10 Terms You Should Understand Before Buying A Property in Nigeria

There are a lot of confusing property terms in Nigeria, that’s why at some point, property buyers and investors get confused at the meaning of some real estate terms.
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In this episode, we will be explaining 10 property terms in Nigeria which you should understand before buying a property.
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(1) Title document
This is a very common real estate term in Nigeria, you will find it in property fliers and adverts, title or title document refers to the document of ownership that is on the property.
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In simple English, this means the document the property sellers have to prove they have the right to the property and they have the right to sell.
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(2) Ancillary or Statutory fees
This commonly called hidden charges, these fees are the other amount you pay outside the cost of the land or house, these fees include Legal fee/Deed of Assignment, Survey fees, Service charge, Infrastructure/Development Levy etc
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(3) Allocation
the term allocation means showing you where the property you purchased is located, the exact street number or plot number.
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Allocation is very key after you have paid fully for a property, because you can’t sell nor build if your property has not been allocated.
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(4) A plot
this is the most confusing property term in Nigeria, a plot is a parcel of land, it’s a very common keyword to hear FULL PLOT and HALF PLOT.
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However, in reality, FULL PLOT is simply 60ft by 120ft i.e. 648sqm size of land and HALF PLOT is simply 60ft by 60ft i.e. 324sqm size of land.
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(5) Contract of Sale
this document is prepared upon a first deposit for a property, the document carries the property price, amount to be paid, other charges and the property sellers accepting your offer to buy the property.
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However, a contract of sale does not mean the property is yours yet.
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(6) Deed of Assignment
this refers to the document that transfers the right of ownership from one party to the other, this document is very important to validate a real estate transaction in Nigeria.
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After paying for any property in Nigeria, the next thing you should do is to sign and obtain the Deed of assignment.
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(7) Survey
this refers to a document that gives full description of a property, including the full address, size of the land, shape of the land, the coordinates and acquisition status of the property.
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A survey is a very key and important property document in Nigeria, together with the Deed of Assignment, both will be required for you to perfect the title of a property after purchase.
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(8) Coordinates
this refers to a combination of letters and numbers that represents the latitude and longitude of the location of a property, the coordinate numbers are usually provided and needed by a Surveyor to chart a property.
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(9) Government Acquisition
If you come across this term during a property deal, this refers to finding out if you’re buying a property that belongs to the government or if the government has released the property and it’s good to buy.
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(10) Dry or wetland
A dry land refers to a property on a solid soil mostly clay soil, not much concrete works is needed to construct here.
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A wetland can be swampy or marshy, a raft or pile foundation would be required for you to construct here with lots of concrete works even for the fencing.

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