Treash:

A lot of people seems to prefer buying their future homes either in a newly proposed estate or an ongoing one. It is obviously not a bad idea, especially in Nigeria where governments are yet to provide necessary infrastructures such as water, electricity and most important roads in existing or old neighbourhood. However,there are legal precautions everyone aspiring to buy a building or land from private developers should be aware of. These are:

1. First, anyone purchasing a property from a private developer should not just make payment blindly. It is better to engage the service of a lawyer to help trace and search the title of the property one intends to purchase. Recall that 37 Estates were marked for demolition by the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC).

2. Another precaution is that it a prospective buyer should seek to perfect his or her own title immediately after purchase. According to the law, Governor’s consent is required in every state for a property transfer from one owner to another. A buyer’s failure to perfect his title is as good as no lawful transfer of property has taken place among the parties.

3. Furthermore, when a new buyer buying a property from a developer may insist on a contract of sale, especially when a developer is asking such buyer to pay a premium on the land for some proposed infrastructures such as electricity, road network among others. Contract of sale is a preliminary agreement in a land transaction before a deed of assignment. In a situation where the developer is offering a buyer 6 months or 2 years payment’s option, a contract of sale will prevent an arbitrary increase in the purchase price by the developer after receiving a deposit from the buyer.

4. Finally, we would advise that anyone seeking to buy a new home should not do so without a consultant, which is usually a legal practitioner who can properly ascertain the risks associated with such transaction or property in question.

Barr Adeolu Ayo Aderinto.

Credit: Resolution law Ng.