Indeed Lagos State has the most advanced property registration and verification system among states in Nigeria
Prior to the Registration of Titles Act 1935, a purchaser had to investigate title to land by checking out prior dealings in the land contained in deeds, mortgages or other instruments which were separately registered under the Registration of Instruments Act of 1924.
The Registration of titles Act, 1935 introduced a new system whereby the state maintains a single register of titles and guarantees the entries contained within as representing the indisputable state of the title, except in the rarest of cases.
Thus the Registrar is duty bound to ensure the authenticity of documents brought before him/her. This include verifying facts and other documents that give occasion for an entry, verifying identity of parties and the due execution of documents.
Before completing a registration, the Registrar would normally require an applicant or other person appearing to have knowledge of facts to make a declaration on oath that all encumbrances and material facts have been disclosed.
The Registrar makes a note of the date of receipt of each application and numbers them serially, as priority is determined by the date and time an application is submitted.
On 21st January, 2015, Lagos State Land Registration Law was introduced as a comprehensive legislation on land registration, replacing the Registration of titles Act and other related legislation on the subject matter.
Every document of interest or title to Land in Lagos State is required to be registered subject to exceptions such as sub-leases of less than 3 years tenure (Section 2). Registration shall be sought within sixty (60) days after obtaining Governor’s consent (Section 26).
The Registrar of Title, who heads the Land Registry, has responsibility for all land registry divisions which are run daily by Deputy Registrars (Section 4). The Governor can create additional divisions or adjust boundaries of existing ones (Section 3).
Following registration of title, subsequent dealings and transactions in that land are endorsed on the register so that a simple search of the register will confirm whether or not a vendor has power to sell or whether there are encumbrances. This makes the process of ascertaining title quicker and easier as it avoids the need for a vendor to establish title through proof of several documents.
Prior to 2015, the Register consisted only of:
(1) the ‘Property Register’ which gives a description of the property and states the full address and/or location of the property by reference to a map or field plan.
Rights enjoyed by the land over adjoining property, such as easements, positive or restrictive covenants are included here. Notes relating to ownership of mineral (if any) and any exemption from overriding interests are also included here.
(2) the ‘Proprietorship Register’ which gives full particulars and details of the owner. Caution or restrictions affecting the owner’s right to dispose of the property are also included here.
(3) the ‘Charges Register’ which includes details of any encumbrance on the property such as mortgages, legal charges, notices of leases, restrictive covenants, easements adversely affecting the property etc.
Land Information Management System
Though the Lagos State Land Registration Law, 2015 maintained the existing register which was in paper form, it nevertheless introduced an electronic warehouse of registers known as the ‘Land Information Management System’ (LIMS).
Within LIMS can be found all the registers kept in offices of the Land Registry prior to 21st January, 2015 and three new registers namely, Day List (record of daily applications), Mortgages and Caution Registers.
SEARCH OF DOCUMENTS AND REGISTERS IN ‘LIMS’ (Section 22)
To investigate title, a purchaser or his Solicitor need only conduct a search of LIMS. In doing so, he/she will visit the appropriate Land Registry division with the following:
1. Sworn declaration by the purchaser or his Solicitor stating he has consent of the owner to investigate the title.
2. Copy of the owner’s land certificate containing particulars by which the title will be investigated.
3. Completed application to conduct search in the prescribed form (Form 3, schedule 1 of the Law).
4. Search fee of N3,750.00
REPORT OF ELECTRONIC SEARCH (Sections 22(5))
Following search, an official report is produced for the applicant in the prescribed form (Form 4, of schedule).
This gives particulars of the title searched for including a description of the property, parties to the transaction, the term of years created, history of the property (root of title) including surviving encumbrances, any subsequent transaction or subsequent encumbrance since registration affecting the land and other relevant remarks.
CERTIFIED TRUE COPY OF DOCUMENTS
Upon application in the prescribed form (form 5, schedule 1), a person may obtain certified true copy of any document capable of being registered in law and is held within the ‘LIMS‘ warehouse (Section 23).
PROVING TITLE IN COURT
Any document extracted from ‘LIMS‘ in the Land Registry is admissible as evidence in court subject to the provisions of the Evidence Act (Section 24).
