General guide on buying property in Kenya

General
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Generally land in Kenya is identified by Plot Number or Land Reference number (LR). After appropriate land is identified and the LR number obtained from the seller and the process proceeds as follows:

Step one: Search at Ministry of Lands

Do search with Ministry of Lands at district or county HQ; this will reveal

i. the true land owners,

ii. acreage,

iii. tenure i.e. (leasehold or freehold)

iv. any encumbrances (adverse entries) against the title, e.g a caveat, caution, court orders or charges

A search cost 520/= and should be ready normally within two hours. A valid search should be no more than six months old.

Step Two: Search at Local County Offices
Do the search with the Local Council (municipal or county). This will confirm any unpaid Land rates which you will need to factor in when deciding the purchase price. Cost would vary from county to county e.g in Nairobi you will be required to have a certificate of clearance from the Nairobi County which costs 7,500 and should be ready normally within two hours.

If there are prevailing unpaid land rates you would need to agree with the owner who will settle them as the land cannot be sold (transferred) with outstanding land rates. Hence it will affect the purchase price to that extent.

Step Three: Land Map

Visit the local surveyor and purchase a map of the place, they are normally two maps one drawn to scale (informally known as tracing or mutation) and another showing the neighboring farms. Cost: 300 per map you may buy these at lands ministry but surveyor is better and faster.

Step Four: Ground Verification

Armed with the map, the surveyor and the seller visit the land on the ground. Have a tape measure to confirm the dimension from the map drawn to scale. Make sure you see the beacons or replace the lost ones Surveyors charge about 1000 per bacon.I believe this should be paid by seller as the land is still his however it may be paid by either party or even do a cost sharing depend on who is more desperate. In extreme cases, especially in the villages, the neighbors would be invited so that they can raise any disputes they may have on the land boundaries.

Step Five: Agreement

The law requires any land transaction to be in writing. While it is not a must a lawyer be involved it is very advisable to have a lawyer. According to the tariff provided by Law Society of Kenya the lawyer should charge 3000 if land is 1,000,000 and below 8000 if land value is above 1,000,000. Lawyers cost is normally shared 50:50 between buyer and seller.

Ensure that the spouse to the seller is present at this stage or at least the spouse is aware and agrees with the transaction to avoid later complication as you will see in step 7. Consent from children is not required though it may be important since you need good neighbours after you have bought the land.

Step Six: Post Agreement Transaction

After this everything now depends on the agreement. According to the agreement, you may be paying cash or by installment. Either way the seller will demand some money. Ensure by the time you make the initial payment the title deed and other legal documents are in the custody of the lawyers.

Consider a scenario where the seller takes a bank loan a day after you did the search and used the title deed as a security (see step 1). The search would be a clean but the title isn’t available by the time you are at step 6.

I repeat : remember he can take a loan in the middle of your transaction if he continues to keep the title.

Paying at this stage this is the norm since the seller will demand a commitment from you in cash form, however in my view step No. 7 should come before step no. 6

Step Seven: Land Control Board (agricultural land)

Book the Land Control Board (LCB) meeting. The LCB Is a forum made of the Assistant County Commissioners( Previously called D.O ) and the local village elders and meets once a month. They are the ones who give the final consent for the land to be sold. Their role is to protect the seller from self destruction e.g. where a man is selling land without wife knowledge and they don’t have anywhere else to go or the land being sold is clan / community land.

Why I believe you should attend LCB before paying any money: assume you pay Fist installment of 500,000 then you go for LCB and and the Land Control Board refuses to give consent. You would ask for refund of the initial installment (commitment) money you paid at step 6 and the seller would say he have already spent the money and therefore you should wait.

What do you do… that’s a court case, 3 years later the case not yet decided. Sometimes, sorry to say, it’s a conspiracy between husband and wife ( The husband tells the wife …when we go to LCB refuse the land to be sold) Here is where most land cases are.

As stated in step 5. That’s why it is important to have the spouse present when doing the agreement.

LCB cost 1000/= however there is a special Land Contol Bond (SCLB) which involves only the D.O and the two transacting parties instead of waiting for the main LCB which meets once per month. Cost: 5,000/= time 2 hours depending with availability of D.O

Step Eight: Land Transfer

After all payments, seller signs Land Transfer Forms which together with Consent from LCB, land search – not more than 6 months old(see step 1) clearance from county/ municipal council (that you have paid all land rates), passport photos, KRA pin, agreement and old title deed you go to Ministry of Lands to change ownership. Cost 5,000/= to process new title. Time 2 weeks, but if you can make the ministry of lands official to smile you will have the title later that afternoon. Cost: undisclosed token of appreciation given to land officials. This is Kenya, remember?

Note it’s possible and advisable that the land transfer documents be signed in advance and be deposited with the lawyer i.e when you pay the first installment (see step 6). This ensures that the seller cannot backtrack.

Step Nine: Stamp Duty and Transfer Fees

After you have all the transfer documents as stated in Step 8 you need the seller no more. However you will also need to pay stamp duty based on value of land i.e 4% for Municipalities 2% for reserve. i.e if your land is in the municipality and you bought at 1,000,000 you pay stamp duty of 40,000.

Notice the value of land could be different from the purchase price and in such cases, though extremely rare, the Ministry of Land official might demand a valuation. In most cases they just use the purchase price.

Step Ten: Post Purchase Activity

After one week the buyer should do another search with Ministry of Lands to confirm that the land now reads your details after which you call your family and friends to slaughter a goat to give thanks to God. Remember to call me so that we can celebrate your new achievement together.

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes and due diligence should be carried out when purchasing land from time to time. The rates indicated may change from time to time depending with relevant offices.

Copied/Stolen/Borrowed…and modified:D

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Nani ako na experience Marsabit, @Luther12 and @gashwin are you from those sides? When that road linking Kenya and Ethiopia gets done, we will have several mtito andeis, mlolongos, salgaas btw Isiolo and Moyale. Kuna titles ama ni communal land

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Asante, umesahau kutelezea jabo moja, where do you get the money to buy this land?

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Soma kwa bidii, ukimaliza shule urudi uulize tana.

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Nice info @kingolonde. Keep the info coming.

On the stamp duty part, most places already have a set price for land. Eg. in Kinangop, you would buy land at 1.5 per acre, but stamp duty is evaluated based on 400k per acre.

I would also wish to know how to handle this situation:
You have some land measuring 4 acres on the ground, but the map and title indicate 2 acres. No beacons-you rely on the boundaries put by neighbours (fences, trees, etc). Neighbours are not complaining ati umewasukuma. History has it that your great grandfather bought 4 acres from a (dead) cooperative society. No other documents are available except the title which was issued in 1978. Neighbours who bought land at the same time as your great grandpa have two acres (on the ground, map and title). And the land sequence is logical (the 2 neighbors’ lands are 331&333 and your land is 332). You want your title and map to show 4 acres as is on the ground.

What’s the process?

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:D:D:D

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if you are serious umejaribu land’s office?
they will tell you if it was a typewriter error or hayo ni mapepo. they have the bigger map indicating all those sizes
those lands were equal like the bras you wear.
or another scenario,very common… your dead grandpa(RIP) was duped by a paper he paid money for a hectare whereas he got a half

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This is a bit complicated, but do you have the mutation of the land?, some of theses pieces of land were allocated on equal share basis but in your case, maybe there was a plan to introduce a road or maybe the surveyors who were doing the subdivision at the initial stages wanted to make a deal (allocate all members their shares and leave an extra piece and sell for their own benefit), but were unable…

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On the issue of stamp duty, the same is fixed. 4% of the valued price in urban centers and 2% of the valued price in agricultural land.

On the issue of the discrepancies between the ground and Title document, your first stop should be the county survey office. Inform them of a dispute. The county surveyor, armed with his tools of trade, map sheet included will then visit the disputed piece of land, establish the correct beacons and acreage, and thereafter advice the survey headquarters to amend the map sheet/title deed. Thereafter, the amendment will be forwarded to the lands office for purposes of issuing proper title.

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@kingolonde. Nice information. it is also important to get a surveyor to identify and confirm the beacons. At times, you will find that the size indicated in the sale agreement will differ on the actual size on the ground.

You may need to also spend a little extra money and have a valuation done by a qualified valuer, to confirm on the real price.

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I bought a piece of land and paid for it in cash,after the search and surveying.The wife and kids were witnesses including the local leaders. The land was subdivided and a search on it reveals new numbers including my potion even though we are yet to go to the board. what are the pros and cons of my situation…
Do you have a link to the list of the recently reclaimed lands by NLC especially the ones belonging to schools?

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had the sale agreement captured the sub-division part, or was the same done behind your back?
If it was captured, you only need the mother title and the new RIM or Deed Plan and register your sub-division. If it was not…buzz your lawyer.-

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I visited the lands office and they asked me to get a private surveyor first to establish that the land is indeed four acres as I claim. If that’s the case, then they would send their surveyors to resurvey the entire block of land (not just my parcel) coz it would seem am eating on my neighbors unknowingly to both of us.

My thinking, however, is what @High street. Someone may have planned to hive an extra parcel during subdivision but was unable.

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Thanks…all parties agreed on it and its the right measurement both on paper and on the ground. The other thing,do you have a link to the list of NLC parcels that were reclaimed?

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Does the Deputy County Commissioner have the powers to subdivide land? Niko na kesi inaendelea

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No, never

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Nice info, Land issues zimekuwa mingi, time consuming & frustrating, sometime you wish kungekua kama Ethiopia where land is owned by the govt.

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Public land? Only National Land Commission.
Private land? Not possible. Hata succession ni High Court pekee.