C of O (Certificate of Occupancy)
C of O, Certificate of occupancy is a document that was created by virtue of the land use act of 1978.
Everybody will ask you “does it have c of o?”
Both the Lagos state government and the federal government can issue C of O
e.g Osborne phase one and phase two both have federal C of Os.
Some other parts of Lagos all have the federal certificate of occupancy.
Basically, a certificate of occupancy is an officially recognized document demonstrating or giving anybody, corporate or non-corporate the right to own or have exclusive use of a particular land.
Most C of Os are for a period of time.
Normally for residential purposes, 99years, industrial purposes 25 years.
Sometimes commercial purposes also 25years and of course, mixed development sometimes is 99years
Parts of the Victoria Island have the commercial C of O,
While Ikorodu industrial estate and several other industrial estates have C of Os for just 25years.
Basically, the government did that so they can raise revenue because when you renew your C of O.
you just pay some certain fees to the government and then they will give you a letter extending the life span of your C of O.
On a good day, the residential C of O which is the normal one given to the average individual
Basically like a long lease period over the property.
C of O normally would tell you that this is to certify that the Lagos state certificate of occupancy is issued by the government of the state in favour of the person’s name.
the address and the person’s occupation and has been registered as No 35 on page 35 in volume 1990.
Whatever volume that person’s C of O has been registered as. I
It for individuals would carry their picture but for corporations, companies, etc., will not carry any form of picture.
The C of O would also have; for government C of Os,
it would have a government survey plan contained there-in but for private C of Os, it would have a survey plan done by the person’s surveyor.
Also, it would have a schedule that would state the exact location of the land; it would also have a clause.
Normally, C of Os contains a clause that would specify the ground rent.
The development premium sum and some other fees which are payable to the government.
But all C of Os would specify the number of years the C of Os validity would be for.
Most document will be dated a particular day and at the back of the end of the C of O, the original C of O document is not a document that is A4,
it is one that is an A3 document most of the time.
At the back of the document, you would see the registration particulars
The particulars showing that there’s a copy of same lodged at the land registry in Alausa with the necessary stamp and etc.
The document can be renewed when it’s tenure is expired by application to the land use burrow.
The burrow of land service attaches a copy of the previous C of O.
It showing your route of title or how come you are in possession of the property.
Thereafter you apply for C of O, in instances where there is a large expanse of land of which people have bought smaller units from it.
The person in whose name the global C of O is or the company who purchased the global C of O or the rights to the global C of O.
From whoever would still in future, be responsible for applying for extension or renewal of the C of O.
And, of course, there will be a fee which is not the same as processing the initial C of O that would be taken from those people.
That is basically all about C of O.
In conclusion, C of O is issued by the government either state, federal or even local government.
Depending on some areas where they have shopping complexes.
The local government will issue a local government C of O giving the person the rights to use of that shop for X amount of years.
All C of Os are the creation of the government based on the land use act of 1978. Any questions let me know.
