Property Acquisitions and Legal Issues in Nigeria
THE RISING SCAM IN NIGERIAN REAL ESTATE by Barrister (Mrs) Micah

I left Nigeria to London in my very young age where I successfully studied law in one of the top London University and went on to do Bar Vocational Course (BVC). Having spent so many years in London I thought it wise to come back to my country (Nigeria) to settle down with my family so that my children will know their root very well.
In order to continue my practice, I did my law school in Nigeria and started my practice as a Barrister & Solicitor Advocate of Nigeria.
Among other areas of speciality, conveyancing, Property Sales and Development is one of our area of expertise and through this experience I thought it wise to write this article to warn other Nigerians both local and Overseas about what they need to know before buying or selling properties in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, I will not like to overwhelm you with lots of information, however, if you are of any concern, do call me at appropriate time; I will be more than happy to answer your questions.
In doing so, I will like to share some personal and professional experiences with buying, selling, letting or renting properties in Nigeria. Things are very tough now making some people to become ‘fake’ estate agents as an umbrella to commit fraud.

I have to honestly say that there are good and genuine estate agents and surveyors in Nigeria but the bad agents are the once destroying the estate agents’ business in Nigeria. The question is how do we dictate a fake estate agent?
To cut the story short, I will share only few experiences and will not name the concerned agents and the so-called surveyor in this article.
In 2013, a very reputable client instructed us to purchase land for property development. We sighted the original document for the land as well as the plan. The issuing is how to know the document is real or clone. Appropriate searches were conducted through AMAC, the name on the AMAC record clearly match the seller’s name in the document. However, reading the plan, everything did not seem right to us. To ensure that our client will not be at risk with the proposed property purchase, we carried out a second and third surveyor. It transpired that the land shown to us was not the actual land on the plan making the sale illegal and fraudulent.
Obviously, the agent and his surveyor did not realise my profession and level experience in Nigerian real estate, but seeing me with another foreign buyer, their main motive was to commit fraud. I monitored them very closely until their plan was uncovered through evidence.
There are lots of stories to tell, but in order not to scare you, it is necessary to carry out a proper due diligence through reputable law chambers or other trusted estate agents.
It is also necessary to ask for other identity of the seller in order to eliminate fraud. Through legal cases, there have been many cases where people sold land that belonged to someone else. The seller believing that he/she had acquired a legal and equitable interest in Land would start an immediate property development on the land only to notice at a later stage that the land was fraudulently sold to him/her. Consequently, two innocent people would end up in a very expensive litigation to determine the rightful owner of the land. This is very awful and something one has to avoid if possible by taking an appropriate due diligence.
Please make sure you instruct your own surveyor and not just the seller’s surveyor.