A friend once came to me with the problem of having been swindled by dubious land sellers and he lost quite a huge sum of money. I also know that a lot people fall prey to this schemes daily.
This article is a brief summary of what every land buyer should know when contracting in landed properties.
The rule is that ownership of land is based on registration,everyone who own rights in landed property has to register it with the government.
Therefore the purchaser can discover from a mere inspection of the register whether the seller has the power to sell the land and whether or not there are interests on the land that may be investigated.
The property register contains detailed description and gives other information of the property that is registered while the proprietorship register contains the name, address, and description of the registered owner of the property. It also contains cautions, inhibitions and restrictions affecting the right of the proprietor to dispose the title.
When buying land the first procedure is to investigate title, the purchaser must approach the Registrar of Title with the following documents:
•A letter of consent or authority from the proprietor or a sworn declaration by the solicitor showing that he has consent of the proprietor to investigate the title.
•A copy of the land certificate which contains the particulars by which the property will be identified at the lands registry. The particulars the certificate usually contain are:
Title number;
District; and
The property.
•A declaration in court by the purchaser to the effect that the proprietor of the title actually granted the permission to conduct searches of the register.
•Only after being satisfied by the results of your enquiry should you buy the landed property,if not you may fall in the hand of swindlers.
If you ever need more information or help with regard to purchasing landed property, you should consult your Lawyer.
Author:Â Adedunmade Onibokun
Website:Â http://adedunmadeonibokun.blogspot.com/
Quite educative.