ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF PROPERTY Section 4 of the new Law provides that a person who is occupying a property as an encroacher and fails to leave the property on being required to do so by or on behalf of the owner of the property commits an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five million naira or five years imprisonment or both. The Law extends the meaning of property to include ‘a reference to an access to the property, whether or not any such access itself...

Tired of paying rent weekly, monthly or annually for your home or office? Have you realised that as a bigger boy or girl the time has come to own a property of your own and fast? Do you want to avoid the hassle of buying open land and developing it? Then congratulations! Here’s the low down on how you can ‘step up’ sharply! Decide on your financials: Do you have the cash to buy this house? If you plan to take a loan, where from and how do you intend to repay? You must have a good...

Anybody that has had dealings in the real estate sector in Nigeria, particularly in the urban areas like Lagos and its environs will know the numerous dirt and risks associated with land acquisition and development. Prominent among the hazards that bewitch the process of land acquisition and ownership in Nigeria is the menace of the ‘omo onile’ (as it is popularly called) which literally means ‘sons of the landowners’; the ‘ajagungbale’ (meaning one that ‘fights war to obtain...