A deed, as defined in the dictionary is a signed document pertaining to the ownership or legal rights of landed property. Ownership, legal, rights, property, signed are some of the keywords that stand out here.

Like in all other aspects of investment, in real estate business, the seller and buyer must come together, negotiate and either seal a deal successfully or bail out. This is the first step you must take.

What shows you are a landlord or that you have interest in a piece of land are the documents you have on it.

These papers could have been obtained from various government and private agencies like the land bureau, ministry of housing, local, state and federal government agencies, among others

You will agree with me that for you to obtain genuine papers you must follow procedures laid down by the government, real estate firms, professional bodies and all the stake holders involved.

Otherwise, you may end up with a fake title or one with one form of defect or the other.

Documents evidencing title on landed properties are particularly important because land is not a movable asset and like a notable senior friend of mine who also operates within the real estate world will say, land cannot talk.

You cannot buy it and then move it to wherever you consider safe or safer. Also, when your landed transaction enters the legal frame work in Nigeria where there is no freehold land, it cannot really be owned in the real sense of ownership.

You can only have interest in it because the most you can get is clearly defined and restricted to a maximum of 99years lease.

What you therefore can use to represent your interest is the documents that states what interest you have.

Deed can also be defined as a written document for the transfer of land or other real property from one person to another. A writing or instrument under seal, containing some contract or agreement, and which has been delivered by the parties.

This applies to all instruments in writing under seal, whether they relate to the conveyance of lands or to any other matter; a bond, a single bill, an agreement in writing, or any other contract whatever, when reduced to writing which is sealed and delivered, is as much a document as any conveyance of land.

According to www.lectlaw.com, “The formal parts of a deed for the conveyance of land are:

The Premises, which contains all that precedes the habendum, namely, the date, the names and descriptions of the parties, the recitals, the consideration, the receipt of the same, the grant, the full description of the thing granted, and the exceptions, if any.

The Habendum, which states that estate or interest is granted by the title this is sometimes, done in the premises.

The Tenendum, this was formerly used to express the tenure by which the estate granted was to be held; but now that all freehold tenures have been converted…, the tenendum is of no use and it is therefore joined to the habendum under the formula to have and to hold.

The Redendum is that part of the title by which the grantor reserves something to himself out of the thing granted, such as a rent, under the following formula: Yielding and paying.

The Conditions Upon Which The Grant Is Made.

The Warranty, is that part by which the grantor warrants the title to the grantee. This is general when the warrant is against all persons, or special, when it is only against the grantor, his heirs and those claiming under him.

The Covenants, if any, are inserted to oblige the parties, or one of them, to do something beneficial to, or to abstain from something, which if done, might be prejudicial to the other.

The Conclusion, which mentions the execution and the date, either expressly, or by reference to the beginning.”

It is also said that the circumstances necessarily attendant upon a valid document are:

1. It must be written or printed on parchment or paper.

2. There must be sufficient parties.

3. A proper subject-matter which is the object of the grant.

4. A. sufficient consideration.

5. An agreement properly set forth.

6. It must be read, if desired.

7. It must be signed and sealed.

8. It must be delivered.

9. It must be attested by witnesses.

10. It should be properly acknowledged before a competent officer.

In the legal world and when it comes to legal documentations, we have so many type of it.

I will just share a few that we use here as follows;

Contract: this is used to spell out the existence of a contract between two or more parties and the conditions and covenants of the contract.

Assignment: used when assigning the residual of lease tenure to another party

Sublease: used when passing part of the residual lease interest on a property

Gift: used when assigning a property to another party without consideration.

Therefore, my advice here is for you, to seek counseling from lawyers and firms that are versed in the legal technicalities of interpreting this title so you can obtain the appropriate one you need per time.