Most buyers who "used a lawyer" still can't tell you what stage they're at, what's outstanding, or what the last payment was for. We assign an independent lawyer and run the whole thing as a managed process — every stage tracked, every document logged, every fee explained.
Most purchases fail at perfection, not at purchase.
An enormous number of Nigerians — at home and abroad — have paid in full for property and hold nothing but a receipt, a deed nobody registered, and a promise that consent was "being processed." Years later they discover they cannot sell, cannot mortgage, cannot pass it on cleanly, and cannot prove much at all.
It rarely happens through fraud. It happens because nobody owned the process after the money moved. The lawyer did their piece and went quiet. The agent lost interest once commission was paid. The buyer was 5,000 miles away and had no way to see what was outstanding.
That is the gap this service exists to close. Under the Land Use Act 1978, a transfer without Governor's Consent leaves your position exposed — and consent, stamp duty and registration are exactly the stages that get abandoned when nobody is accountable for finishing them.
This is what you log in and see. Twelve stages, always current, so you never have to ask "where are we?" again. Step through the demo below to see how a real transaction progresses.
Example: 3-bedroom apartment, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos
Twelve components. Which apply depends on your package and where you are in the transaction — the scope for your matter is confirmed in writing before anything starts.
This matters more than anything else on the page, so we'll be explicit about it.
They are instructed by you and owe their professional duty to you — not to the seller, the agent, the developer or to us. If your interests and ours ever diverge, they follow yours.
Our fee is for running the process, and it doesn't change depending on whether you complete. We have no commission riding on you proceeding, so "walk away" is advice we can afford to give.
Already have someone you trust? Keep them. We'll run the managed process, tracking and custody around your lawyer at a reduced fee. The process is the product, not the panel.
Fees are banded by property value, because the work is broadly fixed but the exposure is not. Government costs — stamp duty, Governor's Consent and registration — are separate, charged at cost, and estimated for you below.
| Package | Under ₦25m | ₦25m–₦75m | ₦75m–₦150m | Over ₦150m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal Due DiligenceLawyer assignment, full DD scope, registry and court searches, seller and authority review, document tracking, written report and recommendation. | ₦395,000 | ₦395,000 | ₦495,000 | ₦595,000 |
| Managed PurchaseEverything in Due Diligence, plus contract drafting and review, execution support, funds-authorisation guidance and stamp-duty coordination through to completion. | ₦695,000 | ₦895,000 | ₦1,195,000 | from ₦1,495,000 |
| Full Title PerfectionEverything in Managed Purchase, plus Governor's Consent, registration, certified-copy retrieval, digital storage and the first year of Document Custody Vault included. | ₦950,000 | ₦1,350,000 | ₦1,750,000 | from ₦2,200,000 |
| Perfection RescueFor owners who already paid but never completed. We establish what you hold, what's missing, and pursue consent and registration from wherever the matter stalled. | ₦750,000 | ₦1,050,000 | ₦1,450,000 | from ₦1,800,000 |
| Process only — your own lawyerYou instruct your own lawyer; we provide the managed process, tracker, document chasing, custody and annual reminders around them. | ₦295,000 | ₦345,000 | ₦425,000 | ₦495,000 |
All figures are our professional fee, inclusive of the assigned lawyer's fee where one is assigned. Stamp duty, consent fees, registration fees and certified-copy charges are government costs, paid at cost with receipts. Use the estimator below to see the likely total.
The number that surprises buyers is never the lawyer — it's the government fees for consent and registration, which are calculated on property value. Here's a realistic picture before you commit.
Professional fee and government costs, separated so you can see exactly what's what.
If you live abroad, your original title documents are probably in a relative's house, a drawer in an empty property, or nobody is quite sure. That is a real risk to a real asset — and it's the thing families fight over when someone dies.
Lagos State and the FCT operate their own land-administration systems and public desks, and those systems are the authoritative record. We do not claim to be an alternative to them, and you should be sceptical of anyone who does.
What we do is sit between you and a process that is genuinely hard to follow from abroad: instructing the right people, submitting the right things in the right order, chasing what has stalled, and translating official status into a plain-English tracker you can actually read.
The consequence worth being honest about: we control our own responsiveness, not the government's. Consent and registration timelines depend on the relevant state authority, and no service can promise otherwise. What we can promise is that you will always know where your matter actually is, and what is holding it up.
Tell us about the transaction. We'll come back within one working day with a written scope, a fixed professional fee and an estimate of government costs — before you commit to anything.
Including the ones with uncomfortable answers.
You can, and if you have one you trust you should keep them — we'll run the process around them at a reduced fee. But a lawyer is engaged to do legal work, not to keep you informed across many months and chase a state authority on your behalf. The failures we see are almost never bad legal work; they're a process nobody owned after the money moved.
Honestly: months, and it varies by state and by matter. Anyone giving you a confident single number is guessing. What we can control is that the application is complete and correct first time, that it's actively followed up, and that you can see its status rather than wondering. What we cannot control is the authority's own processing time — and we won't pretend otherwise.
Because consent, registration and stamp duty are calculated on the property's assessed value, while professional work is broadly fixed. On a high-value property the government element will usually dwarf ours. We separate the two on every quote precisely so you can see who is charging you what — and we charge government costs at cost, with receipts.
No, though they overlap. Verification is an investigation that tells you whether to proceed. This is the managed legal process that actually gets you properly and completely owning the thing. Many clients verify first, then instruct us to run the transaction.
That's what Perfection Rescue exists for. We establish what you actually hold, what's missing, whether the chain of title can still be evidenced, and then pursue consent and registration from wherever it stalled. Sometimes it's straightforward. Sometimes the seller has died, or the company is dissolved, and it's genuinely difficult — we'll tell you honestly which one yours looks like before you spend.
With Full Custody Vault, originals sit with a bank, law firm or specialist records partner under a formal custody arrangement — not in our office and not in a relative's house. They're released only against your authenticated instruction, and every movement is logged. You can also record who may access them if you die or lose capacity.
Yes. Apartments Ghana runs an equivalent managed legal service under Ghanaian law and procedure, which differs from Nigeria's in important ways. If you're transacting in both, we can coordinate them together.
Apartments Global Limited is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. We provide a managed process and coordination service. Legal advice and legal work are provided by qualified, independently regulated Nigerian lawyers instructed to act for you. A lawyer–client relationship begins only when you instruct and the assigned lawyer confirms — not by submitting the form on this page.
Professional fees and government costs are separate. Prices shown are our professional fee, inclusive of the assigned lawyer's fee where one is assigned. Stamp duty, Governor's Consent fees, registration fees and certified-copy charges are government costs, charged at cost with receipts.
Cost estimates are estimates. Government fees are calculated on the assessed value determined by the relevant state authority, which may differ from the price you paid, and published rates change. The estimator on this page is a planning tool, not a quotation.
Timelines depend on government authorities. Consent and registration timescales are set by the relevant state land authority. We can commit to how we work — completeness, follow-up and visibility — but no service can commit to how quickly a state authority responds.
We orchestrate; we do not replace official systems. The relevant state land registry remains the authoritative record. Our tracker reflects our and your lawyer's best current understanding of status, not an official government record.
Perfection cannot always be achieved. Where a chain of title is defective, a seller cannot be traced, or land is subject to government acquisition, perfection may not be possible. Where that is the case we will tell you as early as we can, rather than continuing to bill a process that cannot succeed.
