Property Law
Perfection of title in Lagos: the timeline nobody quotes you
Governor's consent is not a formality with a fee attached. Budget for it the way you budget for construction.
NINgozi Ilo
03 — Practice area
Property and land lawyers in Lagos
A deed of assignment is a contract, not ownership. Until consent, stamping and registration are complete, what a buyer holds is an equitable interest and a queue number. We investigate title before price is agreed, and see perfection through to a registered root of title.
Title investigation and charting
Searches at the land registry and a charting exercise at the survey office before you commit — which is when a committed acquisition or government acquisition is cheap to discover rather than ruinous.
Governor’s consent and perfection
Consent, stamping and registration run in sequence, each with its own failure modes and its own clock. We manage the whole path and align it with your financier’s drawdown schedule.
Leases, development and joint ventures
Commercial and residential leases, development agreements, and land-owner joint ventures where the contribution is the land itself.
Family land and succession
Deeds of settlement, declarations of trust and holding structures that record what the family already knows — drawn while the people who remember the history are still available to explain it.
Common questions
How long does Governor’s consent take in Lagos?
It varies with the state of the file and the accuracy of the survey plan. Treat it as a critical path item measured in months, not weeks, and budget for it the way you budget for construction.
What is the difference between a Certificate of Occupancy and a deed of assignment?
A Certificate of Occupancy is the grant of a statutory right of occupancy from the State. A deed of assignment transfers an existing interest between parties, and needs Governor’s consent to be effective against the State.
Can I buy land without perfecting the title?
You can, and many do. But an unperfected interest is difficult to mortgage, difficult to sell, and vulnerable if the root of title is challenged. Lenders price that risk in, and they are not wrong to.
Writing on property law
All writing →Property Law
Family land, family peace: structuring inheritance early
The cheapest succession plan is the one drawn while everyone who understands the history is still available to explain it.
NINgozi Ilo
Who you would work with
Adaeze N. Obi
Managing Partner — Startup & Corporate
Twelve years across venture financings and cross-border M&A. Sits on the other side of the table often enough to know where it bends.
Writing →Portrait — T. Eze
Tobenna Eze
Partner — Oil & Gas
Fifteen years in upstream contracting and licensing. Reads a JOA the way other people read a menu.
Writing →Portrait — H. Bala
Halima Bala
Partner — Criminal Litigation
Former prosecutor. Now spends her days undoing the case files she once built.
Writing →Portrait — N. Ilo
Ngozi Ilo
Senior Associate — Real Estate
Title work, perfection, and the long unglamorous march through the land registry.
Writing →01StartupFormation, cap tables, SAFEs and priced rounds, ESOPs — and the terms founders sign at 2am and regret at Series A.02CorporateCompany secretarial, M&A, joint ventures, CAC and regulatory filings, board governance and shareholder disputes.04Oil & GasUpstream and midstream contracting, licensing rounds, local content compliance, and arbitration when the JOA fails.05Criminal LitigationBail applications, trial defence, appeals — and quiet resolutions reached before a charge is ever filed.