The Association of Succession, Trusts and Estate Planning Practitioners (ASTEP) held its monthly webinar titled “Registration of Vesting Instruments at the Lagos State Land Registry”, recently. The webinar was facilitated by Mr Olayimika Olasewere, the Vice-President of ASTEP and Mrs Adetola Ayanru, the Honourable Secretary ASTEP. It was a well attended program, in which the facilitators brilliantly explained the types of vesting instruments, the process of registration and a likely contentious matter.
Introducing the topic, Mrs. Ayanru gave a brief background of the Land Use Act. She explained that by virtue of the Land Use Act (formerly called the Land Use Decree) Chapter 202 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990, each State Governor holds the land (except that of the Federal Government or it’s agencies) in trust for the people, and has the responsibility to allocate the land to individuals and organisations for residential, agricultural, commercial and other purposes.
She further explained that when the Governor allocates land to an individual or organisation, it is the responsibility of the individual or organisation to register the title to the land at the Land Registry/Land Bureau of the State. The Land Registry of each State is saddled with various responsibilities, one of which is keeping an updated record of all land transactions in the State. In Lagos State, by virtue of the Lagos State Land Registration Law (Cap L41, Vol. 6, Laws of Lagos State Nigeria 2015), the Land Bureau is the only agency of the State Government that is statutorily empowered to store registered title documents relating to land in Lagos State.
Speaking to the topic of the webinar, Mrs Ayanru explained that where the Executors or Administrators are not beneficiaries of an Estate, due process must be followed to transfer the title of the estate to the beneficiaries after the grant of probate (when there is a Will) or the letters of administration (where there is no Will). The process is called Vesting. There are two types of vesting depending on whether or not the deceased person died with or without a Will. Where there is no Will, the vesting instrument used is the Vesting Deed, but where he died with a Will, the vesting instrument is called a Deed of Assent.
For a vesting instrument to be valid, the Executors/Administrators and the Beneficiaries must append their signatures. Also, the property in question must have been registered at the Lagos State Land Bureau. Thereafter, the beneficiaries will proceed to the Registry to transfer the property from the name of the deceased to themselves, and a fresh title registration number will be assigned. Hence, the beneficiary becomes the new owner of the property.
Furthermore, to properly register the vesting instrument, the following requirements are needed; (a) application letter with the address, telephone number and email address of the applicant/s or the applicants’ representatives; (b) 3 sets of Deeds of assent/vesting deed; (c) 2 passports photographs for each party; (d) a certified true copy of the root of title; (e) certified true copy of the grant of probate/letter of administration; (f) payment of statutory charges.
