What you must know prior to, during and after purchase:

For many, buying a piece of land or real property is all about finding a vendor willing to sell and meeting the price for the property. Many people fall into the mistake of dealing with vendors of properties in trust, assuming that the fact that they have known one another for donkey years or the fact that an agent has assured them of good title is sufficient to avoid future troubles with respect to the land or real property.

It is of paramount importance to take certain steps prior to the purchase of land, during the course of purchase and even after the purchase has been made for the sake of securing ones interest in the said property. A willing purchase as a matter of importance must investigate the title of the vendor to the said land and in some cases the track record of such vendor in order to forestall any future legal issues.

To be continued.

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INTRODUCTORIES
At this stage parties (vendor (or agent) and purchaser) meet and discuss on the property: price, mode of payment, nature of vendor’s title etc. After parties have agreed on the purchase price a Contract of Sale Agreement is drawn up pending when the Purchaser would carry out investigation to deduce the nature of the Vendor’s title to ascertain that the property truly belongs to the Vendor and is free of any encumbrance.

At the point where the contract is exchanged the vendor is deemed to hold the land in trust for the purchaser till he pays, and all conditions therein fulfilled. The essence is to deduce a good root of title from the vendor. Until the execution of the contract of sale there is no obligation on the vendor to establish that he is the owner of the title which he intends to convey, but once the contract has been exchanged, he is under duty to do so. The Contract of Sale Agreement may include terms as agreed by parties. It is not unusual for parties to agree to a deposit on the total value of the property at this point pending the result of the investigation of title by the purchaser.

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• Search at the Lands Registry – The Land Instrument Registration Law of each State establishes a land registry for the State, where documents relating to land within the territory are kept, and it varies from one State to another.

• Search at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) – This is necessary where the vendor or past owner is a company incorporated under Companies and Allied Matters Act. Apart from the searches at the land registry, there should be a further search at the CAC to reveal whether or not there is an encumbrance or any charge whatsoever on the property.

Companies are required to file annual returns yearly with the CAC which is always accompanied with a company’s financial statement; the financial statement will reveal the company’s assets (where there are any) as well as any charges or encumbrance on same.

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• Search at Probate registry – This is a search conducted to reveal whether or not probate has been granted on any estate and to ascertain the personal representatives or executors of a testator in cases of properties belonging to the estate of a deceased. Without a grant of Probate and/or letters of administration, the vendors do not possess the requisite authority to sell the property of a deceased person.