Buying Guide
Buying off plan without getting burned: a nine point checklist
Off plan can be the best value on the market, or the most expensive mistake
Off plan is the only way most buyers reach a finished home in a prime Lagos postcode at a price they can carry. It is also the only purchase where you hand over money for something that does not exist, on the strength of a render and a promise.
The nine questions below are ordered by how much they cost you if the answer turns out to be wrong.
Before the deposit
Whose name is on the title, and is it the same entity you are paying?
Has the development got planning approval, or only an application in progress?
What has this developer finished, and can you visit one of those sites unaccompanied?
Is your money going into an escrow or project account, or into general trading funds?
A developer who will not let you speak to buyers from the last project is telling you something about the last project.
In the contract
What is the completion date, and what happens on the day it is missed?
Is there a penalty running in your favour, or only a force majeure clause running in theirs?
What exactly is the specification, down to the make of the fittings?
How are price variations handled if materials move?
What is the refund path if the project stops entirely?
The one that catches people
Completion date and handover date are usually two different dates in the same contract, sometimes months apart. Completion is when the developer says the building is finished. Handover is when you get the keys. Ask which one the penalty clause is measured against, because a penalty tied to a date the developer controls is not a penalty.
None of this makes off plan a bad buy. It makes it a purchase that rewards paperwork, which is the opposite of how it is usually sold.