Off-Plan Property Purchases In Lagos: Key Considerations

Off-plan property sales and purchases in Lagos often involves buyers paying some deposit before a real estate project is completed. In Nigeria, off-plan property sales often operate very differently from the UK model, both in terms of legal protection and market practice. One key distinction is that buyer deposits in Nigeria are not typically held in escrow or stakeholder accounts, which significantly increases the buyer's risk.

In practice, this means that real estate developers often use buyer deposits as construction funding, sometimes with zero equity commitment. Thus, off-plan property buyers bear significant completion risk and insolvency risk. If a developer fails to complete the project, buyers often struggle to recover their deposits, even through litigation.