The Lagos State Lands Registration Law 2015: The Unanswered Questions

Abstract

Land registration in Lagos State Nigeria involved registration of titles, instruments and encumbrances. Statutes governing these types of registrations were distinct and applied to specific areas in the State, with each retaining its own registration format. The rationale for the applicability of each of these statutes to a particular area of the State to the exclusion of the other was unknown. Why would a part of the State have a registration of instruments relating to land while another part settle for registration of title to land and encumbrances as part of perfection of title to land? Then arrived the all new statute on land registration in Lagos State; the Lagos State Lands Registration Law 2015; which declared itself as the only existing statute on land registration in the State presently. Application of this statute is yet to gain noticeable ground in the State and its somewhat radical provisions are yet to be tested in the courts sufficiently enough to understand its true purport and intendment. Is it title or instrument that is presently registrable in Lagos state under the new law and what manner of protection does the statute confer on land owners in the State upon registration?