Land buyers urged to seek services of legal counsel

Participants at the GHL Housing Fair have been advised to carry out due diligence when buying land and employ the services of a legal counsel should the need arise.

Mr Emmanuel Mate-Kole, Managing Partner of M&O Law Consult, speaking at a seminar held as part of the Fair, which was the final edition of the Housing Fair for 2018, said land laws could be tricky and technical to the untrained mind hence the need to seek legal guidance.

These were contained in a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency by the GHL Bank.

Mr Mate-Kole said many Ghanaians have refused to obtain or retain the services of a legal counsel when purchasing land due to the perception that lawyers are expensive and somewhat unnecessary.

'However, with the high rate of land litigation cases in the country, many land purchasers end up spending more money resolving land issues compared to the amount they would have paid if they hired legal counsel from the onset,' he said.

The fair, held at the forecourt of the GHL Bank head office under the theme 'It's Good to be Home', brought together of housing developers, real estate, home supplies, appliances and other ancillary service providers.

Participants were treated to exciting seminars on housing related topics like the laws surrounding land ownership and project planning towards home ownership by seasoned resource persons, Emmanuel Mate-Kole, Managing Partner of M&O Law Consult and Karen Evans Halm, Architect and Co-founder of Spektra Global.

Ms Evans-Halm also entreated attendees to take a project management approach to home ownership and to involve the expertise of architects and other building professionals in order to minimize costly house design errors.

She gave participants tips on how to build their dream home by starting small and constructing the house in a way that made it easy to expand when more funds became available.

Visitors of the fair also took part in raffle dips, spot quizzes, received free consultation from officials of the Lands Commission, and enjoyed property discounts and other activities.

GNA