LAND LAW: PROTECTING YOUR INVESTMENT IN LANDED PROPERTIES IN NIGERIA

LAND LAW : PROTECTING YOUR INVESTMENT  IN LANDED PROPERTIES IN NIGERIA
1.	Legal Protection of Your Landed Properties	Investing your hard earned money in a land or landed property without legal protection is holding a time bomb in your hand. Legal protection of your property is to have all the necessary legal documents that, guarantees and protects your right to exclusive ownership and enjoyment of your property.
2.	Means of Acquisition of land and the Necessary Legal Documents	Purchase - Purchase Receipt, Deed of Assignment. Leasing/Renting - Deed of Lease or Lease Agreement or Tenancy Agreement. Devolution - Testate - Probate or Intestate - Letter of Administration. Gift or Grant - Deed of Grant or Gift. Allotment of family or communal land - Traditional Evidence or Minutes of Meeting.  Sale or Purchase on behalf of another - Power of Attorney Proof of Identity and location of the land -  Survey Plan
3.	Due Diligence - Verification of Status of Land	Conduct searches in the Land Registry: To know whether the land is encumbered e.g. mortgaged. Charting of Survey Plan at the Office of the Surveyor-General: To verify whether the land has been acquired by Government or the right of occupancy has been revoked or has the right setback. This is done by making a formal application to the Surveyor-General requesting for land information certificate.
4.	Statutory and Regulatory Requirements	In Writing : The Contract of sale of a land or landed property must be in writing. Stamp Duties: An unstamped title document cannot be tendered in court as evidence. Certificate of Occupancy: Confers a statutory right of occupancy which overrides any counter claim to the land unless held otherwise by the court. Governor’s consent : The consent of the Governor of a State must be obtained before any Assignment, Lease or Mortgage of an interest in land in a State in Nigeria can be recognised as valid in law. Registration of Title Documents with the Registrar of Title: Any document affecting land - except a Will - must be registered. An unregistered title document is not admissible in court as evidence of legal title. Payment of Ground rent for Certificate of Occupancy or land use charges. Approval of Building Plans.
5.	Methods of Proving Ownership Of Land	The court will presume ownership of land in favour of the Claimant who provides: Proof by traditional evidence ( History of family or communal land); Proof by production of documents of title duly authenticated and executed; Proof by acts of ownership in and over the land such as selling, leasing, making grant, renting out all or any part of the land or farming on portion thereof, extending over a sufficient length of time numerous and positive enough as to warrant the inference of true ownership;  Proof by acts of long possession and enjoyment; Proof by possession of connected or adjacent land in circumstances rendering it probable that the owner of such connected or adjacent land would, in addition, be the owner of the land in dispute. In the case of Idundun v. Okumagba  (1976) 1 9-10 SC 227 , the Supreme Court laid down what today has become the five methods, means or ways of proving or establishing  ownership to land above.
	Legal Remedies for Threat to Right of Ownership or Enjoyment of Land
1.	Sue for Trespass to Land	Where another without lawful justification or without your invitation or permission: (a)enters upon your land, or (b) remains upon  your land, or (c) directly places or projects any material objects upon your land.  You can sue for trespass to your land.
2.	Sue for Recovery of Possession of Land	A person who has been in exclusive possession of land but was wrongly dispossessed is entitled to sue for recovery of possession.In Nigeria, a right of action for recovery of land is extinguished twelve years after the date on which the cause of action accrued.
3.	Declaration of Title to Land	Where there is a conflict in claim of ownership of a land, the Claimant with proof of title can sue for declaration of title i.e. for the court to pronounce the person who has proved his title to the land as the one with the exclusive right to the land.
4.	Nominal Damages	Money claimed by or ordered to be paid to a person as compensation for trespassing on the claimant’s land or infringing on the claimant’s  right of ownership.
5.	Special Damages	Compensation for financial loss suffered as a result of trespass.
6.	Specific Performance	The court may order or compel the party who breached contract of sale of land to perform the contract by making a decree of specific performance.
7.	Injunction	Perpetual injunction restraining the trespasser from further trespassing on the land
8.	Compensation	You are entitled to claim for compensation for the compulsory acquisition by the Government of a land covered by a Certificate of Occupancy.
9.	Will	If you are bothered about the fate of your landed property in case of death, contact a lawyer to prepare you a Will.
Limitation Period		By virtue of the Limitation Law and Act, a right of action for recovery of land is extinguished twelve years after the date on which the cause of action accrued. S. 16 (2) (A), 17 & 21 of the Limitation Law CAP. L67 Laws of Lagos State.