Please this Article is not for Nairaland Children to mess around with and write rubbish. If you have nothing intelligent to say or write please kindly walk away. Its a very serious Article for people that have been searching for how to perfect their papers that have been having problems with Bad lands bought from Omonile and dont know what to do.

Good day Nairalanders and Quite a while since my last article. Well I have got Good News and a very interesting article that affects so many owners of Lands in Lagos and it has to do with Ratification or Regularization of BAD land in Lagos , Popularly Referred to as ‘RAT or RATI’.

To be honest this is the most difficult topic I am attempting to write because information about Ratification is so Scanty and the procedure to go about it is very Sketchy, but I have been researching on this issue for more than 3 Years before I could muster something to scribble for you.

First thing you should know is that Omoniles have contributed terribly to the sales of very very bad lands to unsuspecting buyers that did not do any proper search before they bought their lands and because the lands are defective from the start it will be difficult to process your papers at Alausa because they are illegal lands that shouldn’t be bought and the Government has every right to come and demolish any structure they find on the land.

Examples of Bad lands people purchased from Omoniles include lands under Government Acquisitions, Lands Government intend to build estates, drainages, roads, Government Schemes, pipelines, high tensions, bad layouts and general lands or property that do not conform with the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Regulations .

Because of the sale of these bad lands, it has been very very difficult for the purchasers of this lands to Get even a simple Survey Plan approved or lodged at the Surveyor General’s office, talkless of owning a Certificate of Occupancy ( C/O) or an Approved Building Plan Or the Right to claim proper Ownership of the Land legally and they live in constant fear everyday of an impending Demolition or Revocation.

Also it is pertinent here to explain two concepts that affect the issue of Ratification or Regularization before I move on And it has to do with the differences between Owning Lands Under Government Acquisition and Committed Lands .

A Land under Government acquisition is a land acquired by the Government for its own specific use and there are plans for these lands in the nearest future depending on what the Government intends to do with the land. These lands have been acquired for years by the government and its at the Government’s discretion to release those lands to people or not depending on if they need to use the lands for a specific purpose or not and if the release of those acquired lands to the people will not disrupt any regional or urban planning regulation and the Government can cover eye to that Land.

Meanwhile A Committed Land is a land the Government already has Plans for and nothing in this life will make the Government alter its mind to give up that land. Such lands include lands earmarked for Government estates, Roads, Government Schemes etc. In fact if you buy a land in a committed Area, Your on your own because they will never approve the papers and if you build a property there, it will most certainly be demolished.

So because of these problems land owners who bought lands illegally from The Dreaded Omoniles under Government Acquisition, the Lagos state Government decided to take an Inventory of all unlawful structures erected in areas under Government acquisition and endorsed a decision that all prohibited structures erected on Land under Government acquisition which were not blocking roads, drainage and not located in Committed Areas should have the opportunity to process their papers and be granted building plan approvals and also assist the Government to provide for more housing developments for low income earners. This decision of approving the processing of getting their papers in Lands under Government acquisition gave birth to the process of Ratification and Regularization of owning lands within Non committed Government Acquisition.

Today it is now known as Regularization officially at Alausa instead of Ratification and Regularization is a process whereby illegal owners of lands in places Under Government acquisition that are not Committed lands are given the opportunity to obtain a legal title to the land encroached or trespassed upon from the State Government.

To simplify it, it means the process of allocating Government Land to someone who had previously occupied landed property without lawful authority from the State Government [size=14pt]but it is subject to 7 Conditions[/size]:

1. That the property must not be situated in a Government Scheme, Estate or Committed area

2. The Property must be situated within an Area that conforms to Urban and Regional Planning Regulations and Standard of the State.

3. The Appropriate Set back of the Land must be observed.

4. The Appropriate distances from drainages, Canals, NNPC pipelines, Gas Pipelines, NEPA transformers, High Tension Wires, Water Pipelines and other restrictions laid down by the Physical Planning and Town Planning.

5. The land must not fall on road Alignment

6. The land must not fall within a Committed Government Area

7. The Land must fall within the Permitted Regularization Areas

These days it has been extended to areas without development schemes/layout plans and areas without Unplanned Developments. Example of such areas include: Okota, Ketu, Ikorodu, Badagry etc.

So if you have bought a land that runs afoul of these 7 Conditions You have yourself to blame because you refused to do a proper Land Search and Your land will either be revoked or the House on it will most certainly be demolished.

[size=18pt]The Procedure for Regularization or Ratification of Title[/size]

(Important Notice) If your land is under Government Acquisition, you must do a survey plan and take it to the Surveyor General’s office to chart it to know if it is under Government Acquisition to know if it falls under the lands that can be ratified. If you haven’t done so please do so to know your land status.

So the Procedure to ratify your land includes thus:

[b]1. The Applicant submits an application for processing to the Directorate of Land Regularization under the Ministry of Land also known as the DLR.

2. The DLR will chart the Survey plan and thereafter carry out a physical site inspection of the Land

3. If the Report of the Site Inspection is approved, the DLR processes the file further by raising a demand Notice for payment for land charges.

4. Upon payment of land charges by the Application (evidenced by the Treasury Receipt) the DLR Prepares the Letter of Allocation (Including the C of O) and forwards the Letter of Allocation to the Executive Secretary Land Use and Allocation Directorate for endorsement. The Letter of Allocation is thereafter released to the applicant.

5. The Applicant’s file containing the C/O is sent through the Permanent Secretary to the Honourable Commissioner for Land for Execution and after it has been executed the C/O is processed for Stamp Duty and Registration and released to the Applicant by the Honourable Commissioner for Lands.[/b]

[size=18pt]Below are the Documents and Requirements of the Applicant for the Regularization of His Land[/size]


1. A Covering letter by the Agent or person filing the application for Regularization must accompany the Application and must contain all the personal details of the Applicant.

2. A duly completed application form to be sworn to before a magistrate or notary public duly signed and dated.

3. Submit 4 Passport sized Photographs of the Applicant

4. Land Information Certificate

5. Photocopy of Purchase Receipt duly stamped

6. N100 Current Special Development Levy

7. Tax Clearance Certificate

8. Sketch Map of the Site Location

9. Original Survey Plan (Which must have the Consent to Survey Number and Stamp) >>>> Will address the meaning of this with examples in my Next Article

10. Photograph of the Property

11. One Original Copy of the Deed of Assignment

12. Administration Fee: N4000

Finally Dont forget to add Alausa Brown Envelope or Egunje oooo! Unless your file go just collect Dust tire for Room 1

P:S: Finally Note of Warning. [size=18pt]Lands in Lekki/ Ajah/ Epe that are Under Government Acquisition will not be Regularized for now because there is a Suspension of Ratification of Lands there by the Lagos state Government and they are not giving any land there Approval, documents or C/O[/size]. So be very smart and not buy lands that are Under Government Acquisition in Lekki/Ajah Unless you will have yourself to Blame.Rather go and buy lands in the Lekki/ Ajah Areas that Have Documents such as A C/O, Governor's Consent or Gazette. Do a proper Search before you buy there or call me to Assist with the Search on 08077943514 0R 07036681104 or face the wrath of the Ministry of Land.

Contributions and further education on this issue will be welcomed and thanks to the Ministry of Lands Alausa for granting access to use their Materials for this Article.

Cheers

Nairaland Lawyer

all right

Murphy7h4: all right

All u do all over NL is grin... Seriously ar u normal?

U don start dey grin this monday morning again...

@ OP sorry jaree...

Dont you have a lawyers forum?

Don't you have a lawyers forum?

To make it wider than Lagos and as a lay man I want to ask about this case which looks like;

Allocating Government Land to someone who had not previously occupied landed property after confiscating it without lawful authority from another citizen who seemed to have occupied it legally.

http://www.google.com.ng/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=patience+turai+land+dispute+abuja&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CF4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsdiaryonline.com%2Ffct-minister-seizes-turais-land-for-dame-patience-leadership%2F&ei=g_DeT4-iEcWBhQfW7pmwCg&usg=AFQjCNFxwGW-TqJqDUaURz1nUQxUXiUIig

Thanks Lawyer, this is so enlightening. Just the right article at the right time. I saw a piece of land at Iba that i am interested in. A friend did the charting and found out that it is under LASU acquistion. I was later told by the agent that it falls under lands that could be ratified. Can you confirm this to me and if true can you process it for me?

Question: Approved Abuja Land Use

Sir,

Kindly shed light on what can be done with Abuja land whose Statutory Right of Occupancy reads the following -

General Land Use: Open Space / Green Area; Purpose: Active Recreation.

Your answer will be most appreciated.

@Olu2la

From your question you have seen the land has been allocated as a Green Area land for parks and Recreation and not zoned as a Residential Land. Buying it is a huge Risk and pray another El-Rufai doesnt come on board to make sure the Master plan is conformed unless the Land will be revoked or the Structure demolished.

Cheers

justokey: Thanks Lawyer, this is so enlightening. Just the right article at the right time. I saw a piece of land at Iba that i am interested in. A friend did the charting and found out that it is under LASU acquistion. I was later told by the agent that it falls under lands that could be ratified. Can you confirm this to me and if true can you process it for me?

@Justokey

Pls dont listen to the Agent o! Thats how they lead people into wahala when they are not knowledgeable about something just because they want to collect their 10% commission. You can see it written in plain English that the Land falls under LASU Acquisition. Why then will it be ratifiable when the land already belongs to LASU? Is the Agent a Surveyor or a Governing Board member of LASU that knows it can be ratified? Dont listen to him and walk away from that land jejely. It is only LASU that can sell part of its lands to you and no one else. Thats how these Omoniles put people into trouble. Go and look for a better land that has less problems.

Cheers

good day lawyer.i always read your posts keenly and i must confess i always learn a lot.recently,some colleagues and i decided to leave the employ of an estate development/management company with estates in the mowe and igbesa axis of ogun state.we set up our own company and intend to imbibe the principle of total proffesionalism.we currently have offers to acquire a land measuring 70acres in ibogun,ogun state,another measuring 50 acres at igbesa,ogun state,another measuring 100acres at kankon,badagry for the purpose of citing estates.there is an industry standard for verification(which has sometimes failed and led to companies losing lots of money to fraudulent omo oniles) of such lands which cant be disclosed on this page.however,i will like your insight into what steps you will take to verify the authenticity.bear in mind that families dont a surveyor access to their land unless a certain sum varying from 900,000 to 2million is paid.would have requested you send response to my email but i believe others can learn from this.besides i have taken down your phone number and will contact you soon

Thanks lawyer, i will do as advised. I will look around for something within my budget.

lawyer: To simplify it, it means the process of allocating Government Land to someone who had previously occupied landed property without lawful authority from the State Government [size=14pt]but it is subject to 7 Conditions[/size]:

1. That the property must not be situated in a Government Scheme, Estate or Committed area

2. The Property must be situated within an Area that conforms to Urban and Regional Planning Regulations and Standard of the State.

3. The Appropriate Set back of the Land must be observed.

4. The Appropriate distances from drainages, Canals, NNPC pipelines, Gas Pipelines, NEPA transformers, High Tension Wires, Water Pipelines and other restrictions laid down by the Physical Planning and Town Planning.

5. The land must not fall on road Alignment

6. The land must not fall within a Committed Government Area

7. The Land must fall within the Permitted Regularization Areas

These days it has been extended to areas without development schemes/layout plans and areas without Unplanned Developments. Example of such areas include: Okota, Ketu, Ikorodu, Badagry etc.

So if you have bought a land that runs afoul of these 7 Conditions You have yourself to blame because you refused to do a proper Land Search and Your land will either be revoked or the House on it will most certainly be demolished.

.... Pls does governor consent also equvialent to c of o? Thanks:

[img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]very nice!

Thanks for the info. Will contact you for some clarifications

lawyer: [size=18pt]Below are the Documents and Requirements of the Applicant for the Regularization of His Land[/size]


1. A Covering letter by the Agent or person filing the application for Regularization must accompany the Application and must contain all the personal details of the Applicant.

2. A duly completed application form to be sworn to before a magistrate or notary public duly signed and dated.

3. Submit 4 Passport sized Photographs of the Applicant

4. Land Information Certificate

5. Photocopy of Purchase Receipt duly stamped

6. N100 Current Special Development Levy

7. Tax Clearance Certificate

8. Sketch Map of the Site Location

9. Original Survey Plan (Which must have the Consent to Survey Number and Stamp) >>>> Will address the meaning of this with examples in my Next Article

10. Photograph of the Property

11. One Original Copy of the Deed of Assignment

12. Administration Fee: N4000

Finally Dont forget to add Alausa Brown Envelope or Egunje oooo! Unless your file go just collect Dust tire for Room 1

Incisive as usual.
Thanks lawyer.

Great and fantastic Job lawyer !!

Some only hope to know when Lekki/Ajah environs would be included in this process.

I presume that most of the people holding lands under acquisition have them in the Lekki/Ajah Axes. Till then, LASG we await.

For those yet to buy (or about to buy), it's a no-brainer, check all surveys and confirm status in Alausa. Plenty words are enough for the wise.

[img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]bump

Nice Gud job lawyer,my issuse. i bought a plot of land @ otungbuwa igbogbo ikorodu.but 2my surprise my survey plan was back dated instead of current date i paid for.... second,i ask for evidence 2prov that the Red_copy submit,he now gv me photocopy of survey plan that look like editing_copy. it's that prov enough?

Another timely piece. i almost bought a house around a suburb in egbeda area. A newly built house of about 3 years but the search revealed it was under FAAN acquisition. The vendors agent was of opinion it doesnt matter as pple have been living in that area for years but my lawyer advised against it. What if tomorrow, FAAN decides to take it over nko? Well, i have moved on and recently got involved in another property around Ikosi and this acquisition thing came up again during the search but this time around, its was under the ratification clause lands of lagos. now i'm smiling. . . .thanks to lawyer

What i have over time realised is that we property buyers sometimes allow our sentiments affect our decision and easily swayed by what people (omo-onile and agents who have stake in the commission they will get) say at expense of professional advise which even if you are paying for is better than losing millions in future.

Am an estate surveyor/valuer by profession and currently handling the perfection of title documents for some clients.Barr Mato is very correct on the write up. I always advice any body buying a land to carry out an independent search @ Surveyor General office. The assessment fee for One of the properties am currently working on is out and it is about N2.1m simply because it falls under Government acquisition.
Regarisation/Ratification simply means buying land you have bought from the Omo-onile back from the original owner,LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT.
I can be reached on 08023554836 for more clarification.

Good job lawyer.I will contact you if i need any clarifications.

justokey: Thanks Lawyer, this is so enlightening. Just the right article at the right time. I saw a piece of land at Iba that i am interested in. A friend did the charting and found out that it is under LASU acquistion. I was later told by the agent that it falls under lands that could be ratified. Can you confirm this to me and if true can you process it for me?

sir, can I have d contacts of dis ur friend dat helped in charting? Please. Reply so we can device alternate means to dicuss further. Thanks.

Thanks again lawyer for another incisive piece. My husband & I were saved from becoming victims in the hands of land scammers a couple of years ago. Remember the lady you met on a piece of land off MM Airport Road early 2010? Yes, that's me! You, lawyer, rescued us literally. Your advice was timely, & we were hence able to make an informed decision to sell our property, which was a COMMITTED land. We got our peace of mind back. Thanks again.

And yes, we owe you one... (Wink wink)

Unique!:
Thanks again lawyer for another incisive piece. My husband & I were saved from becoming victims in the hands of land scammers a couple of years ago. Remember the lady you met on a piece of land off MM Airport Road early 2010? Yes, that's me! You, lawyer, rescued us literally. Your advice was timely, & we were hence able to make an informed decision to sell our property, which was a COMMITTED land. We got our peace of mind back. Thanks again.

And yes, we owe you one... (Wink wink)

Haaa! Thanks Madam Unique. Am glad your happy now. This is a good success story and am glad i was of service to you here. My joy is always seeing someone saved from the clutches of these terrible omoniles and appreciating the smiles on your faces when things have been put right in order! Pls continue to avoid those committed lands and bad omoniles and dont hesistate to call on me in future to set them right..lol

Cheers

at lawyer,
how much are we looking at for the processing including the Alausa Egunje. pls just give a rough figure. the land has a survey already and its just one plot