Processing A Certificate Of Occupancy

To ease the stress of acquiring documents for property bought in Lagos State, the state government introduce the new Electronic Certificate of Occupancy in 2015.

The current paper, Certificate of Occupancy being used in Lagos state will be phased out and replaced by a more secure electronic land title format in line with acceptable international standards on land administration and management.

With the introduction of the Electronic C of O under the New Lagos State Certificate of Occupancy project, all C of Os currently in circulation will be withdrawn and replaced with the e-C-of-O, which officials say will be genuine and verifiable. The objective of the project is to establish a fully automated and computerized method for issuing C-of-Os and increase public/investor confidence by instilling integrity in the C-of-Os issued by the state government.

The first stage of the recertification exercise is being planned for two government residential schemes to test the system with live applications in order to ensure that an excellent working order is in place. The recertification exercise is essentially an exchange of the current C-of-O, while at the same time verifying the authenticity of the C-of-O of each holder.

The second stage of the project is essentially the inauguration of the automate system of the day-to-day normal processing of the e-C-of-O. Ensuring that it has state-of-the-art security features, to avoid fraudulent practices, also the paper that would be used as physical evidence of possessing the electronic certificate had been specially designed by a world renowned security document company.

To complement the new project, it was gathered that the Lands Bureau would also have in place a fully automated and computerized process for issuing C-of-Os with distinct security levels for each authorized user of the system and full audit trail of users.

Before now, the processing of C-of-Os in Lagos State has been made cumbersome by bureaucratic bottlenecks that unnecessarily delay the issuance of the document.

There have also been cases of multiple C-of-Os being issued to different parties on the same piece of land, leading to consuming litigations, while some people have perfected the art of cloning or illegally duplicating genuine C-of-Os with a view to perpetrating fraudulent transactions.

For the process to work effectively, the government needs to further sensitize property owners and the citizens of Lagos State on the procedure of acquiring the documents to avoid fraudulent practices.

The procedure for obtaining a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) on State Government allocated Land.
1. The Applicant should purchase and submit the application pack at the Land Use Allocation Commission (LUAC) and collect an acknowledgement slip.
2. Day Applicants collect letter of offer of allocation
3. The Applicant should pay for the allocated land within 90 days.
4. A letter of confirmation is issued to the Applicant with a plot and block number.
5. The Scheme Officer processes the application for the C of O, signs off on the file and forwards the files to Executive Secretary Land Use & Allocation Committee.
6. The Surveyor General provides Scheme Officer with digitized survey 
7. Executive Secretary LUAC approves processing and signs letter of allocation. Ex.Secretary LUAC signs off on the file and sends the file to the Senior Special Assistant to His Excellency, Lands (SSA Lands) – 
8. The SSA, Lands vets the entire file and sends it with a covering memo to the Permanent Secretary Lands Bureau (PS Lands) 
9. Should the file have a query, the message is relayed back by notification
10. The PS, Lands signs off on the memo and sends the file to His Excellency 
11. His Excellency approves file and electronically signs the C of O –
12. Should the file has a query, message is relayed back by notification
13. Upon approval and signing of the C of O by His Excellency, He signs off and sends it to the Deputy Registrar for further processing.
14. The Deputy Registrar processes the file further, signs off and sends it to Registrar of Titles for final registration.
15. The Registrar of Titles registers the C of O, signs off and request for printing of C of O – 
Ideally, this process should take a total of 21 days to complete and get the C of O.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR C OF O ON STATE ALLOCATED LAND.
1. Formal Application Letter addressed to the Executive Secretary – Land Use and Allocation Committee, Block 13, Room 4, Lands Bureau, The Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.
2. Standard Allocation Form with Receipt. Lekki Pennisula Schemes, Abijo Commercial and Industrial (Form for Prime Land); other areas (Form for General).
3. Four Passport Photographs with white background.
4. Evidence of payment of Income Tax.
5. Current Development Levy (In case of company, Evidence of payment of Income Tax of Two Directors and Development Levy).
6. Survey Plan
7. All payment receipts of Land Charges
8. Completed Vital Information Form

CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY is what makes you a lawful interest holder in the land upon which a property is standing on, it also describes the type of use the land can be put to; commercial, mixed development or residential.
Since 1978, the major legislation regulating the acquisition of land within the country has been the Land Use Act which states that all land in a State is to be held in trust by the State Governor for the benefit of all Nigerians.
IN ORDER TO OBTAIN YOUR C OF O FROM THE GOVERNMENT, YOU NEED TO:
1. Apply for land information and get your land information certificate. To do this, you need to pay an application fee at the Surveyor General’s office and provide a chartable survey plan (2 cloth, 2 paper).
2. Purchase a C of O application form.
3. Fill and submit the application form at the Land Use Allocation Commission (LUAC) office with the following supporting documents:
• Land information certificate.
• Receipt for land information fee.
• Receipt for application form.
• Publication/inspection fee.
• Capital contribution (to be calculated based on size and location of land).
• Land purchase receipt/agreement (duly stamped).
• Copy of current tax clearance certificate (individuals).
• Copy of N100 development levy receipt.
• Site location sketch.
• Four passport photographs of applicant with white background.
• Copy of approved building plan (if developed).
• Copy of tenement rate receipt (if occupied) or Land Use Charge.
• Cover letter addressed to executive secretary LUAC, stating all documents attached, as above and typed with applicant’s address.
• Acknowledgement slip from Land Use & Allocation Committee.
When this is done, a letter of confirmation is issued to the Applicant with a plot and block number and the Scheme Officer processes the application for the Certificate of Occupancy, signs off on the file and forwards the files to the Executive Secretary of LUAC.
All these should take a period of five days. After this, the Surveyor General provides the Scheme Officer with digitized survey which is processed for two days. The Executive Secretary LUAC approves processing and signs letter of allocation.
The Executive Secretary signs off on the file and sends the file to the Senior Special Assistant to His Excellency on Lands. He or she then vets the entire file and sends it with a covering memo to the Permanent Secretary Lands Bureau.
However, if the file has a query, the message is relayed back by notification. This process takes two days also. When the Permanent Secretary is done, he signs off the memo and sends the file to His Excellency who approves and electronically signs the Certificate of Occupancy. These two processes take a period of four days and should the file have a query, message is relayed back by notification.
Upon approval and signing of the Certificate of Occupancy by His Excellency, He signs off and sends it to the Deputy Registrar for further processing. The Deputy Registrar processes the file further, signs off and sends it to Registrar of Titles for final registration.
The Registrar of Titles then registers the Certificate of Occupancy, signs off and request for its printing. These processes take a total of five days. Altogether, the total process adds to a period of 21days. In these 21 days, the application is advertised to attract objection or no objections before it is finally processed.
Should you have any comment, inquiry or suggestion. Please feel free to make your comment.
Thank you.

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