What Happens When You Buy a Property Without Governor’s Consent in Nigeria

A Nigerian doctor working in Manchester wired ₦85 million to buy a five-bedroom house in Lekki last year. His agent produced a Deed of Assignment. The seller signed it. The keys changed hands. He flew back to England thinking the property was his.

Eighteen months later, he came home to sell. Serious buyers walked away. His bank refused to accept the property as collateral for a top-up loan. When his lawyer finally traced the paperwork, the reason was simple. The transfer to him had never been perfected at the Lagos State Lands Bureau in Alausa. The Governor of Lagos State had never signed off on it. Under Nigerian land law, the sale that turned his savings into an asset had also, technically, changed nothing at all.

This is what happens when you buy property without the Governor’s Consent in Nigeria. And it does not only happen to buyers abroad. It happens in Ikeja, Wuse, and Port Harcourt every month.

The Land Use Act 1978 vests all land in each state in the Governor, who holds it in trust for the people of that state. Any transfer, mortgage, sub-lease or assignment of that land needs the Governor’s written approval before it becomes legally binding. That approval is called Governor’s Consent. Section 22 of the Act makes it mandatory, and Section 26 spells out the consequence of skipping it.

The 2026 revision of Lagos property fees, known as the Blue Book, has made Governor’s Consent painful for buyers in Lekki, Ikoyi and Banana Island. That has pushed more Nigerians and diaspora investors to skip it entirely and rely on a Deed of Assignment or a promise that “consent is processing.” Those buyers are walking straight into the risks this article will unpack, one by one.

What Governor’s Consent Actually Is

Governor’s Consent is the state government’s formal permission for a titled landowner to transfer, mortgage or sub-lease a piece of land already covered by a Certificate of Occupancy. It is issued by the Governor of the state where the land sits, through the state Lands Bureau.

AOC Solicitors’ commentary puts it plainly. Once a Certificate of Occupancy has been issued for a plot, that title is locked. Any future transaction on the same plot needs Governor’s Consent. Without it, the buyer is not the recognised owner in the eyes of the Land Registry.

That is the practical gap between a C of O and Governor’s Consent. A C of O is the first title on virgin land. Governor’s Consent is what legally moves that title from one owner to the next. If you want a fuller breakdown, our earlier guide on the differences between C of O, Governor’s Consent and a Registered Deed covers it in full.

What the Land Use Act Says About Buying Property Without Governor’s Consent

Section 22(1) of the Land Use Act reads that a holder of a statutory right of occupancy shall not “alienate his right of occupancy by assignment, mortgage, transfer of possession, sublease or otherwise howsoever” without the consent of the Governor first had and obtained.

The wording matters. “First had and obtained” means the consent must come before the transfer, not after. It also means the burden of obtaining it falls on the seller, not the buyer.

Section 26 of the same Act then adds that any transaction that does not follow the Act “shall be null and void.” Section 22(2)(a) goes further. It states that a party to such an instrument is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for one year or a fine.

The Nigerian Supreme Court applied these sections in Savannah Bank v. Ajilo (1989). Savannah Bank held a Deed of Mortgage from Ajilo. Consent was never sought. When the bank tried to auction the mortgaged property, Ajilo sued. The Supreme Court declared both the Deed of Mortgage and the auction notice null and void. The bank lost the security it had lent against.

That case is still the anchor for every buyer who thinks a signed Deed of Assignment is enough. It is not.

The Real Consequences of Buying Property Without Governor’s Consent

Here is the practical damage, drawn from Nigerian case law, the Land Use Act, and current Lagos property practice.

The transaction is legally invalid. Under Section 26 of the Land Use Act, buying property without the Governor’s Consent means the sale is void from the start. You have paid money. The other side has taken it. But the law does not recognise you as the new owner of a statutory right of occupancy. Any dispute in court begins with that gap.

Your name never enters the Land Registry. The Lagos State Lands Bureau will not update the title record in your favour without the Governor’s Consent. On paper, the original title holder still owns the land. If they die, are declared bankrupt, or decide to sell again, you have no registered defence.

No bank will finance or refinance the property. Nigerian mortgage lenders will not accept property without a perfected title as collateral. Stanbic IBTC’s MREIF FAQ lists the accepted titles as a Certificate of Occupancy, Governor’s Consent, Right of Occupancy, or any other registered property title with Governor’s Consent. If you are a Nigerian abroad hoping to use the MREIF mortgage to buy or refinance a property, without Governor’s Consent disqualifies you the moment underwriting starts.

Resale becomes almost impossible at the right price. Any serious buyer’s lawyer will ask for evidence of Governor’s Consent tracing back to the current owner. If you cannot produce it, you either sell at a heavy discount to a buyer who does not know better, or you sit on the property while the market moves. In Lekki Phase 1, where properties now trade between ₦800 million and ₦1.5 billion, this can mean losing tens of millions on exit.

You are exposed to the double sale scam. Because your interest was never registered, nothing stops the original owner or a family member holding the title documents from selling the same plot to another buyer who then races to obtain Governor’s Consent first. In Nigerian courts, the buyer whose interest is registered usually wins. This is the same pattern that fuels most of the fake land document cases in Nigeria.

The property can be swept up in demolitions. When Lagos State cleared 176 estates and markets earlier this year on flooding and planning grounds, a large share of the buyers had unperfected titles. Our earlier piece on why Lagos is demolishing 176 estates and markets covers what happens when informal ownership meets the government’s bulldozers.

Both parties can face criminal liability. Section 22(2)(a) of the Land Use Act makes it an offence. Prosecutions are rare in practice, but the criminal threshold gives the state, and any co-owner, a strong stick to hold over both seller and buyer.

None of these consequences is theoretical. They are the reason every reputable developer in Lagos treats Governor’s Consent as non-negotiable.

The Equity Argument Sellers Will Try (and Why It Is Weak)

There is one loophole worth knowing about, because sellers and agents will bring it up when the paperwork is missing. It is called the inchoate equity doctrine.

In Awojugbagbe Light Industries v. Chinukwe (1995), the Supreme Court held that a transaction pending Governor’s Consent is not automatically illegal. It is “inchoate,” meaning incomplete. As long as the parties clearly agreed that the transfer would be perfected once consent was obtained, equity may enforce it.

Later, in Yakubu v. Simon Obaje (2019), the Supreme Court held that a Governor’s Consent is not needed between private individuals in a non-contentious transaction where there is no overriding public interest. Templars, the law firm that reviewed the decision, called it a “paradigm shift” and warned that it created uncertainty rather than certainty.

Here is the problem. Both cases were decided on their own facts. The moment a dispute arises, a third party claims interest, a bank tries to enforce a mortgage, or you try to sell, courts revert to Savannah Bank v. Ajilo and Section 26. The equity argument becomes an expensive, uncertain shield. It is not a title.

If your property investment is worth eight or nine figures, you do not want to rely on being lucky in court.

What Governor’s Consent Now Costs in Lagos in 2026

The other reason buyers are tempted to skip Governor’s Consent is the new cost.

Lagos rolled out its 2026 Fair Market Value schedule, popularly called the Blue Book, on 1 May 2026. Aluko & Oyebode’s advisory and BusinessDay’s coverage both confirm the effective date. The consent fee percentage is still 1.5% of assessed value, with Capital Gains Tax at 0.5%, Stamp Duty at 0.5%, and Registration at 0.5%. That gives a total of about 3% in perfection charges.

What changed is the assessed value, not the percentage. According to Legit.ng’s report on the new Blue Book, the revised charges represent increases of up to 300% in prime areas.

The practical numbers, tracked by industry monitors, look like this. In Lekki Phase 1, Governor’s Consent fees that ranged between ₦12 million and ₦18 million a decade ago now sit between ₦40 million and ₦90 million, tracking a jump in land value from about ₦250 million to between ₦800 million and ₦1.5 billion.

In Ikoyi, perfection costs that used to fall between ₦25 million and ₦40 million now range between ₦100 million and ₦250 million, on properties valued between ₦2 billion and ₦4 billion. In Banana Island, waterfront perfection costs alone can now reach between ₦700 million and ₦1 billion for properties valued near ₦10 billion.

Those numbers are painful. They are still cheaper than losing the property entirely.

Why Diaspora Buyers Are the Most Common Victims

Nigerians abroad sent home $20.93 billion in remittances in 2024, an 8.9% increase confirmed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Industry analysts quoted in the same Guardian report estimate that 70% of investments in Nigeria’s real estate sector originate from the diaspora.

That volume of money attracts every kind of scheme. Vanguard’s 2025 report on diaspora buyers documents a 23% rise in fraud aimed at Nigerians abroad. Most of the losses trace back to one root cause. The buyer never insisted on Governor’s Consent, or accepted a promise that “consent is being processed” without a filing receipt.

Distance makes verification harder. You cannot walk into the Lands Bureau in Alausa yourself. You depend on a lawyer, a family member, or an agent, and any one of them can hand you a plausible-sounding excuse for the missing paperwork.

If you are buying property from abroad, treat Governor’s Consent the way a mortgage underwriter treats a bank statement. Non-negotiable. Verified independently. In writing.

How to Protect Yourself Before You Pay

Before signing anything or wiring a deposit, do the following.

Confirm the seller’s C of O is genuine and unencumbered at the Land Registry. Fake title packages often start with either a forged C of O or a genuine C of O attached to the wrong plot. A proper title search catches both.

Insist on a Deed of Assignment that expressly states the transaction is “subject to Governor’s Consent.” This is the language the Awojugbagbe case protects. Without it, the transaction has neither legal title nor equitable shelter.

Do not pay the final tranche until the Governor’s Consent application has been formally filed and receipted at the Lagos State Lands Bureau. Some buyers escrow the final 20 to 30% of the price with a lawyer until consent is issued. If the seller resists, that is your answer.

Budget for the perfection costs upfront. Under the current Blue Book, plan for around 3% of the assessed value in Governor’s Consent, Stamp Duty, Capital Gains Tax and Registration. On a ₦200 million property in Lekki, that is roughly ₦6 million in perfection fees, and often more once the assessed value climbs.

Engage a property lawyer who does perfection work in Lagos every week. Not a family friend who “handles property matters sometimes.” The Alausa process moves faster when the person filing the paperwork knows the officers by name.

For a broader pre-purchase checklist, our guides on what to double-check before final payment on a property in Nigeria and the key legal steps when buying property in Lekki cover the practical steps in sequence.

How Edenbrooks Homes Handles Governor’s Consent

At Edenbrooks Homes, Governor’s Consent is not a promise. It is part of what our buyers receive at closing. Every unit in our developments carries verified title with Governor’s Consent already in place, which means the property qualifies for MREIF financing, holds its resale value, and gives you the legal ground that a Deed of Assignment alone never can.

Our current developments in Lekki Phase 1, including Maison D’Eko Residences, Wakefield Apartments and Paragon Apartments, all sit on titled land with perfected Governor’s Consent. You are not paying for a paperwork process to be completed later. You are paying for a property that is legally yours from the moment the funds clear.

Whether you live in Lagos, Lekki, or overseas, the difference between owning a property and owning legal title to that property comes down to this one document. Do not skip it.

Contact us today to start the conversation. Our team will walk you through the Governor’s Consent status on every Edenbrooks property and help you close on a title that is already legally yours.

Email: [email protected] | Call/WhatsApp: +2347060474224 | +2348087691124