UNDERSTANDING LAND DOCUMENTS


Land Classification

Land can be classified as either free or acquired. A parcel of land is considered free if the government has not indicated any interest whatsoever in that land. Such land is safe to buy because the title on the land can be perfected without issues.

In most cases, such lands will either have a gazette, a C of O or a governor’s consent.

Now that you understand what it means for land to be free, you should also know that all lands that fall within areas that are designated as ‘urban areas’ are under government acquisition until deemed committed or free.

There are two types of acquisition: 1. Committed Acquisition 2. Global / General Acquisition.

Committed Acquisition

A parcel of land is said to be under committed acquisition when the government has indicated an intention to use that land for a specific purpose such as provision of amenities.

Such lands belong to the government and can never be available for use by individuals. If you purchase land that is under committed acquisition, it will be impossible for you to perfect your land title and you’ll only be occupying the land until the government comes to kick you out.

Global or General Acquisition

Lands that are under “general acquisition” or “global acquisition” can later be confirmed ‘free’ or ‘committed’ as the case may be.

A land under general acquisition can become free by a process called excision.

“Excision is a process whereby the government releases a portion of an expanse of land that is not committed” If a parcel of land that was formerly under acquisition becomes excised; it is then considered free and becomes gazetted.

The gazette then becomes the title on the land and such land is safe to buy because a proper title can be processed on the land.

A second case where lands under general acquisition can be released is if an individual purchased a land that was under acquisition without going through an excision process.

Such lands can go through another process called “ratification” or “regularization” in which the land owner pays for the land to be ratified or regularized. The only conditions in this case are that the land in question must not fall within a committed area and that the purpose for which the land was bought does not disrupt the original plan of the state.

Conditions for ratification may differ from state to state.

Now that you understand the classification of land, lets now look at meaning of each land documents that we have.

DEED OF ASSIGNMENTS

Most people have the title documents to their cars intact and in safe places but fail to ask for the Deed of assignment to their properties which is several times more valuable than cars

A Deed of assignment is one of the transactional document drawn up by a real estate attorney between the current title holder for a particular property and the new buyer.

In real property transactions, a deed of assignment is a legal document that transfers the interest of the owner of that interest to the person to whom it is assigned, the assignee. When ownership is transferred, the deed of assignment shows the new legal owner of the property.

The deed contains very pertinent information for a real estate transaction. It spells out the date when the ownership of the property transfers from one owner to the other. The deed also gives a specific description of the property that is included in the transfer of ownership.

It is very compulsory and mandatory for a Deed of Assignment document to be recorded at the appropriate land registry to show legal evidence as to the exchange of ownership in any land/landed property transaction in order to make the general public and government aware of such exchange or transaction.

Any recorded Deed of Assignment at the appropriate land registry will be authenticated in form of either a Governor’s consent or Registered Conveyance after it has been stamped at the Stamp Duties office.

It is important to Note that the deed of assignment document is not the only document indicating transfer of owner.

The following documents are usually involved when you a purchase is made.

1. The purchase receipt

2. The contract of sale and

3. The deed of assignment

4. The survey plan

5. The Building plan for housing investment

6. Any other title document that may apply

Each of these documents can come at separate times in the transaction process. The seller signs all documents when the transaction is complete and hands over the documents to the buyer.

We shall discuss more of this later

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