CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY
A Certificate of Occupancy ( C of O) is an official document issued by a government agency, giving a person the 'statutory right' to occupy and take possession of a parcel of land. It serves as legitimate proof of ownership of a land by a person/company.
It must however be noted that in law, the government doesn't actually sell the land to you when you have a certificate of occupancy, but 'leases' the land to the buyer to use for a certain period of time.
A Certificate of Occupancy issued by the Lagos State Government officially leases Lagos land to you, the applicant, for 99 yrs. *Why 99years??That's the number of years specified in the Land Use Act. What happens after 99years? That has been a nagging question for real estate experts.Some just have this 'Wait and see attitude', though its very unlikely they will be alive to confirm what will happen after 99years. 😊 Others however postulate that the descendants of a person with a Certificate of Occupancy might probably be allowed to renew the Certificate of Occupancy by paying another sum of money for renewal.That makes more sense. Global Certificate of occupancy applies to a large expanse of land, while an individual Certificate of Occupancy applies to a single plot.
There's also another term that's very important when purchasing land that's called 'unexpired residue of the term'.
Under the Land use act of 1978, when parties exchange documents of sale (deed of assignment), what's being sold is the amount of time unexpired from the 99years of occupancy.
Example: Assuming Mr. A bought 2 plots of land with C of O from Mr. B on March 1 2018. However, the C of O was issued to Mr. B in 1988, the unexpired residue of term is (99years - 30years)= 69years.
Therefore, 69years is the 'Unexpired residue of the term'. This means that in 69years time, that land officially reverts back to the government, unless the government at that time allows the owner of the land to renew the land documents for a fee and maintain ownership.
It's essential therefore that any buyer of a parcel of land knows what the 'unexpired residue of the term' is before making purchase.
GOVERNOR'S CONSENT
What exactly is a Governor's consent?
Many people who operate in the real estate industry hear the title 'Governor's consent', but few of them apparently know what it really means.
I have tried to simplify it for easy understanding in this article and how it operates under the law.
A simple illustration to follow is this.... the first person on a virgin land (virgin land simply means a parcel of land that no land title has been allocated to any particular individual or under acquisition by the Government) is entitled to get a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) on that land.
If that person with the C of O decides to sell his land to another person after some years, the new buyer must now obtain Consent from the Governor before that transaction can be deemed legal in the eyes of the Government. If the new buyer now decides to sell the land again to a third owner in future, that third owner must also obtain a new Consent from the Governor before that transaction can be deemed legal in the eyes of the Government and the process continues every time the property changes hands to a new buyer. In other words,the first person on a land is the only person entitled to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy. Every subsequent buyer of that land must get a Governor's consent to make the transaction legal in the eyes of the law. The powers of the Governor to consent to such transactions can be found in Section 22 of the Land Use Act of 1978 which states thus *'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'' This simply means therefore that even when a buyer has secured a land with a Certificate of Occupancy, he shouldn't stop there. He needs to begin the process of obtaining a Governor's consent to make that purchase legal in the eyes of the government and be rest assured his land is safe. It's because of this flaw that many 'Omo onile' end up selling the same piece of land to different people, based on their knowledge that it's only the buyer who successfully obtains a Governor's consent first that can claim rightful ownership of the land.
DR. B.A. OYENEYIN
M.B.CH.B., A.C.S., A.C.S.I.(UK)
Medical doctor, Associate Chartered Stockbroker, Certified Financial & Investment Analyst.
