Our Special Guest on week 12 of The Property Show on Inspiration 92.3FM was Barrister Matthew Ottah, Founder of Omonile Lawyer Land Verification Services with the them – Due Diligence in Property Transactions.
Click here to listen to a studio record of the show or continue reading for a quick summary.
Common property scams…
It’s common for a person who is not the owner of a property to deceitfully claim ownership of such property in order to lure prospective property buyers to make a purchase. There are also instances where people claim that a property has been given to them to sell off by the owner. Most times you will find such people will not have any rights or documentary evidence of such claims.
Reasons people fall for common scams..
A lot of people that fall for these scams are ignorant about due diligence procedures. Land and property purchase transactions typically involve the transfer of millions of naira but still a lot of people transact without carrying out proper verification. By failing to ask the right questions to find out who the owner of a property is, sighting and verifying essential receipts and documents pertaining to a property, a prospective property buyer risks being a victim of common property scams.
There are also cases where a property is being sold very cheap (below market value) and the sellers aim is to quicken the process by informing the buyer that such property is about to sell off to another prospective buyer. This act makes an individual to rush the buying process and fail to perform proper verification and other due deligence processes.
There are various red-lights prospective property buyers need to beware of; a prospective property buyer should be on alert where a land seller (or omonile) requests a separate payment called signing fee to have receipts issued. In the real sense of things, this is wrong. You are entitled to a receipt on a purchase and it is absurd to pay separately for a receipt to be issued to you. Also, omoniles hawk a lot of low scale and affordable land which is why a lot of prospective property buyers fall victim to their fraudulent trade.
Avoiding property scams…
Prospective property buyers must ensure they involve certified professionals during property acquisition processes. Always ensure you consult a property lawyer; one that is vested in handling real estate issues. Also, property buyers need to ensure that land survey of a property they wish to buy is performed by a certified estate surveyors. There are instances where quack surveyors give a go ahead to land purchases which should have otherwise not been done.
It should be noted that with proper property verification, a prospective property buyer totally eliminates the possibility of falling victim of most real estate scams. There is an institution in every state where property buyers can verify the land documents and in Lagos, this is the Land Registry.
About Barrister Matthew Ottah
Matthew Ottah is a Lagos based Real estate Lawyer and Land/Documents Verification expert and founder of omonilelawyer.com a real estate website dedicated to teaching Nigerians at home and in diaspora on how to avoid being victims of Land Scams by Land Fraudsters in Lagos Nigeria popularly known as ‘’Omoniles” who make a living duping and swindling Ignorant land purchasers .
Since its Inception Barrister Matthew Ottah through his Omonile Lawyer Land Verification Services has been credited with assisting Thousands of Nigerians from falling Victim to Land Scams and losing their hard earned money and further educating Land Purchasers on the proper procedure, regulations and rules involved in buying lands especially in Lagos and saving Nigerians home and abroad Millions of Naira from falling into the wrong hands through his Detailed Land and Document Verification Process by verifying the alleged owners of lands and confirming the authenticity of the documents presented by the Seller before they purchase these lands and he are proud to say that he has a 100% record in fishing out deceitful Land Fraudsters and detecting dubious land documents.
He is also a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and Real Estate Lawyers Association of Nigeria (RELAN). He has also attended several real estate and housing finance trainings, workshops and conferences.
The Property Show is a weekly real estate radio show with www.privateproperty.com.ng which airs live every Tuesday at 5PM on Inspiration 92.3FM and is hosted by popular OAP Ms. Wana Udobang (Ms. Wana Wana).
The Property Show comprises a 15-minutes interview with a Special Guest that will enlighten listeners on selected real estate topics and issues. Also, there is a 15-minutes phone in segment that enables listeners of the show make enquiries and receive expert advice from a pool of real estate experts and professionals.
Join us again next week for another interesting show.
