MY FRIEND WAS RECENTLY CONNED AND ENDED UP BUYING “AIR”. SO I THOUGHT OF SHARING THE BASIC TIPS YOU CONSIDER WHEN BUYING LAND IN KENYA.
Do search with Ministry of Lands at district or county HQ; this will reveal the true land owners and establish the presence of brokers if any and if the title has been charged or has a caveat e.g when title used to secure a loan
Search at Local County Offices: This will confirm any unpaid Land rates which you will need to factor in when deciding the purchase price
Visit the local surveyor and purchase a map of the place, they are normally two maps one drawn to scale and another showing the neighboring farms
Ground Verification - the surveyor and the seller visit the land on the ground to confirm the dimension from the map drawn to scale. Make sure you see the beacons or replace the lost ones
Agreement - the law requires any land transaction to be in writing. It is very advisable to have a lawyer
Post Agreement Transaction - According to the agreement, you may be paying cash or by installment. Ensure by the time you make the initial payment the title deed and other legal documents are in the custody of the lawyers
Book the Land Control Board (LCB) meeting. It is a forum made of the Assistant County Commissioners and the local village elders. They give the final consent for the land to be sold
Land Transfer - the seller signs Land Transfer Forms
Stamp Duty and Transfer Fees - you will need to pay stamp duty based on value of land
10.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
More pointers
Hapo kwa search…avoid land subject to succession and encuburances.
Do due deligence even after visiting the land with your surveyor/valuer (by going back and talking to the neibors including uyo mzee ulimwona hapo ukaignore) They usually know alot with regards to the land.
Spousal consent is a consideration when it comes to LCB
Be careful also when buying from a company. The company should be registered with a registered office
In the agreement, make sure you purchase in installments so that you opt out in any event and avoid loosing much (you can also have an undertaking with the bank to cushion yourself)
Explain to me more about land leases. Those titles that states the land lease is 99 years, is it wise to build on one. Is it possible to change the leasehold?
In laymans language…
That land has leasehold interest.
You can build but you keep on renewing the lease, good if its for rentals or for business.
Land in nairobi is usually under lease even the ones bought on mortgage and so the reason for the land rates paid to the council every year.
Leasehold is also possible kwa izi shamba za council kama za ndandora, umo which can be transferred to next of kins/depends
Recently, I met with one prolific land scammer who had been in and out of jail more times than Raila has lost elections. If what he told me is anything to go by, the situation is quite hopeless. The scammers have contacts in the lands office who falsify the documents. The unsuspecting buyer then goes through the due diligence process without detecting anything untowards. Equity bank financed a piece of land worth over 70m recently only the original owner to emerge
Ndung’u report ilikuwa comprehensive sana kwa iyo story and had propositions which were enshrined kwa constitution na kucome up na National Land Commission Act 2012[SIZE=4][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]. Ngilu succeeded in registering Nairobi land electronically ama online, though alichapwa kisiasa na cartels. It is not that easy to alter documents nowadays mayb in isolated cases especially where there is a dispute including contentious succession.
Na Uhuro alikuwa amewaive [/SIZE][SIZE=4]search[/SIZE][SIZE=4] fees, but ecitizen bado inadai iyi 550[/SIZE]
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Eagerly[/SIZE][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][SIZE=4] waiting to do an online transfer of land the same way as with a vehicle though it will take a while given LCB and spousal consent[/SIZE]