Money 10 Nov 2026 · 10 min read

Buying Off-Plan in Lagos? Read This Before You Pay a Deposit

The 3D video always looks perfect. Here is what happens to your money if the developer runs out of it, and how to protect yourself before you pay.

It usually starts on WhatsApp. A 3D video lands in your chat. Glass balconies. A rooftop pool. A smiling family that does not exist. “Five-bedroom terrace, Lekki. Pay 30% now, spread the rest over 18 months. Only four units left.” Sounds familiar?

You pay. You get a receipt, a nice allocation letter and a WhatsApp group full of other buyers sending thumbs-up emojis.

Eighteen months later, you visit the site. There is a fence, a signboard and a security man who has not been paid since March. The project manager’s number now rings out. The WhatsApp group has gone very quiet… except for one man who posts “Any update?” every Monday.

That is the nightmare version. Not every off-plan deal ends like that. Plenty of Lagos developers deliver, some late, some on time. But if you are about to put serious money into a building that does not exist yet, you deserve to know exactly where you stand if things go wrong.

First, understand what you are really paying for

Here is the part nobody puts in the brochure.

When you buy off-plan in Lagos, your deposit is very often the money that builds the property. Lawyers at Balogun Harold, who advise both developers and buyers, have written that many Lagos developers use buyer deposits as construction funding, sometimes with no money of their own in the project. So if the developer runs into trouble, you are carrying the risk, and buyers often struggle to get their money back even when they go to court.

The same lawyers make a fair point: many developers do not set out to cheat anybody. Some simply never hired a quantity surveyor to cost the project properly. Then cement prices jump, the naira moves, and the maths stops adding up.

That is why the stories range so widely:

Late, but delivered. A buyer quoted by Nairametrics signed for a Lekki flat in 2020, with delivery promised for the end of 2022. COVID and rising material costs got in the way. He got his keys at the end of 2024, two years late, and said he was satisfied overall.
The surprise top-up. In the same report, an investor said a developer asked her client for an extra N50 million, one year into a N200 million deal, money she says was not in the original terms.
The site that never started. In a suit before the Lagos High Court, a buyer alleged that when he visited his project in Ikate in March 2025, construction had not begun and the whole property had been put up for sale. The developer has its own side, and the case is for the court to decide. But that is exactly the kind of discovery you want to make before you pay, not after.

So the question is not only “Is this developer honest?” It is also “If this developer is honest but runs out of money, what happens to mine?”

Also Read: The 10-Minute Flood Check Every Lagos Home Buyer Should Do

What the law gives you today

LASRERA. The Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority Law of 2022 requires property developers to register with LASRERA before they can deal in real estate in Lagos. Dealing in real estate without registering is an offence. LASRERA can also receive complaints and mediate disputes between buyers and developers. That is useful. But lawyers who work in this space say enforcement has been weak, so treat registration as the minimum, nowhere near a guarantee.

Escrow. Here is the honest bit. As things stand, no Lagos law forces a developer to keep your money in escrow. In July 2026, the Federal Government said it is preparing a national housing policy that would make developer licensing and regulated escrow accounts compulsory for off-plan sales. That is a proposal for now. Until it becomes law and is actually enforced, escrow is something you have to ask for and negotiate.

Compare that with Dubai, where developers must keep buyers’ money in a project-specific escrow account and can only draw it down after construction milestones are verified. That gap is the whole reason this article exists.

What an escrow arrangement actually looks like

Forget the legal jargon. Think of escrow as a referee holding the money.

You do not pay the developer directly. You pay into an account controlled by a neutral third party, usually a bank or a trustee company. The developer can only collect money from that account when an agreed stage of construction is finished and an independent professional confirms it.

Here is an example of how the stages could be split. This is an illustration to help you picture it. Your lawyer and the developer will agree the real numbers.

Stage	What must be true before money is released	Example share
Signing	Contract signed, title and building permit checked by your lawyer	10% to 20%
Foundation	Foundation complete and certified	15%
Structure	Frame and roof up, certified	25%
Finishing	Plastering, windows, plumbing and electrics done	25%
Handover	Keys given and your title documents processed	15% to 25%

A few things make escrow work in real life:

Who confirms each stage matters more than anything. It should be an independent quantity surveyor or engineer, ideally one you agree on together. If the off-plan developer’s own staff are signing off their own work, the referee is wearing the other team’s jersey.
A long-stop date. The off-plan agreement should say that if the project has not reached a certain stage by a certain date, any money still in the account comes back to you.
Escrow protects unreleased money only. Once a stage is paid out, that money is gone into the building. Escrow reduces your risk. It cannot remove it.
It costs something. Banks and trustees charge fees. Ask who pays them before you sign.

What if the off-plan developer refuses escrow? Many will. If you still want the unit, the next best thing is to pay in instalments tied to visible progress, straight into the developer’s company account, and only after you or someone you trust has seen the work. It is weaker protection, but it beats paying everything upfront because of a “pay in full and get 15% off” offer.

The clauses you should insist on

Take your contract to a property lawyer before you sign. Here is what you want to see inside it, in plain words:

The exact unit. Floor plan, size, specifications and finishes attached to the contract. “Luxury finishing” means nothing in court.
A real delivery date. A specific date, a short grace period, and a final long-stop date after which you can walk away.
Delay compensation. A fixed amount the off-plan developer pays you for every month of delay after the grace period.
A refund clause. If the project stalls or is abandoned, you get your money back within a stated number of days. Spell out whether interest is added.
A price lock. No extra charges beyond the contract price unless you agree in writing. Remember the N50 million top-up story.
Payments tied to milestones. Every instalment linked to a stage of construction, ideally through escrow.
Title in black and white. What title the developer holds on the land, what document you will receive at the end (such as a deed of assignment or sub-lease), and who pays for Governor’s Consent and registration.
Site access and progress reports. Your right to visit the off-plan development site and receive dated photos or reports at regular intervals.
One unit, one buyer. A promise that your specific unit has not been and will not be sold to anyone else.
A tight force majeure clause. Floods and government action, fine. “Cement became expensive” should not let the developer off the hook.
Dispute resolution. Mediation first, which LASRERA can support, then arbitration or court in Lagos.

If a developer will not put a delivery date or a refund clause in writing, they have told you something important. Listen.

How to investigate a developer before you pay

Give yourself one week. Do these checks in this order.

1. Check the company. Search the developer’s name on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) website. Is it a registered company? How old is it? Who are the directors? A company registered three months ago selling N250 million duplexes deserves more questions.

2. Check the LASRERA registration. Ask for the registration number and confirm it with LASRERA directly, through its portal or its office in Alausa, Ikeja. Do not accept a certificate photo on WhatsApp as proof.

3. Check the land. Who owns it? If the developer has a joint venture with the landowner, ask to see the agreement. Let your lawyer run a search at the Lagos State Land Registry to confirm the title and make sure there is no existing court case or charge on it.

4. Check the permit. Ask for the building permit number for this exact project from the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA). Lagos has recently been sealing estates without approved layout plans, so this matters.

5. Visit finished projects. Not the show flat. Go to two buildings the developer says they completed and talk to the people living there. Ask three questions: Did you get your keys on time? Did they ask for extra money? Have you received your title documents?

6. Search for trouble. Google the developer’s name with words like “court”, “suit”, “petition” and “EFCC”. Search the directors’ names too, because some people close one company and open another. In one case reported by The ICIR, buyers alleged a developer kept selling units while the land was already in court.

7. Check the price. Compare the off-plan price with similar finished homes nearby. A discount that looks too generous is a reason to dig harder.

Red flags that should make you pause

Payment into a personal account instead of the company account
A big discount only if you pay everything upfront
No title or building permit shown, or “we are still processing it”
A contract with no delivery date or refund clause
Pressure tactics: “Only two units left, price goes up Friday”
No activity on site, only renderings
A sales agent who cannot tell you who the actual developer is

If you are buying from abroad

You cannot drive past the site on a Saturday, so build your own eyes into the deal.

Ask for monthly site videos with the date visible, filmed by someone who is not the developer’s staff. Before each payment, get a short independent report from a quantity surveyor you hired yourself. It costs money. It costs far less than losing a deposit.

If things have already gone wrong

Stay calm and get organised.

Gather everything. Contract, receipts, bank transfers, WhatsApp messages, adverts, brochures.
Write formally. Send the developer a written demand that quotes your contract and sets a deadline.
Find the other buyers. One voice is easy to ignore. Thirty buyers with a lawyer are not.
Petition LASRERA. It can investigate complaints and mediate between buyers and developers.
Talk to a lawyer about court. Your lawyer may advise steps to stop the developer from selling or transferring the property while the case goes on.
If it looks like fraud, your lawyer can advise whether to report to the police or the EFCC.

The off-plan checklist

Screenshot this before you pay a kobo.

Developer is a registered company on CAC
LASRERA registration confirmed directly with LASRERA
Land title verified by your lawyer at the Land Registry
LASPPPA building permit number confirmed
Two finished projects visited, residents spoken to
Contract reviewed by your own lawyer
Delivery date, delay compensation and refund clause in writing
Payments linked to milestones, ideally through escrow
Every payment made to the company account only

One last thing

The 3D video of the off-plan property will always look perfect. That is its job.

Your job is to ask what happens to your money on the worst day, not the best one. If the off-plan property developer can answer that clearly, in writing, you may have found a good deal. If they cannot, keep your money where it is until somebody can.

This article is general information and not legal advice. Speak to a qualified property lawyer about your own transaction.

Sources

Alternative headlines:

The Rendering Looked Perfect. Then the Developer Stopped Picking Calls.
Buying Off-Plan in Lagos? Read This Before You Pay a Deposit
Escrow, Clauses and Background Checks: The Off-Plan Buyer’s Survival Guide

Social caption: Pay 30% now, spread the rest over 18 months. Sounds easy. But what happens to your money if the developer disappears? The off-plan survival guide is on Propertydome.

Link notes: Link this piece from “Before You Buy a Home in Lagos, Follow the Water”, and link back to it from the flood article’s paperwork section.