ACQUISITION OF LAND AND IT'S DOCUMENTSTION
Hello friends and fellow steemians! I guess your day was good. So was mine! It was indeed a fruitful day, though it was a little hectic for me but I give all glory to the Almighty God.
I want to discuss on the process(es) of acquiring and hold the title of a landed property, especially as it is applicable in Abia State of Nigeria. My reason is that as successful steemians, soon you all will be beckoning on me to assist you acquire some plots of choice landed properties in Aba that is suitable for any mansion you intended to erect(hahahaha, I'm always at your service). So here are the things we shall do once we want get you a land.
SEARCHING FOR A CHOICED LAND
To get a an available land for purchase, you have to engage the services of Land Agents. Once they're engaged, off they go in search for land or they will inform you of an already available land for sale. They will request for a mobilization fee (which is not fixed, but negotiable). Then they will take you round and round and from bush to bush to show you lands so that you make your choice. But please eat well before following those agents because they'll drag you for the trekking of your life.
Once you make your choice, if it is a Virgin land(land that had not been bought by anyone before. The ownership is by customary inheritance), then you can proceed with other arrangements.
However if the land has been sold to someone and the buyer is the person trying to resell to you, find out if he registered the said land with the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Urban Planning. If it was actually registered, take a copy of the documents and go for a window verification at the ministry of lands. There at the Ministry of Lands, their records will show you the latest owner of the property in whose name the property is registered. That will help you know if actually the person intending to sell to you is the real owner of the Land.
But if upon your enquiry, the owner tells you that as at the time he bought from the original owner (that is the person who has the customary inheritance) that he did not register the land, there will be no need going for window verification. Then you can go ahead and negotiate for the price.
DOCUMENTATIONS
Once you have agreed on the price of the Land or consideration as we call it in legal terms, you can then invite surveyor to measure the areas of the Land. As you measure the lands he will be putting the pillars. Take note that at this point there is no number yet.
Likewise your lawyer will collect the particulars of both the DONOR and the DONEE as well as the location of the land for the preparation of a Power of Attorney. Below is what a Power of Attorney looks like.
A sample Power of Attorney
When the power of attorney is ready, then but the donor and the donee will sign as well as all their witnesses.
In the case of a Virgin land the person holding the customary inheritance will serve as the Donor while the buyer will be the Donee. but in a situation where the person holding the customary inheritance had earlier sold the land to somebody who is now selling it to you,if the first buyer had already registered it in the Ministry of Lands, then he will serve as the Donor because by virtue of the registration he has legal interest over the land.
but if after buying the land from the person having the customary inheritance he fails to register it with the ministry of lands, he is only enjoying an equitable interest to the land. So now that you are buying from him, he will have to transfer that his equitable interest back to the original person who owns the land customarily. That original owner will still be the donor in this case. while that first buyer whom you are buying from will sign as a witness to the DONOR even though it is him that you are paying the consideration (price) for the land. So your own obligation will be to do a Change of Ownership with that original landlord who had the customary inheritance of the Land.
Then when the survey plan is ready, the surveyor will bring the survey plan and attach it to the already made Power of Attorney while he will put the beacon numbers on the pillars he had already mounted. Below is what a survey plan looks like.
A sample survey plan
Haven done this, you have successfully acquired a piece of land. In a different post, I will discuss the process of registering your piece of land with the Ministry of Lands Survey and Urban Planning.
CONCLUSION
it is my sincere wish that all of us individually, here in steemit community will acquire our own individual landed property and build houses of our own. I just gave you a clue on how to go about it. However, if you need my assistance, I am very much available. That is my work!
cc @focusnow
@ngoenyi
@steemalive