lakowe along Ibeju Lekki from a company that advertised their lands for sale in one of these popular property magazines. The company’s head office is at Ikeja and he decided to do his own little fact finding to confirm its genuinity. They showed him so many documents that they acquired it from the Family and they gave them the right to sell and they are processing the C/O but they had surveyed the whole lands and done a big Survey layout showing over 200 plots of well mapped out plots in Blocks and Plots and after the Buyer pays he will be allocated a plot. They wrote so many names on each plot with pencil indicating who and who had bought the plots previously and told the Buyer to choose a plot that hasn’t been taken. The Buyer not totally convinced told the Owners to take him to the lands to see the plots and they took him to a vast expanse of land and pointed the land to him from a distance and said he can only know his plot when it has been properly allocated and they allocate lands after every 10 people have Paid to Make it easier for them and the Buyer. He was excited and promised to pay the next day and when he got home he told his wife about it and his plans to pay the next day. The wife was suspicious and she is a staunch silent follower of Nairaland properties and decided to give me a call to verify what her husband told her. She said her husband was about to pay N4.8Million for 4 plots at N1.2Million each and she wanted to be sure he isn’t throwing money away. Immediately I gave her the contact of a Surveyor to tell the Surveyor to go there to take the coordinates of the land. When the surveyor got to the company, they refused to show her the Survey layout and summarily dismissed her without taking her to see the land for her to take coordinates. I now decided to go to the company to pose as a Buyer and told the surveyor to give me one of her boys to escort me to the Office and the site and he should take his GPS secretly to pick the coordinates when we get there. The Owners waxed lyrically about the authencity of the land and if I pay I would get my own plot after the general allocation and I also promised to come and pay at the end of the week. The Surveyor’s boy secretly took the coordinates of the area they showed us (NOT THE PARTICULAR LAND ITSELF O! IT WAS FROM A DISTANCE AS USUAL) And after confirming it at the Surveyor general’s office it was found that that the lands the Company wanted to Sell to the Buyer was a COMMITTED LAND AND THE PROPOSED LAKOWE GOLF COURSE is to PASS THROUGH THERE. I hurriedly told the wife and the Buyer almost wanted to run mad that the company wanted to deceive him. When he called the Company to express his disappointment, they rudely told him to get lost and other people will buy it. They offered no apology or rational explanation why they are selling bad lands to people or attempted to find a better plot for him and upon further investigation on that Company I found out so many people have carried them to court for selling fake lands and not allocating the lands as promised to them. So the Key Points here is that:

 1. Never buy a land just because they showed you a Survey layout of the land without a registered Surveyor confirming it for you that it’s a good land.

2. Never part with money for a land you cannot see physically with your own eyes or step on the ground of that plot. Don’t just allow the Seller to point to a land to you as yours when you cant even demarcate it to know the total square meters of it.

3. Be wary of those Sellers promising to allocate you lands through a Survey layout alone, promising that they need to allocate lands per 10s or 20s. These are red flags that something is wrong somewhere and you should shine your eyes. Am tired, need to sleep! Will continue soon with more interesting questions and true stories which would include Pros and Cons of buying lands that are Swampy, lands that have been fenced and all the tricks associated with them, how to spot good and bad agents from afar, The issue of Ratification and the scams associated with it, Scams involved when paying for signing fees and foundation money etc and a host of many other stories. Cheers