BE SURE NOT TO BUY MORTGAGED LAND/BUILDING

BE SURE NOT TO BUY MORTGAGED LAND/BUILDING

You bought land/building. You signed the purchase documents (Deed of Conveyance/Assignment). You even started fencing.

Then suddenly, a bank/lender shows up claiming the land is mortgaged to them, and tells you to vacate immediately.

It sounds like a bad joke, but it is a legal reality many land buyers in Nigeria have painfully discovered too late.

If that land was used as collateral (security) for a loan, a legal mortgage exists. Once that mortgage is registered, the lender has a stronger legal right over the property based on the principle of law “when the equities are equal, the first in time prevails.”

Your own transaction, no matter how genuine, becomes completely worthless.

You cannot override the lender’s right, even with receipts and signed purchase documents. The law protects the lender’s right to recover money lent, not your oversight or good intentions.

So what should you do?

Before paying for any land/building, get a Property Lawyer to conduct thorough search. If he finds a registered mortgage, do not proceed with buying unless the seller provides written proof that the bank/lender has discharged the loan (called Deed of Release or Deed of Discharge).

No discharge, no deal. Do not take verbal assurances.

Always verify. The cost of ignorance in land transactions is far greater than the cost of due diligence (investigation).

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APEX CHAMBERS, Law Firm of Property/Real Estate and Business/Corporate /Commercial Lawyers, Attorneys, Barristers, Solicitors Advocates, Legal Practitioners rendering legal services, Legal Consultants and Notary Public with Law Office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Phone: +234(0)7030868694 (Calls & Whatsapp)
Email: info@apexchambersglobal.com
Website: www.apexchambersglobal.com