Buyer guides

What to know before you buy land in Nigeria

Short, practical guides written for buyers rather than for search engines. A buyer who understands what a C of O proves is a buyer we can sell to honestly.

Surveyors conducting a cadastral land survey

Latest · Title and documentation

What a Certificate of Occupancy actually proves

A C of O is the strongest title most Nigerian buyers will encounter, and it still does not answer every question. Here is what it covers, what it does not, and what to ask for alongside it.

August 2026

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Buying process

How to verify a plot before you pay for it

The searches, the site visit, and the questions that separate a genuine allocation from a story. None of it is expensive, and all of it is cheaper than the alternative.

August 2026

Payment plans

Reading a land payment plan without getting caught out

Deposit, duration, and what happens if you miss an instalment. The three terms that decide whether a plan is workable, and the clauses worth reading twice.

August 2026

Modern housing set among mature planting

Estate living

What service charges cover in a managed estate

Security, drainage, road maintenance and power. What a service charge is buying, how it is usually set, and what to check before you commit to one.

July 2026

Title and documentation

Excision and gazette, explained without the jargon

Most land sold in Lagos and Ogun sits somewhere on the road between family land and a Certificate of Occupancy. Excision and gazette are the two milestones on that road, and knowing which one a plot has reached tells you most of what you need.

July 2026

Title and documentation

When a registered survey is all there is

Some plots are sold on a survey and nothing more. That is not automatically a fraud, but it is a different purchase with a different risk, and it should carry a different price.

July 2026

Buying process

The site visit checklist we give our own buyers

What to look at, what to photograph and who to speak to on the day you walk the plot. Twenty minutes of attention on site saves a year of correspondence later.

July 2026

Buying process

Eleven questions to ask before you pay a deposit

A seller who answers all eleven plainly is a seller you can work with. One who deflects on any of them has told you something useful.

June 2026

Payment plans

What actually happens when you miss an instalment

Forfeiture, reallocation, restructuring or a refund minus charges. The four outcomes a plan can specify, and why the difference between them belongs in writing before you sign.

June 2026

Payment plans

Paying in full against paying on a plan

Outright purchase usually buys a discount and a faster allocation. A plan buys time. Which is worth more depends on facts about you, not about the plot.

June 2026