I have a story with the hope that a prospective property investor out there will be able to get the right information before they purchase the next property.
Someone Slide in to my site recently and told me about the problem he is facing currently in his explanation, according to him he is trying to perfect his title deed as he was finally have the financial capacity to do so.
According to his explanation he did the survey plan of his land in Lagos State, some years ago but he did not have money to perfect the documentation, that is to get his Certificate of Occupancy but now that he is Financial buoyant, he consults his property lawyer to help him to perfect get his land title.
The first step his property lawyer took is to take the copy of the survey plan because the first step he needs to take is to conduct land information at the Surveyor General’s Office to ascertain the status of the land using a copy of the survey plan. And when he got to the Surveyor General’s office to commence the land information process, the red copy could not be found in the office, which means the land surveyor who drew the survey plan never lodged a red copy.
I know some people may be wondering, what is a red copy? A red copy is the record copy or official copy of the survey plan that MUST be lodged (submitted) by a registered land surveyor who draws a survey plan with the Surveyor General’s Office, and who must also have a letter of submission of the record copy as proof of such lodgment, otherwise perfection of the title deed on a land will not be possible.
During my discussion with my prospect, it was so obvious that he does not understand the importance of having a red copy of the survey plan then. In the course of our discussion and the main thing that pain me most is that the surveyor who drew the survey plan is no more because we need to question him for the non-lodgment of the red copy and it was obvious that the surveyor’s that did the survey plan stopped at just drawing the survey plan and without lodgment of the red copy .At that point, I had to sit him down and informed him that without a red copy of the survey plan lodged with the Surveyor General’s Office, there was no way lawyer could proceed with perfecting his title deed to the land. And the only solution that to resolve this issue is that he need to pay for a fresh survey plan on the land to be draw and lodge with the Surveyor General’s Office, so that his title deed can be perfect.
This story here is to teach some many Nigerians in home and Abroad who are ignorant of this fact and who at the point of perfecting their title deed and find out that the money they paid for a survey plan is totally useless for that purpose and end up paying extra expenses for a fresh survey plan to be draw and lodge.
Aside from this ignorance, many Property Investors have been known to contribute to their own hardship by passing land surveyors because of their supposedly high fees but who will do the needful and instead patronize quack surveyors who charge them ridiculously low fees and end up not lodging the survey plan.
For the land owner out there, who is at the stage of having the survey plan of the land purchased drawn, it is important that you approach a registered land surveyor with a proven track record and ensure that the survey plan is lodged and proof of it provided, so that you will not be frustrated or incur unplanned expenses for whenever you do decide to perfect the title deed to your land.
Let this be at the back of your mind ‘NO RED COPY, NO PERFECTION OF TITLE DEED’. just let this be on your mind for future purposes.
Please consult a professional for your landed property acquisition, starting from your property lawyer, Surveyor, Professional Real Estate Consultant.
And for your next property acquisition, consult ANIBIJUWON JOHN to guide you through, feel free to chat me or call on 08030703841 Whatsapp see you on the next one. cardotmultventure@gmail.com
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