GOVERNOR'S CONSENT

  Section 22 of the Land Use Act provides for the power of the Governor to give his consent in certain transactions and it states that: “It shall not be lawful for the holder of a statutory right of occupancy granted by the Governor to alienate his right of occupancy or any part thereof by assignment, mortgage, and transfer of possession, subleases or otherwise howsoever without the consent of the Governor first had and obtained”.

  This power confers on the Governor the right to consent to any of the transactions stipulated in the Act provided that they are valid. However, if the initial consent has been obtained fraudulently, the Governor may revoke same immediately.

  In essence, where a property owner has a valid right to occupy a property, making him/her the equitable interest holder of the property, when such owner decides to resell, mortgage, grant an interest in the property for long periods of time (3 years or more) or carry out other transactions prescribed by the Act on the property, the consent of the Governor must be obtained as the property is held on trust by the state government. Failure to obtain the required consent renders the transaction null and void, thus the rights of any third party unenforceable.

 CHECKLIST GUIDELINES/REQUIREMENTS FOR OBTAINING GOVERNOR’S CONSENT.

•  A duly completed and signed application made on land Form 1c to be sworn before a Notary public or a Magistrate.
•  A covering application letter by the Agent or by the Attorney to the Applicant. Contained in the letter must also be the address, telephone numbers, mobile numbers and where possible an email address of the Applicant.
•   A certified true copy of the original title to the land.
•   A bank certified Cheque made payable to the Lagos State Government. The exact percentage is dependent on the nature of the transfer, e.g. 5% for deeds of gifts or special transactions, 8% where the State Right of Occupancy has existed for 10 years or more, 16% where the right of occupancy is less than 10 years of the capital value of the land, etc.
•   Bank certified Cheque of N10, 500 (Ten Thousand Five Hundred Naira) made payable to LAGS representing Charting fee, Endorsement fee and Form 1c.
• One Hundred Naira (N100) as Development levy for each party to the Application.
• Genuine current tax clearance certificates of the parties. For mortgage applications, only the tax clearance certificate of the mortgagor is required.
• Where one of the parties is a limited liability company, the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) receipts for its staff and the current Tax Clearance Certificates of at least two of its Director’s.
• Evidence of payment of Ground rent and land charges where the application relates to State land or is covered by a Certificate of Occupancy.
• An Affidavit in lieu of Tenement rate where the land is an undeveloped land.
• Four (4) copies of the Deed of Assignment or Power of Attorney or Sub-Lease or Deed of Mortgage – as is applicable – are now required to be submitted instead of six copies.

PROCEDURES ON THE STAGES FOR OBTAINING GOVERNOR’S CONSENT TO LAND TRANSFERS.

1.    Application & accompanying documents are received at the Land Services Directorate.
2.    Application is uniquely referenced for identification purpose.
3.    Investigation of the status of the land through charting.
4.    Assessment of property to determine applicable fees.
5.    Issuance of Demand Notices.
6.    Applicant pays and forwards treasury receipts of payment of fees.
7.    Approval & endorsement of documents by the Honorable Commissioner.
8.    Stamping of documents.
9.    Registration of documents.
10.  Collection of all registered documents by the applicant.  

           

CALCULATION OF FEES

Note: The assessment for consent charges is based on location and the applicable fair market value (FMV) compiled and published in Lagos State Official Gazette No. 10 Vol. 48 dated 5^th February, 2015.

MORTGAGES

I.                     The Consent Fee on Mortgages is fixed at 0.25% of the loan which is equivalent to ₦2,500 per ₦1 million of loan.

II.                  The Registration Fee at 0.5% of the loan which is equivalent to N5, 000 per N1 million of loan.

 ASSIGNMENTS, SUBLEASES (40 YEARS & OVER) & POWER OF ATTORNEY

A.    LAND:

Multiply the size of the land by the applicable fair market value rate in the Gazette.

B.    BUILDINGS:

Multiply the spot assessment rate in the table below by the number of units of accommodation.
Thereafter, determine the fees payable as follows:

·        Consent Fee – 1.5% of assessment (3% in cases of State Land allocation where statutory right of occupancy has run for less than 10 years).

·        Capital Gains Tax- 0.5% of assessment.

·        Stamp Duty- 0.5% of assessment.

·        Registration Fees- 0.5% of assessment.

Neighborhood Improvement Charges (for private and excised lands) – Size of land X N2/m² X Number of years of relevant title.

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