- Conversion of Titles
Pursuant to Article 68 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 there was enactment of the Land Registration Act, 2012. This Act sought to consolidate the old land regimes that included registration under the repealed Indian Transfer Property Act, the Government Lands Act, the Registration of Titles Act, the Land Titles Act and the Registered Land Act into one uniform regime.
The Lands Registry, on 12th January, 2021 announced the commencement of the Conversion of Titles. This would affect all the titles in the Old Land Regimes into the current Legal Regime. Whereas the size and ownership details would not be affected by the conversion process, the old title needed to be cancelled, and replaced with a new one under the current Land Regime. This would also make registration processes easier and land transactions more straight forward and less complex because all titles will be under a uniform regime. Deed plans at the Land Registry will also be replaced with the Registry Index Maps, which may deal with the many cases of fraud.
The Lands Registry needed to gazette the old numbers and the new numbers for the affected parcels as guided by the conversion process envisaged in the Land Registration (Registration of Units) Order, 2017. ) The Lands Registry has since gazetted four batches in the Kenya Gazette and on two daily newspapers of Nationwide circulation. Any person with an issue or complaint was invited to raise it within 90 days. Proprietors are still able to undertake the process even when the property is charged by a Bank, Hospital, Court etc.
- Sectional Properties Act
There is a new Sectional Properties Act that was enacted into law in December, 2020, which mainly deals with division of buildings into units to be owned by individual proprietors. The Act requires conversion of all long-term sub-leases intended to confer ownership of apartments, flats, maisonettes, town houses, villas, go-downs or offices to be duly registered under this new Act within two (2) years.
The new Sectional Properties Act was enacted in line with the provisions of the Land Registration Act, 2012 which requires that all sectional plans be submitted for registration while indicating the parcel number, having been geo-referenced, the unit numbers, approximate floor area of each unit and clearly indicate the use of the property.
The Conversion process will entail surrender of the Mother Title, and the Long term Lease that was previously registered for the particular units. Once the sectional plan is registered, the Mother Title will be closed and new registers opened for each unit in the plan. Owners will not be required to pay stamp duty in the conversion process.
Interestingly, the Ministry of Lands stated that it shall no longer register Long Term Leases that do not adhered to this law as from 10th May, 2021.
This raised many questions, regarding the ongoing developments that had already started registration of their units that led to a meeting with the stake-holders including LSK. It was agreed that registration would still continue under the old system in relation to all leases for which stamp duty had been paid, and for all those documents that had been lodged for registration.
- Ardhi-Sasa
The President, his Excellency Hon Uhuru Kenyatta, on 27th April, 2021 launched the National Land Information Management System, better known as Ardhi Sasa. The Digital Land Platform was set up with many promises from the Lands Office, including the fact that this system would relieve Kenyans of cartels and middlemen, and the fraud surrounding missing files and the general inefficiency of the Lands Register. The forum is meant to allow registered users easily access services like searches and other land transactions at the click of a button.
The Cabinet Secretary advised that this system has been made to accommodate the new land laws and regulations.
N/B: This document, dated August, 2021 is intended for general use and should not be relied upon as a legal opinion.