Of the six signs of a legitimate property agent in Nigeria, the single fastest one to verify is Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration. It takes 60 seconds. It costs nothing. And it eliminates perhaps 40% of the scam-prone operators in the rental market in a single check.
If you're about to engage an estate agent for a rental in Lagos, Abuja, or anywhere in Nigeria, doing this check before sending any payment — or even before your first physical meeting — is the single highest-leverage thing you can do to avoid fraud.
The Corporate Affairs Commission is the federal agency that registers all Nigerian businesses. Under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, every business operating in Nigeria is supposed to be registered — as either a limited liability company (suffix "Limited" or "Ltd") or a business name (single-proprietor registration).
Registration creates:
A unique RC number (registration number)
A public record of directors or proprietor
A registered office address
Annual filing obligations (which if skipped render the company "dormant")
Legal standing to enter contracts, open corporate bank accounts, and sue or be sued
An estate agency claiming to operate professionally in Nigeria should be CAC-registered. An agency not registered is operating informally, with no legal structure, no accountability to CAC, no corporate tax obligations, and typically no corporate bank account — all of which are red flags for fraud.
Victor founded NoBroker Nigeria after paying ₦420,000 in broker and legal fees on a single Lekki rental in 2023. He writes from lived experience of the Nigerian rental market and the verification processes the platform runs every day.
A business can be registered but "dormant" because it hasn't filed annual returns with CAC. Under CAMA 2020, annual returns are mandatory for every registered company. Failure to file for 5+ years moves a company to dormant status and eventually de-registration.
A dormant agency is legally a registered entity but has stopped meeting its CAC obligations. This is often because:
The original owners abandoned the business
It's a shell that was registered once and never operated
The current operators bought or appropriated the RC number and are using it as a front
None of these are good signs. An active agency that filed returns last year is substantively different from a dormant agency with a 2018 RC number that's been resurrected.
If an agent gives you an RC number directly, confirm it resolves to the exact business they claim. Common scam patterns:
Pattern A: Invented RC number. The number is made up. CAC search returns "No results found" or a completely different business. Instant red flag.
Pattern B: Hijacked RC number. The scammer claims to be "Novek Realty Ltd (RC 1234567)" and gives a real RC number — but the number belongs to a completely different business, perhaps a bakery or a consulting firm. Search reveals the mismatch.
Pattern C: Similar-name fraud. The registered business is "Novek Realty Ventures" but the scammer calls themselves "Novek Realties" or "Novik Realty" — close enough to fool a casual check but different entity. Spelling the business name exactly as the agent claims is critical.
Pattern D: Real but dormant RC. The number is real, status is "dormant," agency hasn't operated in years. Whoever is using it now isn't the original operator.
A corporate bank account in the same name. When they give you an account for fee payment, the account name must match the CAC-registered business name. If the business is "Novek Realty Ltd" but the account is in a director's personal name, that's either tax-evasion or a scam — neither of which you want to participate in.
A corporate email domain. The agency has a domain (novekrealty.ng) and emails from it (contact@novekrealty.ng), not from gmail.com or yahoo.com.
A listed office address matching the CAC registration. The CAC record shows the registered office. It should match where the agency physically operates. Differences are common (companies move), but wildly different addresses (CAC says "Lekki," agency operates from "Ikeja") warrant questions.
Directors whose names appear on business cards or LinkedIn. CAC lists directors; the agency's public-facing team should be consistent with or derived from that list. A scammer running a shell company won't have real people behind the RC.
Sometimes the check is ambiguous. A few common scenarios:
"The agency is new — only 3 months old." Possible, but new agencies have higher fraud rates. Ask for extra verification: the directors' NINs, references to previous deals, other CAC-registered businesses the directors have run.
"The registration is a business name, not a limited company." Business name registration is legal and cheaper than Ltd registration. Many legitimate solo-proprietor agents operate this way. Not a red flag on its own but offers less legal structure (no separate liability from the proprietor).
"The agency has an RC number but is listed under a slightly different name." Sometimes businesses rebrand but don't formally update with CAC. Ask for evidence of the rebrand (letterhead change, announcement, updated tax filings). A legitimate rebrand leaves a paper trail.
"The RC doesn't match the agency's claimed address." Could be a real move. Ask for a utility bill or tenancy agreement at the current address proving occupation. If they can't produce one, the current office may be as real as the CAC address isn't.
A failed check (invalid RC, dormant status, wrong name) is a hard stop. Don't pay any fees, don't sign any engagement, don't view any more properties through them.
Beyond CAC, some agencies are members of professional bodies:
NIESV (Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers): The most established professional body. Members have estate-management academic credentials. NIESV membership is displayed prominently by legitimate agencies.
ERCAAN (Estate Rent and Commission Agents Association of Nigeria): Broader membership, less rigorous bar. Still signals some accountability.
Verify membership by calling the secretariat of either body or checking their member directory. NIESV members use "ESV" before their name.
Not all real agents are members of these bodies. Not being a member is not itself a red flag. But claiming to be a member when you aren't is the red flag. Verify any claim.
CAC registration isn't a guarantee of a good agent. A registered agency can still be incompetent, slow, or charge unfair fees. But CAC registration is a filter: it removes the worst category of fraud — operators who never intend to honour their representations because they don't legally exist.
Or skip the agent ecosystem entirely. On NoBroker Nigeria, most listings are direct from landlords with no agent layer, and agent-listed properties are clearly flagged with the agency's CAC RC number visible on the listing page. Browse verified listings.
One minute. One URL. CAC public search. Do it before you send any money.