Owning a slice of a building: what the law actually protects when you buy fractional property

What you are actually buying

In Nigeria, land is held under a right of occupancy granted by the state. A token or a “unit” on an app is not a right of occupancy. Commentators looking at Lagos’s plans to tokenise property have pointed out that, until land law changes, a digital token cannot by itself carry legal title to land.

So in a fractional deal, someone else holds the property. Usually that is a company set up to own that one property, or a fund. What you buy is a share in that company, a unit in that fund, or a contractual claim against the platform. How well you are protected depends on which of the three it is.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

The Investments and Securities Act 2025 treats digital and virtual assets as securities and gives the SEC power to register and regulate digital asset platforms. In January 2026, the SEC’s Circular 26-1 raised minimum capital requirements across capital market operators, including digital asset operators. Read together with the SEC’s digital asset rules, these changes bring tokenised real-world assets, real estate included, into a regulated framework, with issuance and trading through SEC-registered platforms.

Separately, any scheme that pools money from many people to invest in property and pays them returns may be a collective investment scheme, which needs SEC registration.

Three questions to ask before you buy

1. Who holds the legal title, and is it perfected? Ask for the name on the Certificate of Occupancy or registered deed, and whether the Governor’s consent has been obtained. If the platform cannot show you, stop.

2. Which SEC registration or approval covers this offer? Ask for it, then check it yourself on the SEC’s register.

3. What happens if the platform fails? Is the property held in a separate company or trust, ring-fenced from the platform’s own debts? Is there an independent trustee or custodian? Who manages the property if the app shuts down?

Then ask a fourth: how do you get out? Find out how resale works, what it costs, and who sets the price.

Our view

Fractional ownership can open property investment to people who could never afford a whole flat. That is good for savers and good for the market. But the model only holds if the unglamorous parts are done properly: perfected title, separate legal ownership, independent custody and honest valuation.

Investors should judge platforms by their title documents and legal structure, not by how good the app looks. Regulators can help by putting the rules for tokenised and fractional property in one clear place, so that investors can tell the solid offers from the weak ones quickly.

What to do now

• Read the offer documents, not just the app screens. If there are no offer documents, treat that as your answer.

• Start small and spread your money across more than one property.

• Keep records of every purchase, payout and sale. Gains from selling digital assets and property interests are taxable under the Nigeria Tax Act.