INTERVIEW WITH LAGOS BASED REAL ESTATE LAWYER AKPOR IKOGHO
BE IT YOUR 1ST, 2ND OR 10TH TIME BUYING OF PROPERTY, ALWAYS DO A LEGAL SEARCH BEFORE YOU PART WITH A KOBO OF YOUR MONEY
AKPOR IKOGHO
Please introduce yourself and can you tell us about your experience as a land lawyer.
My name is Akpor Ikogho. I am a Legal Practitioner based in Lagos Nigeria. I currently have 12 plus years in advising and structuring real estate transactions. l set up my firm, Mark Renee LP 6 years ago to address what I believe is a deficit in the legal market. Many of our clients are High Networth Individuals who are big players in the real estate space in Nigeria.
Can you tell us about notable real estate transactions you have handled?
Well, as lawyers we cannot divulge specifics of the work we have done for clients. However, personally I have assisted buyers purchase landed property cumulatively running into billions of naira in Lagos. These include areas like Victoria Garden City, Lekki Phase 1, Ajah and Ikeja GRA. We also manage residential and commercial property on behalf of a good number of clients. At our real estate investigation unit we have also prevented scams in hundreds of millions of naira.
What would you advise 1st time property buyers to do when buying property?
My advice is always the same for property buyers. Be it their 1st, 2nd or 10th time. Don’t trust anybody trying to sell land or a house to you. Always do your investigation before you part with a kobo of your money.
Some areas of land in Lagos are very notorious for land scams. Areas like Lekki Phase 1, Ajah, Ogombo etc.
When a client contacts us to advise on a land purchase or ask for land verification, the first thing we do is to ask for copies of the land document. If the seller or agent is unwilling to provide them I immediately ask the client to walk away from the deal. After we receive the documents we carry out a legal search at the land registry. If things check out we get a trusted surveyor to visit the premises. He will take the coordinates, chart the land and we also do a search at the Lagos State Surveyor Generals Office.
What is your opinion on the recent spate of demolitions carried out by the Lagos State Government?
Great question. Only two days ago someone contacted me frantically. He bought a property for almost 70 million Naira and people from government have now put a big red X on the property. He told me that he didn’t carry out any legal search on the property before making payment. He wants to do the search now. I explained to him that it may be too late and Lawyers can’t perform magic. I hope the property isn’t demolished.
People need to understand that typically the government doesn’t wake up one day to pull down properties. Before that happens, you must have erected a building on government land or where you shouldn’t have done so. Even after that, usually the government will serve several notices on the property. This notice is usually called an abatment of nuisance notice. After that, there is a notice of demolition that must be served on the premises. Only then will the property be demolished.
In this matter, I blame developers who build on areas they know belong to the government or are earmarked for government projects. The buyers should also be vigilant. If a lawyer did a legal search on the property he would most likely have discovered the issues with the location of the buildings. A surveyor who took the coordinates would most likely have discovered the danger in buying in that particular location. The government also deserves some blame for not putting a stop to construction in such areas and safeguarding the interests of its citizens. If the building was halted people won’t have lost money on the scale that they did.
What should be done about the Omonile issue in Lagos?
The Lagos State Government tried to address this by enacting the Lagos State Property Protection Law. Then, Governor Ambode told us that the main objective of the law was to ensure that investors, businessmen and the general populace carry on their legitimate land/propertytransactions without any hindrance or intimidation. He even set up a task force to enforce the law because these Omo Onile are plain criminals, some of them even operate as armed land grabbers.What I always tell my clients is that they stick to buyingproperty that has good or verified title. If possible, buywithin Lagos State Land schemes or Estates with goodtitle. Apart from that I don’t see the omonile issue going away soon.
What Are Your Parting Words for People Interested In Investing In Land?
Historically, land has always appreciated in title. It is one of the best investments out there. Investors and buyers just need to do proper due diligence before parting with hard earned money. Once money goes it is hard to bring it back.
Website: www.markrenee.com
Email.ami@markrenee.com
07037836881