Securing Your Title, Structuring Your Projects, and Protecting Your Property Interests

Real estate is one of the most significant investments most individuals and businesses will ever make, yet it remains an area where avoidable legal errors carry some of the heaviest consequences. In Nigeria, the complexity begins with the Land Use Act of 1978, which vests all land in each state in the Governor to be held in trust, and extends through a layered system of title documentation, consent requirements, and registration that many transactions never properly satisfy. A defective title, an unperfected transfer, or an overlooked encumbrance can turn a sound investment into years of litigation. At A.U. Mustapha & Co, we help clients move through property and construction matters with the diligence and precision these stakes demand.

Our work on the transactional side covers the full life cycle of a property interest, from acquisition through development, leasing, and financing to eventual disposal or exit. We conduct thorough title investigations and searches at the relevant land registries, advise on the structure of acquisitions and disposals, and draft and review the instruments that give effect to them, including deeds of assignment, deeds of lease, sublease agreements, and powers of attorney. We guide clients through the perfection of title, from obtaining Governor’s Consent under Section 22 of the Land Use Act to registration and the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, so that ownership rests on a foundation that will hold.

Construction and development matters bring their own distinct legal demands, and we advise across the full range of players in the sector, including developers, contractors, project managers, employers, financiers, and landowners. We draft and negotiate construction contracts, including standard form agreements such as the FIDIC and JCT suites, and we structure development arrangements, joint ventures, and project finance to allocate risk clearly between the parties. We also advise on infrastructure projects and public-private partnership arrangements, where the alignment of obligations, timelines, payment terms, and liability provisions across multiple stakeholders is essential to preventing the ambiguities that so often give rise to disputes.

Regulatory compliance in real estate and construction is an area Nigerian parties frequently underestimate. Building plan and development approvals, town planning and zoning requirements, environmental impact considerations, and the procedural requirements of state and Federal Capital Territory land administration systems all create obligations that must be satisfied for a project to stand on secure legal ground. Property transactions also carry their own fiscal consequences, including stamp duties, consent and registration fees, and capital gains and other transfer-related taxes, and we advise clients on structuring transactions in a manner that accounts for them. We help clients assemble the consents, approvals, and documentation needed before, during, and after development.

When disputes do arise, whether over title, boundaries, breach of a construction contract, family or customary land claims, or the recovery of premises from a defaulting tenant, we provide measured and determined representation. We pursue resolution through negotiation, mediation, and arbitration where those routes serve the client’s interest, and we are fully prepared to litigate before the appropriate courts where they do not. Our objective is always to protect your interest in the property or project efficiently, and to bring certainty to a matter that uncertainty has put at risk.