leasehold
Leasehold means you own the building or flat for a set number of years, but the land under it still belongs to someone else until the lease runs out.
In plain English
Almost every Nigerian who has ever rented land to build a house, or bought a flat in Lagos or Abuja, has heard the phrase certificate of occupancy thrown around without really knowing what it protects and what it does not.
Leasehold is one half of that puzzle. It means you have paid for the right to use a property, sometimes for 99 years, sometimes less, but the actual land stays with the original owner, whether that is a family, a company, or the government.
Think of it like renting a flat with a very long agreement. You can live in it, renovate it, even pass it to your children, but when the years run out, the property technically goes back to whoever owns the land, unless the lease is renewed.
In Nigeria, this shows up in places like Lagos state land, where the government grants leases through the certificate of occupancy, usually for 99 years. In the United Kingdom, leasehold is common with flats in London, where the flat itself is leasehold even though the block of flats sits on land owned by a freeholder.
For someone in the diaspora sending money home to buy property, this matters a lot. You want to know if you are buying freehold, where you own the land outright, or leasehold, where you are really buying time on someone else's land. Ask before you send a kobo.
The good news is that most leases are long enough to outlive the buyer, and many can be renewed. The real skill is knowing how many years are left, because a lease with 15 years remaining is a very different asset from one with 90.
A man in Lekki buys a leasehold apartment with 85 years left on a 99 year lease from the Lagos state government. He pays ₦45,000,000 for it. His lawyer confirms the lease still has decades to run, so the family can comfortably pass it down before anyone needs to worry about renewal.
Questions people ask
Is leasehold the same as renting?
No. Renting is usually short term and you pay periodically with no long term rights. Leasehold means you have paid, often as a lump sum or through instalments, for the right to use the property for many years, and you can sell or inherit that right within the lease period.
What happens when a leasehold expires in Nigeria?
Technically the land reverts to the original owner, often the state government under a certificate of occupancy. In practice, many leases are renewed before they run out, but it is wise to start the renewal process early and not wait until the final years.
Should I avoid leasehold property and only buy freehold?
Not necessarily. Freehold sounds safer, but leasehold properties with long remaining terms, good documentation, and clear renewal terms can still be excellent investments, especially in cities where freehold land is scarce or heavily controlled.
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