I once had a prospective client ask me my role in helping him acquire a property. Can you guess the reason he asked such an important question? If you say because of our fees, then yes, you’re right. I showed him the new scale of fees now operating which every lawyer in Nigeria is to begin billing from and also to abide by. This scale of fees was approved by the Bar Council on the 15th of May, 2023 to create a uniform and minimum charging system for lawyers practicing in Nigeria. He did the calculation and asked why should he pay us a percentage fee same as the agents as according to him ‘’we didn’t find the property for him’’. I’ll tell you my answer to his question soon, just read along and oh yeah, the topic is in the article, so pay rapt attention.
There are several stages in a “safe” property acquisition process and I’ll state them below akin to a real-life situation which will still depend on the state in which the property is located and the peculiarities of the root title (the type of title it has).
We basically begin at the pre-contract stage. What do we do here? Like the term says, there’s currently no existing contract between the vendor and purchaser. Let’s assume that the vendor must have inspected the property himself or through his agent and his lawyer has been duly consulted about the proposed transaction. Following up with that, an offer letter is sent stating the terms of the purchaser (e.g spreading of payments etc.) across to the vendor. If the vendor agrees with it, we will request for all available documents on the property i.e deeds, surveys, land use charge receipts etc to run a due diligence check on the validity of the title ensuring the root of title is sound and that the vendor has all the legal rights to pass on the rights in the property to the purchaser.
The next stage is called the contract stage. Before we begin to draft the requite agreement e.g a deed of assignment or a contract of sale, we must have gotten results on our due diligence check to advise the purchaser appropriately. So, let’s assume the due diligence returned all positive, what do we do? We begin to draft.
Once the agreement is ready, a meeting will be set up for all parties to meet. Payments are made and parties append their signatures on the requisite documents. The purchaser’s lawyer should ensure to demand and receive all documents relating to the property. All this happens at the post contract stage.
The final stage of this high value transaction is the perfection of title. The role of a lawyer doesn’t end until his client (purchaser cum assignee) has a registered title in his name. The lawyer is to perfect the title at the registry so the property now carries the name of the purchaser now the assignee, and anyone who does a search on it, will see the name of the new title holder.
The several stages of a property acquisition has just been explained above likewise the role and importance of a lawyer in the transaction. A property lawyer is needed from the beginning till the end of the transaction. On that note, I hope I have been able to convince you that a property lawyer’s role isn’t just about ‘’copying and pasting’’ or ‘‘amending an already existing template’’.
The information provided in this publication does not, and is not intended to constitute legal advice of any sort, rather all information herein are for general informational purposes.
