10 Questions to Ask Before You Pay for Any Property in Nigeria

Print this. Take it to every inspection. A serious seller will answer all ten without hesitation — and the way they answer will tell you as much as the answers themselves.

1. What title document backs this property, and may I see the original?

Why it matters: Your entire investment rests on this. Everything else is secondary.

What a good answer sounds like: A specific document named clearly — "It's a registered Deed of Assignment with Governor's Consent, and here's the file number." Followed by originals produced without drama.

Warning signs: Vagueness. "Full documentation." "Complete papers." "Everything is intact." These are marketing phrases, not title descriptions. Also: originals that are permanently with a lawyer, at a family house, or "in processing."

2. Whose name is on the title, and are they the person selling?

Why it matters: The most common fraud in Nigeria is a sale by someone who does not own the property.

What a good answer sounds like: The names match, identification is produced, and where the seller is acting for the owner, a valid Power of Attorney specifically authorising sale is available.

Warning signs: "It's family land, we all agreed" — with only one branch present. "The owner is abroad, I handle everything for him" — without documentation. A chain of unregistered transfers where each link is a photocopy.

Extra question for family land: Which family members must sign for this sale to be valid, and will all of them sign the deed?

3. Is the land under any government acquisition or committed area?

Why it matters: You can complete a perfect transaction with a genuine seller and still lose the land to a road scheme.

What a good answer sounds like: "It's excised — here's the Gazette number and page, and the survey plan has been charted."

Warning signs: "That acquisition was cancelled long ago." Verify at the Ministry of Lands. Nothing about acquisition should be accepted verbally.

4. Has a Land Registry search been done, and may I see the result?

Why it matters: The search is the moment truth enters the transaction.

What a good answer sounds like: A recent search result, plus a willingness for you to conduct your own independently.

Warning signs: Any resistance whatsoever. A seller with clean title has no reason to discourage verification. This is the single most diagnostic question on the list.

5. What is the total cost, including every fee?

Why it matters: Budgets die in the gap between the advertised price and the real one.

Ask for a written breakdown covering:

• Purchase price
• Agency / commission fee
• Legal fee (yours and any required for documentation)
• Survey and beacon costs
• Deed preparation and registration
• Stamp duty
• Governor's Consent fees
• Development or infrastructure levy
• Estate service charge, and when it starts
• Any allocation or documentation fee

Warning signs: Fees introduced progressively after you have committed. "Small small" charges that appear at each stage. A refusal to put the total in writing.

6. What is the payment plan, and what happens if I default?

Why it matters: Life happens. You need to know the consequences before, not during.

Ask specifically:

• Is the instalment price higher than the outright price, and by how much?
• What is the grace period on a missed payment?
• What penalty applies?
• If I cannot continue, is any amount refundable — and after what deduction?
• When is allocation made: on first payment, or on final payment?

Warning signs: "Don't worry, we're flexible." Get flexibility in writing or assume it does not exist.

7. Whose account will I be paying into?

Why it matters: This determines whether recovery is ever possible.

What a good answer sounds like: A registered corporate account matching the company name on the CAC certificate, with receipts issued on letterhead referencing the specific property.

Warning signs: Any personal account. Any explanation for why a personal account is necessary. There is no valid one.

8. What are the exact boundaries, and can a surveyor confirm them today?

Why it matters: Paper boundaries and physical boundaries disagree more often than you would expect — sometimes innocently, sometimes not.

What a good answer sounds like: Beacons identified on site, numbers matching the survey plan, and no objection to your own surveyor charting the plan.

Warning signs: Beacons that cannot be located. A plot pointed out "roughly around here." A survey plan with no registered surveyor's details.

9. Are there restrictions on what I can build?

Why it matters: You may be buying land you cannot use for your intended purpose.

Ask about:

• Estate design rules and approved building types
• Setbacks and coverage limits
• Timeframes within which you must commence building
• Whether the area is zoned residential, commercial or mixed
• Building approval requirements and typical processing time
• Whether commercial or short-let use is permitted

Warning signs: "You can build anything." Almost nowhere is this true.

10. Who else has sold, or attempted to sell, this property?

Why it matters: Double sales are common, and they are usually known locally before they are known legally.

How to find out: Do not ask only the agent. Ask the neighbours. Ask the security personnel. Ask someone building on the next plot. Ask at the junction.

Warning signs: Hesitation from locals. "There was a small issue but it's settled." Ask what the issue was and how it was settled, in writing.

The bonus question: if I walk away today, what have I lost?

If the honest answer involves a significant non-refundable payment you made before verification was complete, you moved too fast.

Structure every transaction so that the point of no return comes after the search result, not before it.

A note on how to ask

You are not being difficult. You are being a competent buyer.

Ask calmly, in order, and write the answers down in front of the seller. Two things happen: you get better answers, and a seller with something to hide often withdraws before you have lost anything.

The best deals survive scrutiny. Only the bad ones require you to hurry.

How we work

At Amiworld Properties Ltd we would rather answer twenty questions than face one dispute. Bring your list — and bring your lawyer.

Book an inspection. Call or WhatsApp 08164731517.