Ease of Doing Business: Lands Bureau harmonises fees; Certified True Copies of land title documents to be obtained in maximum period of two hours

The Lagos State Lands Bureau, through the Directorate of Land Services, has harmonized its demand notice/assessment letter to encompass all fees payable for Governor’s Consent in the State.
A statement released by the Special Adviser on Urban Development, Mrs. Yetunde Onabule said the harmonization is part of the ongoing efforts to improve the Ease of Doing Business relating to land matters in Lagos.
According to the release, the demand notice now outlines the harmonized fees to include Consent fee, Capital Gain Tax, Stamp Duty, Registration Fee, Neighborhood Improvement Charge, Charting Fee as well as Endorsement and Form 1c charges.
Onabule stated that the new payment schedule affords applicants the opportunity to pay all fees related to the issuance of Governor’s Consent in a single transaction.
She said in addition to the newly introduced payment regime, automated searches at the Land Registry are conducted within one hour of submission of any request, emphasizing that it is no longer a pre-requisite for applicants to conduct a title search prior to registration of title documents.
The statement affirmed that the newly introduced process has reduced the timeframe for obtaining Certified True Copies(CTC) of land title documents to a maximum period of two hours.