…The intrigues about land titles (3)
“Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking or economizing”
–John Stuart Mill, Political Economist.
By Akhigbe Dominic.M. Esq
- REGISTERED DEED OF SUBLEASE
WED, AUGUST 01 2018-theG&BJournal-I am going to be very practical and a bit elaborate on this highly contentious title by going graphical to illustrate. As a matter of fact, am going to do a comparison of both the Deed of Assignment & The Deed of Sublease.
A few years ago, I was involved in the transaction that had to do with the acquisition of a house for a close family member. Since she already had a lawyer who handled matters for her; mine was just to facilitate the deal while her lawyer was to vet the process. When the deal was about to be consummated and the Deed of Sublease was presented for execution, hell immediately let loose. My learned friend vehemently declined signing this document on her client’s behalf. His argument was that the Deed of Sublease was not capable of conferring full ownership on his client. He said the word “Lease” was a bad omen as it simply makes his client a tenant to the estate owner who already had a global Certificate of Ownership covering the over five hundred Acres of land within which the estate is built. My learned friend insisted on a Certificate of Occupancy of at least, a Deed of Assignment.
All effort made by us to convince him otherwise hit the brick wall as our friend held on tenaciously to his allusions. This is what happens when round pegs are put in square holes! A registered Deed of Sublease is as important as a Certificate of Occupancy.
See the illustration below:
CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY DEED OF SUBLEASE
| Issued by the Governor pursuant to the Land Use Act of 1978. | Given by a Holder of Certificate of Occupancy who decides to excise a part of the property to a new owner & the new holder goes to perfect (register) it at Lands in the State Registry for effect. |
| Valid for 99 years from issuance date | Valid for the unexpired period of the certificate of occupancy which forms the Root Title |
| Renewable after 99 years by the governor on terms. | Renewable upon the renewal of the root title (the C of O) on terms |
| Transferable by a Deed | Transferable by a Deed |
From the foregoing, you can see that the Deed of Sublease is not a lesser title than the Certificate of Occupancy. It is share ignorance to insist that an individual or body corporate can originate a Certificate of Occupancy from a Global Certificate of Occupancy. Next time you need to buy that property or process that Housing document, ensure you get only an expert property attorney whose hands are on deck in the field of Conveyances and Perfection. At this; you would have saved yourself needless heart ache!
Akhigbe Dominic.M. Esq., /Property Law Expert/CEO, PROPERTYLogic Homes Ltd|SENIOR STRATEGIC PARTNER, PropertyLogic Incorporated/Seasoned Business Coach/Columnist of The BusinessDay/Contributing Editor,govandbusinessjournal.com.ng <https://govandbusinessjournal.ng>|Call us on: +234-8034846294 & +234-1-2166914
