 The boom in lekkie and the rise of Ipeji lekkie corridor in lekkies as the new lekkies as occasioned the rise of different real estate companies Offering to be the solution to a more transparent and accountable process of buying and selling real estate in lekkies and other areas in Nigeria But with an apparent lack of a strict regulatory framework to guide the operations in no time All of these real estate companies have started to create the same problems they were supposed to solve That is calming innocent Nigerians Welcome back to space and style If this is your first time of watching the show, this is where we talk about all things property My name is Olamide Unifade Today we are going to be talking about a very topical issue that has belabored the Nigerian property market Especially in lekkies which is acquiring land from real estate companies And aside that conversation, on our other segment we have our interior decorator who will be sharing tips on how to make our DIY decoration to another level On the property of the week we are going to showcase a unique property to inspire you to join the real estate ladder And lastly on the artisan of the week we have as usual a craftsman who is going to take us through the nitty gritty of his craftsmanship But before we jump into the conversation, I will be back in a moment Stay tuned Welcome back and thank you for staying with us Before we went on the break, I stated that we are going to be having a conversation on acquiring property from real estate companies And to discuss this topic with me is no one else than Mrs. Adaku Chibuke Ochiwa who was with us last week She is a legal practitioner and a senior partner at the Priceless Chamber With over 10 years experience in handling real estate matters She specializes in investigating and performing comprehensive review of land and title decrement in real estate transactions Thank you for coming again Thank you for having me again It was fun last week, it was such an insightful discussion and we are taking it to another level I'm glad you found it insightful The menace of real estate companies So as I said in my intro The issue of omuniles, buying from communities and all that posed a big problem Especially for people in diaspora who were looking to buy and invest in a share But they were either getting scammed by their relatives and all of that So I think around 2008-2009 this industry started booming A lot of real estate companies started springing up and it was supposed to be the stopgap Between all those problems we had But in recent times it looks like they're even now part of the problem they were supposed to solve So a couple of weeks back there was a big real estate company on social media That was in MS over allocation A lot of people subscribed to their companies and they have not allocated Even some people as much as 5-6 years And I'm thinking, is this another scam? So to start with, how do you buy? What's the starting process? How would you advise a potential client to start the negotiation with a real estate company? Okay, thank you for having me here once again And like you said initially, the rise of the real estate companies Was meant to cure the defects with buying from the omuniles However, people are beginning to see that we are having issues So most times what I do with clients or advice clients to do when buying from real estate companies Is that if you're buying from omuniles or if you're buying from real estate companies What you're buying is the property, the land First and foremost, ensure you carry out your due diligence Now for real estate companies it becomes more Now for the, it's still the same process whether it's a real estate company or whether it's a family matter I felt that because you're dealing with a real estate company The process should have even been cut off All the due diligence and all that You should have more peace of mind Yes, you should Actually due diligence, like I say to people Due diligence doesn't necessarily mean that I am not going to buy this property after the search But it reinforces my confidence in buying something And it makes me have an informed decision about what I want to buy So what are the due diligence I need to do when I want to buy with a real estate company? When I was, I must ensure that the land I am buying from the real estate company Is actually free from my co-brands How it's not under government acquisition I must also see that there is a point of contract Or an agreement or a deed between them and the land only families I must also request for, if it's a property Like if it's already a built-up property I'll request for your, not just your document of title Approved building plans Now all this gives me a piece that, okay, I'm dealing with That's document-wise concerning the property It gives me a piece that, okay, I'm dealing with people who understand their audience Then on the flip side I want to hear what is in the grapevine about this real estate company That's very important What are people saying about that? Then sometimes you get to seeing new people who are springing up I want to know the face, you get to see real estate companies springing up I want to know the face behind it So the searches you want to do are the CAC search with this company Are they registered? Are they registered with behind the company So you want to find out, are they registered with CAC? Because mind you, quite a number of them who are also registered with CAC I was going to say that So it's not just the fact that they are registered with CAC The starting point should be that you must understand that they are incorporated Exactly So you want to know if they are incorporated You want to know what the grapevine, the reviews are saying about them Then good enough for legoscience The new law, the last rarer law That has been put in place to regulate activities of practitioners in this industry So the law has been put in place to regulate the transactions And how people carry out transactions So if a real estate company is selling to people You must be registered with last rarer So it becomes a regulatory authority So what you are saying in essence is as a potential buyer You must ensure that the real estate company you are dealing with is registered with last rarer However, look at the case I just told you about A big, recognized, renowned real estate company Failed to allocate to people that have subscribed Over five years, what does last rarer have to do about that? There's the dispute resolution aspect of that So you get to make your complaint to last rarer And you form them that this has happened This happened, it seems they are oversubscribed And they have not given me my allocation and my plots and all that You make such complaints So right now those laws are in place in legos For you to seek redress When you have such issues However, on the other side of it So you want to hear what the news, that's aside from the last rarer You want to hear what the news about this real estate company is Now one of the reasons why some real estate companies Haven't even allocated properties Is because some of them don't even know what they are buying From the supposedly land-owning families So some of them are already buying a government-acquired land On that, they need to make a decision in the process Okay, hold your thoughts, we need to go on a short break I really like that you went to the issue of title When we come back we're going to talk about Please stay with us, we'll do for a short break, we'll be back Welcome back everybody And you're still watching Space and Style Adaku, Chibuike or Chimua He's still with us discussing How to buy properties from real estate companies So before we went on the break, you were talking about title Yes, okay, so you need to know if this person has the title to give to me So sometimes, which is why I said Despite if you're buying from the homeowners or you're buying from a real estate company You need to also be sure about the integrity of the property you want to purchase So if I'm buying a land, I want to go and carry out a search I have to carry out a search with the land I have to bring in my professionals and real estate to do this for me They have to carry out a search, they have to understand the agreement The deed, whatever Between the company and your money less that they bought from So you need to understand that So you're carrying out your search You want to be sure that the land they're selling to you Is free from government acquisition So a number of them get to buy properties that they believe is excision in process And this is a big gamble most times When I see anything excision in process, I advise my client wrong Wrong But I think that is a topic on the turn, we need to discuss that Yes, that would be on the understanding title So here where I'm going is It's a very high risk investment The land doesn't belong to you, it still belongs to the government So how do you allocate the land to people? How do you give what you don't have? Exactly, so you can't give what you don't have, that's one side Then the part of oversubscribing in particular Now where the land is not under government acquisition All the due diligence stuff has been done Oversubscribing, that is the part that tends into Fraudulent activities, and that's where Lashwera comes in To assist legutions, get back their monies from those people Then even aside from that, you can also sue for fraudulent misrepresentation To collect your monies back And what I would always advise clients Go for physical inspection of whatever you want to invest in Go and see it yourself, know that it is available If you're outside the country, get a trusted real estate professional Not a family member And a family member if you want to But you must also get a third party who's opinion is not emotionally Attied to your purchase So you want to get your professionals, you want to get your lawyers To look into that transaction And mind you, very sound real estate lawyers Get them to look into that transaction Have conversations with the real estate companies What are the questions you should be asking them? Like I said, what's the title they have over the land? What is the title they have over the land? Is it registered? If the title is not registered, is it in the process of being registered? What are the documents that will be given to you? Yes, another thing you must also request for when you're paying them Because most times I know they offer this payment plan options They're sometimes 50% off Do you get? Buy one, get one free Do you get? They now offer you a payment plan option Which is one of the reasons why I think people always lean towards buying real estate from real estate companies Because they give you the opportunity to pay for a land one, two, three, four times And once you see such deals You need to understand what the contract of selling is saying So you need to get your own lawyer So most times these real estate companies also provide services like deed of assignments and contract of sale But you need an independent ice to review it and explain the terms that are in that contract of sale for you So sometimes that contract of sale has it that if you're going to withdraw from the deal You're going to lose about 40% of the money you paid in But sometimes you get to pay before they even show you your contract of sale That's the thing So you need to start learning to demand ahead Or even after you've made your first installment payment For me most times for clients I demand ahead before we make payments So if the real estate company is not interested in So another challenge is because we have this People need to be educated about their rights in real estate I thought you liked it or not Because we have a lot of My friend bought and there was no problem Why would I have a problem? So most times I even have clients who are like I'm not going to sign this My lawyer said I shouldn't sign it And they're like why are you not signing? Everybody's signing So you must know that And most times another thing people run away from is paying for legal services And this often puts them into the dire need of facing this fallout They have the real estate companies Because they feel it's quite expensive Paying for real estate legal services It gets them into these issues So I'm looking over my lawyer My client is interested in this property What are your contracts of sale What are the documents of title you have on this land Before he can go ahead to make payments So they know that this person is a serious client But most times because we don't want to make that extra fees For legal services We go ahead with the services of this real estate companies Adaku, unfortunately we're out of time But I think we have to take this conversation again But quickly to wrap up How do you ensure that when you pay You are allocated what you plot immediately How do you do that? Okay so most times that happens when there's Outraged payments And these conversations should happen before money is exchanged You must have these conversations with them You must make it legal Like you must have it written down You can get your lawyers to write to them Okay so my client has been When will he be allocated And have them respond to you in writing And where this is not done You know that's already a breach of contracts And that's a red flag that you're not dealing with Exactly, it's impossible Thank you very much Adaku And as I said we need another session Where we have to discuss understanding titles And I hope you'll come again And discuss this with me I really enjoyed the conversation And I hope people also did So we have come to the end of this segment And I believe that you have gained more knowledge And insight on what to do When you're dealing with real estate companies And avoiding victims of fraudulent conversations I'm sorry transactions And this takes us to the next segment of the show So let's hear what our decorator Is talking to us about this week My name is Dr. Maureen Kebasharu CEO and Creative Director At Delia Options Limited An interior design firm So today we're going to talk about How to make a space look luxurious And without breaking a bank Alright so I guess today we're going to talk about Just tips, tips, tips on how to do that So the person I want to talk about Is the use of colors So what are the luxurious colors So we're going to talk about colors Like white, grays And most importantly metallic colors Bronze, gold, silvers Copper and all that So usually when you're going to combine These colors together You're going to do it in a ratio two to one So you're going to use like the grays The white, the blacks, the brown And you're going to put in Like one metallic color Like a gold Or you're going to use like a silver So another thing you can do to get that feel Is to ensure that your space is totally Clutter free So like that we try to put in A lot of shelves that are very decorative And stylish shelves You know in spaces And we use natural materials The use of natural materials in a space Makes it look luxurious So let's take a feature wall for example You can put stone on a feature wall Or you can do like wood Like a wooden panel on a wall On a feature wall Or any other wall for that matter So the use of natural materials Like stones, like wood You know gives you that luxury feel That you want Also another thing you can do to get That luxurious feel in a space Is the use of the right lighting So we want to focus on Ensuring you create the sense of space So you don't want too much walls in your space You don't want too much furniture in a space That you want to give that feel of luxury So you want to use a chandelier That is very dramatic So use a beautiful dramatic chandelier So it can be maybe the one item That you're going to spend a little bit on Then the pieces that you're going to put around Maybe the artefacts And the accessories That you're going to put around The golds and the silvers The butterflies like metallic butterflies You want to put in your recessed walls And you want to put a light to focus on it You know and also Another important thing to do In a space to make it feel Like a million dollars Is actually the use of the right materials So if you look at your furniture for example You want to use materials that are soft You know to the skin So we use suede materials You want to use velvet materials You want to use like 100% cotton materials In your space on furniture And also you want to use furniture That are very easy to keep clean You don't want furniture that will gather dots over time Because when you have furniture like that In your space over time It makes the space look kind of tacky So you want furniture that has surfaces That's very easy to clean in your space So today let me give you the tip to take away So your space if you want to make it feel like A million dollars space Just change those torpedoes And you can use a color Like here we've got blues And we've got gold in it that is leather You know that gives a sense of luxury And also you can have a really beautiful artwork You know that looks expensive on your wall And you put an accent light over it So I hope you've been able to learn one or two things today See you again next week, bye Welcome back to the last segment of the show The artisan spot where we discuss With the highly skilled workman And the intricacies of his craftsmanship I started this carpentry business After I've been trained Locally And I also went for Technica knowledge of it When I was with my old girl I started between 1987 precisely And I finished by 1990 I still went to Technica for between 1990 to 1992 After 1992 I started this work at Olibu site Olibu site I started with Building of a local government by then Orangia nut So with one of the companies by then After that one it came to Lagos Around 1993 1994 Ah Where as a Poor bomb by poor parents I don't have any option Because after my secondary school I intended to go further But due to lack of funds I have to embark on this one And It's because of my background That's why I learned this work Our role on the consortium has so many Number one We have to do the The phone work We have to start the phone work again We have to do the phone work We have to stand the column If there is column there We have to do the German floor And after the German floor Then if there is decking, lintet After lintet Then we do roof And so many other things are Where we are talking about construction And it's not limited to Building alone You can also still do furniture in the house You can construct a bridge Or drainage Or any other things that are related to Carpentry It's my profession A good carpenter must be at least Half a Elementary education level If you want to be a good carpenter Because where we are talking about Carpentry work It's also regard Some calculation If you don't know anything about Education you can calculate where That's why you see so many carpenter Who work well because They are level of Learning Let me say the experience It's so low If you want to be a good carpenter At least for now You will be a school start living Student Before you can become a very good carpenter And it's also regard Because now at this now By the time we started our own Around 90 Machine Or Drilling machine Or any other thing that we are using now We mainly use hand by hand Because early you can see anywhere You can find machine But now we have sewing machine Plain machine Cutting machine And any other thing that you can talk about To make the work more easier Than where we started by 1990 Number one If you want to be fit If you want to do carpentry You see class cannot do this work Because In regard energy In any world that regard energy If physical person need to do it So if you want to be a good carpenter You have to be fit There are many challenges If I'm going to go With my own experience There are many challenges At times If you are not If you don't do the work properly You can bring challenges If you work with a dubious person That will not pay you Your right money Or your Agree amount before you started the work That's another challenge But the most challenges is that In terms of funds Because if you want to establish This work very well For carpentry work And you want to establish it In regards to a lot of money Before you have to buy some machine Some equipment before you can start it But this one we are doing now Is just locally work Just to find what you are going to eat If you want to establish Full carpentry work To say you will consult Door You consult a Linter It requires a lot of money So you can say fund is one of the challenges So far I don't have money To buy all those equipment I am joining this site work now They come in for Linter I will come and do that one for them They come in for standing column I will come and do that one for them They come in for Slabbing or decking I will come to this for them When they repair Or doing a construction It's a lucrative job It brings money It's a lucrative job If you are so faithful to the work It's bringing money Because by the grace of God I build out by car So it's a lucrative job It's a space and style