Why so many Lagos homeowners never perfect their title, and why that is the real risk

The step people skip

Buying property in Lagos usually means taking a deed of assignment from the seller. Under the Land Use Act, that assignment needs the Governor’s consent. Until consent is obtained and the deed is registered, the person named on the title (the seller, or someone before them) remains the legal owner on record.

Perfecting a title takes three steps at three offices: stamp duty, Governor’s consent, then registration at the Lands Registry. Consent is the biggest cost, roughly 3% of the government’s assessed value of the property, and it can take anywhere from three months to a year.

So many buyers stop. They pay, collect the keys, sign the deed and never apply for consent. Some mean to do it later. Later rarely comes.

Why it just got harder

From 1 May 2026, Lagos updated its official land values, known as the Fair Market Value framework or “Blue Book”. The percentage rates for consent and related charges did not change. The values they are charged on rose by between 300% and 525% in many areas. One estimate puts a typical consent transaction in Lekki Phase 1, which cost about ₦18 million in 2015, at roughly ₦70 million today.

Higher fees on the same property mean more people will not perfect at all.

What an unperfected title costs you

• You are not the owner on the register. If the seller sells again, or the seller’s family or creditors come for the land, you start from a weaker position.

• You cannot easily borrow against it. Banks and mortgage lenders want a perfected title.

• You cannot easily sell it. Your buyer inherits your gap, and a break in the consent chain lowers the price and shrinks the pool of buyers.

• Your heirs inherit the problem. Perfecting decades later, with the original seller gone, is harder and costs more.

Our view

High consent fees are a tax on doing the right thing. They push people off the register, and a register people avoid is one nobody can fully rely on. That hurts lenders, investors and, over time, the state’s own revenue.

We would like to see Lagos do three things:

1. Cap or flatten consent fees for owner-occupied homes below a set value, so ordinary buyers are not priced out of perfecting their title.

2. Charge on the price actually paid where it is credible, using the official value only as a floor to catch under-declaration.

3. Put a clock on consent. Set a fixed processing time, after which an application is treated as approved unless it is refused with reasons.

Land reform is back on the federal agenda, with land reform task teams set up in late 2025. The cost of perfecting title belongs in that conversation.

What to do now

If you are buying

• Budget for perfection before you agree a price. Ask for the official value of the plot, not just the asking price.

• Agree in the contract who pays for consent and registration.

• Check the consent chain. Every earlier transfer should have its own consent.

• Pay stamp duty on time. It is the first step and the cheapest.

If you already own without consent

• Gather your documents now: the deed, receipts, survey plan and the seller’s title papers.

• Take advice on applying for consent, even if you need time to fund it.

• If the seller is alive and cooperative, get any missing documents signed now, not later.

• Keep your possession visible. Paying the land use charge in your name helps show you are the one in possession.