It's been a while. Thank you for checking out our posts. This time, at KORP Properties, we intend to expose why a Survey Plan search is one pertinent effort you have to make before you buy that land.
A Survey Plan is a document that measures the boundary of a parcel of land to give an accurate measurement and description of that land. The people that handle survey issues are called Surveyors and they are regulated by the office of the Surveyor-General in the State. A Survey Plan should contain the following information:
- The name of the owner of the land surveyed
- The Address or description of the land surveyed
- The size of the land surveyed
- The drawn out portion of the land surveyed and mapped out on the survey plan document
- The beacon numbers
- The Surveyor who drew the Survey Plan and the date it was drawn up
- A stamp showing the land is either free from Government acquisition or not
A Sample copy of a Survey Plan and the features it should have before you carry out a search on that land
A Survey Plan, to me, is the most important document that you must ask the Omonile, Agent or Family that intends to sell the land/property to you TO PRODUCE. This document is what Omonile Lawyer will take to the Land Bureau to do a geographical search, or take our designated Registered Surveyor to the land to pick out the coordinates of the land to compare at at the Surveyor general’s office whether it is a good land or not.
No matter how cheap, beautiful or strategically located a land or property is, once that property has been discovered to be designated for Government use in future, there is no point going any further to purchase it. It will be a very foolish risk to attempt to defile the government and say, "Nothing will happen; at least there are so many houses around or so many people have bought their own and nothing has happened".
Well for those who are conversant with the Lagos State Government’s no-nonsense approach in maintaining the Master Plan of Lagos, once your property is within that area that has been designated for future Government use, no matter how long it may be, the plan must be carried out accordingly and your property will go down without any form of compensation because you failed to do the right thing by throwing caution to the wind. Examples include the 8-Lane Dual Carriage Way in Badagry where all the houses that were on the Right of Way were demolished, and all the houses in Alimosho Local Government that were near pipelines suffered the same fate as well as the ones in Idiroko, Ijegun, etc! In fact, remind me of the ones you know.
Also, it's even worse in Lekki-Ajah because there are some areas that have been specially acquired by the government for over 20 years and it’s just now that the government is trying to recover its lands. These areas are what are known as COMMITTED LANDS . Once an area has been designated as Committed, it is the ultimate no-go area to purchase a land. That’s where the government has committed projects such as Road expansions, estates or Government Reserved Areas for major developments.
As long as that Property is designated as Committed or Under Government Acquisition, it is only the Government of the day that can revoke it and grant you the right to obtain good title for that land bought under Acquisition; but if the government hasn’t given you the right to obtain a good title there, then those buying into those areas are buying at their own mega risk. Don’t for once look at the houses around there as your guide to mean the government cannot demolish those houses, you would be shocked that the owners have 4 or 5 houses and can do away with that one and poor people like you and I that have no mouth to fight government will just be rendered homeless because of our stubbornness to buy at all cost there.
Remember you know where the shoe pinches and how much you have in your pocket. This is end of 2016 and a period of recession. Plan to save more money than to throw it away foolishly. Winks.
The other option is that Government may choose not to demolish your house that is sited on a Committed land, but tell you to come and pay Ratification (the price of which may be several multiples of the amount you bought the land, and Omonile or Agent you bought it from would be nowhere to be found, and if found, would not in this life time refund or assist you in any way). Ratification in this sense means you’re going to pay Government the full price and taxes it has pre-determined to be the cost of that place and it's non negotiable. So imagine you bought the land in 2005 for N2Million in a Committed area and in 2010, you now have to pay Ratification also known as “Rat” at the cost of N5Million to the Government. Does that make any financial sense to you? Absolutely not, if you have an acute financial intelligence! Imagine all the fears, rumours, prayers that you would be going through so that those caterpillars don’t come your way.
A very bad Survey Plan that was terribly drawn up and the land is under government acquisition. Please shine your eyes before you become a victim of buying lands that are defective because you failed to carry out a thorough background survey land check.
Finally another advantage of the Survey Search is that if the land has been designated for Agricultural Purpose, you would know in advance. It’s mostly prevalent in Ikorodu, Badagry and Growing Rural Areas that are just cropping up. Buying into a place designated for Agric is a major no-no! Except you Want Your immediate neighbours to be Cows, Fisheries and probably Obasanjo’s Chicken farmers! Unless it has been designated for Residential or Mixed Development, avoid it please!
The summary is that the Survey Plan search saves you a lot of headache at first before you even move ahead. And once you meet an Omonile or Agent who is extremely difficult with you in terms of not providing the Survey Plan on demand for search, please my brothers and sisters, walk away quietly. The signs are already there for you to know you’re about to be scammed. A Survey Plan is a public document and not a private cheque book, so you shouldn’t be bamboozled by people who tell you that the owner doesn’t want to release it because of security reasons. Trust me, there is no reason. As long as he is ready to sell, that is the first thing you get from them to know the property's status before proceeding. I am not a Surveyor in any way and this information should only serve as a guide for intending land purchasers. You will be well advised to consult a Registered Land Surveyor to give you an insight into what they do and how they do it. I am only talking about the roles a Survey Plan plays as it relates to purchasing land in layman’s terms and why it is an extremely important document to have before, during and after you purchase a land.
GOOD NEWS
At KORP Properties, we bring to you tailor-made real estate products such that you need not bother about securing the services of more professionals. We save you lots of extra costs (except you choose to go the extra mile to spend more). We partner with proven real estate companies who have great legal, surveying, engineering, security and accounting teams that enable us bring you ready-made products at bespoke, affordable prices. There is an ongoing promo that almost everyone can afford with dry lands by a tarred road in the axis of the Lekki Free Trade Zone and Dangote Refinery going for only N600,000 now. Call 08183567878 for inspection or enquiries. See an example of our end-of-the-year offerings HERE
Credit - Omonile Lawyer
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