15/12/2020
Law now allows apartment buyers to have title deeds.
By Kitavi Mutua
Nation Media Group
Owners of residential flats within multi-storeyed buildings have a reason to smile after Parliament passed a crucial law last week that guarantees the ownership of their houses.
The Sectional Properties Amendment Bill, 2020, which was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday, seeks to provide for the division of buildings into units to be owned by individual buyers and common property to be owned by proprietors of the units as tenants in common.
The law will have a major impact on the real estate sector as it will allow individual apartment owners to acquire title deeds for their units, and be able to use them as collateral in acquiring bank loans.
Previously, owners of the units had no title deeds as the developer retained the original title, even after selling the units, because there was no legal mechanism to sub-divide such common properties.
In other cases, home buyers are exposed to risk of fraud after rogue developers build houses on land whose original title is held by money lending institutions.
According to Kitui South MP Rachael Nyamai who moved the Bill, its enactment into law will significantly impact the development of the real estate sector in Kenya because it gives home buyers confidence and eliminates fraud.
