Land and valuation

Title is a documentary problem before it is a commercial one

Consent, perfection and valuation decide whether a land transaction survives contact with a registry.

A great many Nigerian land transactions are concluded on a deed and a receipt, and unravel at the registry. The root of title, the consent, the perfection and the physical identity of the parcel each have to be established, and each is capable of defeating the transaction on its own.

The searches are cheap relative to the exposure. What is expensive is discovering, after the money has moved, that the assignment was never perfected, that the consent covers a different parcel, or that the improvements valued in the negotiation sit partly on land the vendor never held.

Where valuation and title advice come from the same file, the questions get asked in the right order: what is it, who holds it, may they transfer it, and only then what is it worth.

Nothing on this site is legal advice or creates a lawyer–client relationship.