Registry Practice under the Land Registration Law of Lagos State 2015

Description

ABSTRACT

Registry Practice under the Land Registration Law of Lagos State 2015

Dr. Yusufu Dadem* and Abigail Kahuwai**

Land and property administration and transactions in Lagos State have always been regulated by a multiplicity of laws. This often creates problems for conveyancers. The rapid development in information and communication technology and its application to geophysical land mappings create both opportunities and challenges to make conveyance practice faster and easier. In 2015, the Governor of Lagos State signed into law a bill to unify the many laws in Lagos State and to create a system of land dealing and registration, which would optimise the developments in information and communication technology. While the application of the law is nascent, it is imperative that this legal development be analysed within the extant practices of land and property administration in the State. It is hoped that by highlighting the opportunities and the challenges in the application of the law, it will achieve its objectives.

INTRODUCTION
Lagos State is the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria; the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos State and the variegated and at times disorganised systems of land administration made it necessary for the harmonisation of the different laws regulating registration of land and interests in the state.₁ The Lagos State Land Registration Law, 2015 is designed to safeguard the integrity of titles to land and other interests created and to bring them in line with developments in technology. The Lagos State Land Registration Law, 2015 (hereafter LLRL) came into force on 21st January 2015.₂ The sole purpose for its enactment was “to consolidate all laws relating to registration of land in Lagos State”.₃ The law was enacted to essentially establish a standard and modern system of registering and keeping the record of all transactions on ownership and transfer of interests in lands in Lagos State. In its bid to streamline and consolidate all laws relating to registration of land in Lagos State, the LLRL repealed all laws that had hitherto regulated the registration of such titles and interests in Lagos State. The LLRL expressly repealed the Registration of Land Law of Lagos State, 2003; the Registration of Titles Law and Registration of Titles (Appeals) Rules 2003; the Lands Instruments Registration Law 2003; and the Electronic Documents Management Systems Law, 2007.₄ This paper essentially highlights the salient and novel provisions of the Law and analyse it in the light of the regime of land practice in Lagos State.

* Ph.D., BL. Deputy Director General, Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus, Bagauda, Kano.
** LL.B., BL., LL.M. Lecturer, Property Law Practice Department, Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus, Bagauda, Kano.

1. The systems of land registration in Lagos State have over the years been regulated by many laws. These include Registered Land Law of Lagos State 2003; Registration of Titles (Appeals) Rules 2003; the Lands Instruments Registration Law 2003; and the Electronic Documents Management Systems Law, 2007. These laws provided for various frameworks for registering instruments, documents and transactions relating to land in Lagos. Part of the reasons for this diverse legislation is historical; Lagos was for instance a colony and at another point the Federal Capital of the Federation of Nigeria.
2. The law was assented to by the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN).
3. Preamble to the LLRL, 2015.
4. Section 122 LLRL, 2015.

THE GRAVITAS REVIEW OF BUSINESS & PROPERTY LAW VOL.8 NO.3