Terms of use

These terms apply when you use OpenLandRegistry, which is run by OpenLandRegistry (“we”). By creating an account, signing in, or using the service, you accept them. If you do not accept them, do not use the service.

Our privacy notice explains how we handle personal data.

OpenLandRegistry gathers evidence about land: claims, documents, survey plans, public notices, open map data and the results of checks. It shows where each piece came from and how far it has been checked.

• It is not a government land registry, and it is not connected to one unless a page says so.
• Recording a claim here does not create, transfer or confirm title to land.
• A shape drawn or read from a survey plan is not an official boundary.
• Only the right public authority and the courts can decide who holds an interest in land.

Always get independent legal advice and an official search before you buy land or lend against it.

• You must be 18 or over.
• Give your real name and keep your details up to date.
• Keep your password safe. You are responsible for what is done with your account.
• If you sign in with Google, Google’s own terms also apply to your Google account.
• A professional account is given only after we check your registration with your professional body. Tell us straight away if your registration changes.

• Only record a claim to land you have a genuine connection to, and describe that connection honestly.
• Only upload documents you are entitled to use. Remove or cover identity numbers, signatures and bank details when a page asks you to.
• When you upload a survey plan, you agree that we read it with an automated service, keep what is read from it, and use it to detect overlapping or copied plans.
• You keep any rights you have in what you upload. You give us permission to store, check, display (as the privacy settings allow) and use it to run and protect the service.
• If you share documents with a buyer, you choose what and for how long, and you can withdraw access at any time.

Anyone may challenge a claim or a check result. A claim may be reviewed, marked disputed, suspended or removed from public view if the evidence does not support it.

• Make a false claim, upload a forged or altered document, or pretend to be someone else.
• Use another person’s documents or survey plan without their authority.
• Copy, scrape, download in bulk, or resell records, maps or documents from the service.
• Use anything you see here to harass, threaten or defraud anyone.
• Try to get round access controls, rate limits or security, or to reach records you are not allowed to see.
• Upload anything harmful, such as malware.

• A check is carried out by an independent professional whose registration we have verified. Each result says what was checked, how, by whom and on what date.
• A result describes the evidence and records seen on that date. Records change, so results age, and we show when a fresh check is advised.
• A check is not a guarantee of title and is not an official search certificate, unless an official search is part of it, in which case the authority’s own result is kept as evidence.
• If no verified professional is available where the land is, your request waits until one is. We tell you if it cannot go ahead.

• Recording a claim, uploading a plan and searching are free unless a page says otherwise.
• A check costs the amount in the quote shown before you pay. You are not charged for anything you did not agree to.
• Payments are currently arranged with our staff, who record them against your case. If a check is cancelled before work starts, we refund the fee, less any costs a page told you are not refundable.

Maps and background layers come from open data published by others, such as OpenStreetMap contributors and GRID3. Their licences and credits are listed on the data sources page. Open data shows what is on the ground. It does not show who holds land.

We work to keep the service accurate, available and secure, and to show plainly what has and has not been checked. But records can be incomplete or wrong, documents can be forged, and the service can be interrupted.

So far as the law allows, we are not responsible for losses that come from relying on a claim, a document, a map or a check result without taking your own legal advice and official search, or from a decision you make about land. Nothing in these terms limits responsibility that the law does not allow us to limit.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms or puts other people at risk. Where we can, we tell you why and give you a chance to respond. The records you made stay, because they are evidence. You can ask us to close your account at any time.

We may update these terms. We change the date at the top, and tell you in the app before a change that matters to you takes effect. If you keep using the service after that, the new terms apply.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Questions about these terms: the contact address published on this page.