INTRODUCTION
According to Section 1 of the Land Use Act of 1978 of Nigeria all land within the territory of each state is vested in the Governor of the State to be held in trust and administered by him for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians in accordance with the provisions of the act.
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, mortgage, transfer of possession, sublease or otherwise howsoever without the consent of the Governor first had and obtained” hence the need to obtain Governor’s Consent for all the transactions highlighted above.
It is imperative that before the conclusion of transactions in landed property, the prospective buyer must conduct a search at the Lands Registry. The search is usually conducted to enable the purchaser ascertain that the vendor has good title and that the land is free from acquisition, free from encumbrances, litigation, or other interests which may affect the interest of the vendor in an assignment. The vesting instrument can be a Certificate of Occupancy, Registered Deed of Conveyance, Gazette, Court Judgement etc.
DOCUMENTS REQUIREMENTS FOR GOVERNOR’S CONSENT
The documents required to process Governor’s Consent in Lagos State are listed below:
- Form 1C duly executed by both parties Grantor(s) and Grantee(s) with assignee’s passport photograph attached.
- 3 Deeds of Assignments (Please note that the Assignee must endorse each page of the Deeds. Deeds must also be franked and signed by a legal practitioner and the schedule and signature pages must be merged.)
- 3 chartable Survey Plans
- Certified True Copy of the Roof of Title (Obtained from the Land Registry)
- Locational sketch of the site
- Photograph of site
- 3 passport photographs of the applicant
- Charting Endorsement and Form 1C fees – N10,500.
- Evidence of payment of income tax by the Assignor and the Assignee.
- Certificate of registration at C.A.C in case of a corporate entity
- Evidence of survey plan record copy lodgement.
- Applicants are to submit the above with a covering letter which must include the email address and phone numbers of the contact person.
The required payments for Governor’s Consent are as follows:
- Consent fee – 1.5% or 3% of the assessed value of the property
- Capital gain tax – 0.5% of the assessed value of the property
- Stamp duty fees – 0.5% of the assessed value of the property
- Registration fees – 0.5% of the assessed value of the property
- Publication fee – N20,000
- Neighbourhood Improvement charge
- Land Use Charge/Ground rent
Applicants are required to pay and submit receipts of all the payments listed above to the Directorate of Land services for processing of the application to commence.
The Directorate of Land services processes the application after which it is sent to a designated Commissioner who will sign the vesting Deed on behalf of the Governor. The vesting Deed is thereafter sent to the Commissioner for Stamp Duty for stamping. The stamped Deed is forwarded to the Lands Registry for registration after which it is released to the applicant at the Lands Registry.