Buying Property in Lagos Nigeria?
Here are very important things you need to know on how much it would cost you to get a Governor’s Consent perfected to your real estate property document. Plus we have put down a brief summary estimate of expected cost depending on value of your real estate property be it Land or built up Houses.
Before purchasing any real estate property, for you to be sure what you are buying is genuine and will not be sold to anyone else after your payment, you must obtain proper title if none existed before, or perfect the title the property already had in your own favour.
Their are different types of Title Documents in Lagos State and that articles can be found on one of our post here, “What are the different real estate Title Documents in Lagos State?”
However, this article is focused on giving you a vivid idea or estimate on cost of perfecting your title document upon purchase of a real estate property in Lagos State. Hence the question, How much does it cost to get a Governor’s Consent in Lagos State?
Sit with a Professional Real Estate Broker
There are many real estate agents in this Industry, in fact the industry is flooded with so many estate agents with little or no experience or Industry Knowledge/Training, so it’s your duty to take your time in searching for a professional real estate broker with a registered office and license to act.
Check out our article on “5 Most Important Things to Look out for when sourcing for a real estate agent.”
The Governor’s Consent
Consequent upon this, section 22 of The Land Use Act of 1978 states that; “It shall not be lawful for the holder of a statutory Right of Occupancy granted by the Governor, to alienate his Right of Occupancy or any part thereof by assignment, sublease etc. without the prior consent of the Governor”.
Simply put, even though a property has Certificate of Occupancy which makes the beneficiary the legal interest holder on the land, if he decides to resell or do anything with the property, since the land is held in trust by the state government, the Governor needs to approve to that transaction, otherwise, the title that will pass is not perfected.
This means that the final authority on landed matters is not aware of the transaction and the implications can be grievous at times.
There are two broad Governor’s approval types. One is the approval to transfer part or all your interest in the landed property to a third party and the other is the consent to mortgage. The latter is usually required when you are pledging your property as security for a credit facility.
So How Do You Go About It?
Here is a step-by-step process containing the essential documents needed to obtain the Governor’s Consent in Lagos State.
However, it is important to note that if the property has a defective title, it is sure to put a loophole in the process, please take note. It is also advisable to get your legal person to take you through the due diligence in your real estate property search before buying property anywhere in the World.
• A duly completed application made on Land Form 1C which must be dated and signed by the parties to the transaction and sworn to before a Magistrate or Notary Public.
• A cover letter from the Solicitor/Applicant filing the application for Governor’s consent.
• A certified original copy of the Title document of the property.
• The sum of N10, 500 (subject to present rate) for charting fee, endorsement fee and Form 1C made payable to the Lagos State Government.
• Four copies of the Deed of Assignment with survey plans attached in each copy.
• Photograph of the property.
• A current tax clearance certificate of the parties involved in the property transaction.
All these documents 
are forwarded to the office of the Surveyor General for charting. If there are no defects in the survey plan, a clean report is sent to the Lands Bureau and a demand notice is issued to the applicant for the following fees which are percentages of the assessed value of the property.
These following fees are paid via bank draft in the name of Lagos State Government and then receipts are issued:
- Consent fees – 8% of the assessed value of the property.
- Capital gains tax – 2% of the assessed value of the property.
- Stamp duty fee – 2% of the assessed value of the property.
- Registration fee – 3% of the assessed value of the property.
Present experience is that the process of getting approval, takes at least three months to conclude if assessment fees are paid as quickly as possible and there are no queries in your file, although the State Government has a target period of 30 days.
Coming soon is our latest article on ‘how to calculate fees for obtaining Governor’s consent in different areas of Lagos State’. This will teach you how to do it yourself.
We hope you found this article very helpful?
And if you have any questions or input to make do not hesitate to drop us your comments below we sure would revert back to you. Also do sign up to receive our latest article as they come, so that you can be up to date with the real estate and property sector in and around Nigeria and the World at large.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
