The Ministry of Lands and Physical planning is aiming at facilitating the automation of land transactions and centralization of data relating to land in order to ease land transactions. The following are some of the developments that are currently ongoing in land dealings;

Conversion of titles

In the beginning of this year, Ms. Farida Karoney, the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, announced the commencement of the conversion of land titles from the previously repealed legal regimes to the current legal regime in order to harmonize the land registration processes into one system.  All titles issued under the repealed laws shall be cancelled and new titles issued under the Land Registration Act, 2012.

Procedure for Conversion of titles

Section 6 of the Land Registration Act, 2012 and Regulation 4 of the Land Registration (Registration Units) Order, 2017 provide for the conversion process by establishing registration units divided into registration sections/blocks. The process entails;

• Preparation of cadastral maps together with a conversion list indicating new and old numbers for parcels of land within each registration unit and their corresponding acreages;

• Publication of the cadastral maps and conversion list in the Kenya Gazette and two daily newspapers of nationwide circulation by the Cabinet Secretary within 30 days of receipt of cadastral maps together with a conversion list;

• Specification of the date for opening of transactions or dealings relating to parcels within the registration unit;

• Alerting the relevant County Governments by sending copies of publication for further circulation of information to the public;

• Lodging of complaints in Form LRA 96, within ninety (90) days from publication, to the Registrar in respect of the information contained in the conversion list and the cadastral maps;

• Registration of a caution or registration of a restriction pending resolution of any complaint;

• Removal or variation of caution or restriction upon resolution of a complaint;

• Lodging appeals against the Registrar’s decision shall be made within 30 days;

• Closure of the old registers and commencement of transactions in the new register;
• Publication by the registrar in two local daily newspapers of nationwide circulation and announcements in radio stations of nationwide coverage inviting applications for replacement of title deed issued under the old registers;

• Applications for replacement shall be in Form LRA 97. The application shall be accompanied by the original title and the owner’s identification documents. The Registrar will replace title deeds with new ones.

Conversion in respect of Sectional Properties

Section 13(2) of the Sectional Properties Act, provides that all long term sub-leases that confer ownership of an apartment, flat, mansionette, town house or an office that were registered before the commencement of the Act, have to convert their respective titles within a period of two (2) years of the commencement of the Act. To enforce this requirement, there have been drafted the Proposed Sectional Properties Regulations, 2021 (the “Regulations”).

Regulation 18 of the Regulations provides for conversion of long-term sub leases with an unexpired residue of a term of not less than 21 years. Further, Regulation 19(1) proposes that an application for conversion shall be accompanied by: a sectional plan, a sub-lease or a long-term lease, a certificate of lease and the parcel title or a copy of the parcel title.

Upon satisfaction of the requisite documents, the Registrar shall proceed to issue the replacement title. The original register shall be closed and new registers opened with respect to each of the unit described in the plan.

Conversion in respect of existing long term leases

For long-term leases the holder of the original title has to comply with the following procedure;

• Application for a replacement title attaching a sectional plan;
• Upon satisfaction of the requirements, the Registrar shall close the old registers and open new registers and proceed to issue replacement titles.

Conversion of titles held as security by financial institutions and/or other creditors.

Title documents held by third parties including banks, hospitals, courts, etc., as security at the time of commencement shall be replaced upon application by the proprietor and presentation of the application by the third party or their appointed representative.

Conversion where the deed file/original title is missing.

In cases where the deed file or original title is missing, an application has to be made to the Registrar for replacement of the lost title or reconstruction of the lost register in the case of a missing deed file. The Registrar shall thereafter issue a replacement title under the new land register.

Additionally, the use of Registry Index Maps (RIMS) will be utilized to replace deed plans in order to reduce land fraud. The process of migration of parcels to the new regime shall not affect the ownership, size and other interests registered against the respective titles.

Currently, the conversion process is ongoing as the Ministry has adopted new land registration units to ease the surrender and replacement of old titles. The Ministry of Lands has published notices setting out existing land registration numbers to be converted and the procedure of conversion to new parcel numbers.

A Gazette notice dated 16^th July, 2021 in relation to issuance of new land title deeds can be accessed here.

Please contact us at info@cfllegal.com should you require further information.