How to Chart a Survey Plan at the Surveyor General's Office

TL;DR: Charting a survey plan means submitting it to the Office of the Surveyor General in Alausa so officials can confirm the coordinates match a real location free from government acquisition. Your licensed surveyor handles the submission; you should insist on seeing the charted result with its official endorsement. Never buy land on an uncharted survey plan.

Charting sounds technical. It's actually simple — and it's the step that catches some of the boldest land scams in Lagos.

What Charting Does

A survey plan is a drawing with coordinates. Charting is the process of overlaying those coordinates onto the government's official maps at the Surveyor General's office to answer two questions:

1. Does this location actually exist where the plan says it does?
2. Is it free from government acquisition?

If the coordinates land inside an acquired area, or in a completely different location from the plot you were shown, the charting exposes it. That's the whole point.

How It Works in Practice

1. Your surveyor prepares the submission. You need a licensed surveyor — they'll submit the survey plan along with the required details to the Office of the Surveyor General at Alausa, Ikeja.

2. The office checks the coordinates. Officials plot your survey's coordinates against the state's survey records and acquisition maps. This is the technical heart of the process.

3. You get a charting report. The result confirms (or denies) that the land described in the plan sits where claimed and is free from acquisition. A clean charting result is documented and referenced going forward.

4. Your lawyer files it with the rest. The charted plan joins the registry search and gazette verification in your due diligence file.

What It Costs and How Long It Takes

Charting fees are modest compared to the transaction — your surveyor will confirm the current official fee, typically in the tens of thousands of naira, plus their professional charge for handling the process. Allow 1 to 3 weeks; like everything at Alausa, it moves at its own pace.

Anyone who tells you charting is unnecessary is either ignorant or selling you something. Possibly both.

Why This Catches Scams

The most common survey scam in Lagos is simple: take a genuine, charted survey plan for Plot A (real land, real coordinates) and present it as the plan for Plot B (the swamp you're actually being sold). On paper, everything looks legitimate — the plan is real, the surveyor's seal is real.

Charting Plot B's actual coordinates against the plan kills this instantly. The coordinates won't match, or they'll fall inside an acquisition zone. This is why your surveyor must work from the physical plot — beacons, boundaries, actual location — not just from the paper the seller handed you.

Charting vs Registration: Don't Confuse Them

Charting confirms the location is real and unacquired. Registration (getting the plan's registered number on record) makes the plan an official document of the Surveyor General's office. A complete survey has both. Ask your surveyor to confirm both are done — "charted and registered" is the phrase you want to hear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Surveyor General's office in Lagos? The Office of the Surveyor General is at Alausa, Ikeja — the same government complex as the Lands Bureau and Land Registry, which is convenient: your lawyer and surveyor can coordinate the registry search and charting in parallel.

Can I chart a survey plan myself? The submission is properly handled by a licensed surveyor who takes professional responsibility for the coordinates. Your job is to engage the surveyor and insist on seeing the charted result — not to queue at Alausa yourself.

What does it mean if a survey plan fails charting? It means the coordinates don't check out — wrong location, overlapping another registered survey, or inside government acquisition. Any of these is a deal-breaker until resolved, and most of the time "resolved" means walking away.

Is charting the same as the land registry search? No, they're complementary. The registry search verifies the title (ownership, encumbrances, genuineness). Charting verifies the location (coordinates, acquisition status). You need both — a genuine title to the wrong plot helps no one.

How do I know my survey was actually charted? Ask your surveyor for the charting documentation and the plan's registered number, and have your lawyer confirm it. Trust, but verify — especially the verification steps themselves.