One of the quietest reasons Nigerians lose money on land is that they collect the wrong paper and believe it is the right one. Somebody pays five million naira, receives a receipt and an allocation letter, files them carefully in a folder, and genuinely believes the transaction is complete. Somebody else receives an irrevocable power of attorney, is told by a confident agent that it is “even stronger than a deed”, and accepts it. A third person signs a contract of sale, waits for the balance to be arranged, and never realises that nothing has actually been transferred yet.
None of these people were necessarily cheated. In most cases every document they received was genuine. The problem is that each of those documents has a specific and limited job, and none of them, on its own, does the job the buyer assumed. Property paperwork in Nigeria is a sequence, and each paper marks a different point in that sequence. Confusing them is like confusing a hospital appointment card with a discharge summary. Both are real. They mean entirely different things.
This guide sorts them out. We will take the documents you are most likely to be handed during a Nigerian land or property purchase, explain exactly what each one proves, what it does not prove, when it is appropriate and when its use is a warning sign, and set out the correct order in which they should appear. For the wider process, see our complete guide to buying land in Nigeria.
The quick answer
| Document | What it actually proves |
|---|---|
| Receipt | That money was paid. Nothing about ownership |
| Allocation letter | That a developer has assigned you a particular plot in their scheme |
| Contract of sale | That the parties have agreed to complete a sale, usually later |
| Survey plan | Exactly which piece of land is involved |
| Deed of assignment | That the interest in the land has been transferred to you |
| Governor’s Consent | That the state approves the transfer |
| Registered deed | That the transfer is recorded in the state land register |
| Certificate of Occupancy | That the state has granted a right of occupancy to a named holder |
| Power of attorney | That somebody is authorised to act on another’s behalf |
Read the last row again, then read the section on it below, because it is the one that causes the most expensive misunderstandings.
The receipt
A receipt proves one thing: that a stated sum was paid, on a stated date, by a stated person, to a stated recipient, for a stated reason.
That is genuinely valuable. In a dispute, receipts establish that money changed hands, which is often the fact the other side wishes to deny. Keep every single one.
But a receipt is not title. It does not say the recipient owned the land, was entitled to sell it, or has transferred anything to you. Somebody with no right to a plot can issue a perfectly valid receipt for money you gave them.
Make your receipts do maximum work. Every receipt should carry the payer’s full name, the exact amount in figures and words, the date, what the payment is for including the estate name and the specific plot number, whether it is a part payment or full payment, the balance outstanding, a signature and the company stamp, on company letterhead.
A receipt that says only “part payment for land” with no plot number is close to useless in a double allocation dispute, because it does not tie your money to any particular piece of ground.
The allocation letter
Common in estate purchases. After payment, the developer issues a letter allocating a specific plot to you, identified by number, block and estate.
It is a useful document and you should insist on it. But understand its nature: an allocation letter is the developer’s internal act. It records what the developer says, and its value depends entirely on whether the developer’s own title is sound and whether the developer honours it.
So an allocation letter should always be followed by a survey plan for your specific plot and, in due course, a deed. If a developer issues allocation letters but is vague about when deeds are prepared, ask that question hard and ask earlier buyers whether they ever received theirs.
The contract of sale
A contract of sale, sometimes called an agreement for sale, is a binding agreement that a sale will be completed. It typically states the parties, the property, the price, the deposit paid, what remains outstanding, the completion date, what each party must do before completion, and what happens if either fails.
It is appropriate in several situations: when the buyer is paying in stages, when the seller must first obtain a document or clear an encumbrance, when a search is pending, or when the property is occupied and must be vacated.
What it is not is a transfer. Until the deed is executed, the interest has not moved. A buyer who has a contract of sale and full payment, but no deed, has a strong claim and an incomplete transaction, and needs to press for completion.
Use it well by including protective terms: a deadline, a refund mechanism if the seller cannot deliver good title, and an express obligation on the seller to cooperate with the consent process. Your own lawyer should draft or review it.
The power of attorney, and the myth around it
A power of attorney is a document by which one person, the donor, authorises another, the donee, to do specified acts on their behalf.
In property, you will meet two uses.
The legitimate use. A landowner travelling or living abroad appoints somebody to manage, let, sign for or sell property on their behalf. This is normal, sensible and widely used. If you are buying while overseas, you will probably grant one yourself. See buying property in Nigeria from abroad.
The problematic use. A seller who, for whatever reason, cannot or will not complete a proper transfer, instead grants the buyer an “irrevocable power of attorney” and presents it as the buyer’s proof of ownership. This happens most often where consent has not been obtained, or where the seller’s own title is imperfect.
Here is the point that matters. A power of attorney is an instrument of authority, not an instrument of transfer. Nigerian courts have said this clearly: a power of attorney authorises the donee to do certain acts for the donor, but it does not by itself pass any interest in land to the donee. Calling it irrevocable and paying money for it improves your position, but it does not turn it into a conveyance.
Practical consequences: the donor remains the person the state recognises as holder; a power of attorney generally terminates on the death of the donor, which can leave a buyer negotiating with an estate; and any future buyer’s lawyer will treat a property held only under a power of attorney as a defect requiring a discount.
If you are offered one in place of a deed, ask directly why a deed cannot be given, and treat the answer as central information rather than a technicality.
Where the survey plan and the deed sit
The survey plan identifies the land. Without it, every other document is describing something imprecise.
The deed of assignment is the transfer itself. It is the document that moves the interest from the seller to you, and it should attach the survey plan.
After the deed comes perfection: Governor’s Consent, stamping, and registration at the land registry. Only after registration is your interest recorded publicly in your name.
The correct order
For a straightforward purchase of titled land from an individual or company:
- Inspection and negotiation
- Copies of title documents and survey plan obtained from the seller
- Search: title search at the registry, charting at the Surveyor-General, company search if applicable. See land registry search in Nigeria
- Contract of sale, if the transaction needs staging, with a refundable deposit
- Payment, by bank transfer to a corporate account, with proper receipts
- Deed of assignment executed by both parties, with witnesses and the survey attached
- Application for Governor’s Consent
- Stamping
- Registration
- Possession, fencing, and safekeeping of originals
For an estate purchase, add the allocation letter after step 5 and expect the deed to follow the estate’s own documentation timetable, which you should have confirmed in writing before paying.
Warning signs in the paperwork
- Being asked to accept a receipt as the final document
- An allocation letter that does not state a plot number
- A power of attorney offered instead of a deed, with a vague explanation
- A deed with no survey plan attached
- Documents where your name is spelled differently on different papers
- Payments requested into a personal account rather than a corporate one
- A seller who will produce documents only after full payment
- A contract of sale with no completion date and no refund mechanism
- Anyone telling you that registration is unnecessary because “nobody does it here”
Final thoughts
Property is a paper business. That sounds unromantic next to talk of growth corridors and appreciation, but it is the truth, and the buyers who do well over decades are simply the ones whose files are complete.
The good news is that the system is not mysterious. Each document has one job. The receipt proves payment. The allocation letter records which plot the developer says is yours. The contract of sale binds the parties to complete. The survey plan identifies the earth. The deed transfers the interest. Consent, stamping and registration make that transfer recognised by the state. And a power of attorney gives someone authority to act, which is a genuinely useful thing and is not the same as ownership.
When you are handed a document, ask two questions. What does this one prove? And what is the next document I should be expecting? If the person selling to you cannot answer the second question clearly, that is worth more of your attention than the price.
Collect the whole sequence, in order, with your own lawyer beside you. It takes longer than collecting a receipt and going home. It is also the difference between owning land and owning paperwork about land.
