If it does not have a Title Deed, run!

PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU Some of the homes in Runda Estate that would be demolished to pave the way for building of the Northern bypass. Cycads properties and Runda Mimosa Estate had gone to court to stop the demolitions but their bid was unsuccessful.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By IMMACULATE WAIRIMU ikarambu@ke.nationmedia.com, Thursday, June 13  2013

 

In Summary

• After watching his mother lose Sh4 million to land fraudsters, Peter Kimani is now determined ensure all Kenyans can buy land in a risk-free and legal way

While still working for ANZ Bank in Wellington, New Zealand, Mr Peter Gitau, director of Peter’s Plots, got interested in the land business in Kenya. Land buying and selling in Kenya was going to be a simple task, so thought the 39-year-old father-of-three when he came back to Kenya in 2008.

“I thought this would be the case as it is very easy and straightforward buying land in New Zealand. All it takes is a visit to the council’s website, identifying the land, paying the agent, and the documents are processed immediately to await approval from the council for building to commence, which does not take long.

“I had already narrowed down my search to the areas deemed more affordable and with clean title deeds. These were areas where land fell mostly under first generation ownership titles as they still had huge open spaces and land appreciated very fast,” he says.

His eyes were set on Kitengela, Konza, Namanga, Bissil, Narok, Kiserian, and Ngong areas of Kajiado County, and Kilifi, Lamu, Malindi, Kwale, Nanyuki, Thika, Naivasha, and Nakuru.

“I was quite surprised, though, that within weeks of meeting land owners, agents, and the many brokers that litter the industry, a pattern had started to emerge. According to Gitau, walls of fraud, misinformation, delays, price exaggeration, and a tedious document verification process at the lands offices were making the land-buying process one of the most risky ventures anyone could go into despite the fact that there was plenty of good land for sale in Kenya.

“There is so much that has gone wrong, with people sitting on public or private land and the government holding a lot of land yet there are still so many landless Kenyans. The manual systems put in place by the government also take a lot of time and money just to verify land documents and this is the reason many Kenyans are put off investing in land.

“Two things happened in Kenya that made me both angry and determined to wholly get involved and play a part in cleaning up the land buying business,” says Gitau: His mother lost Sh4 million to land sellers while buying land in Ruiru. This was her entire life’s savings and almost immediately, news spread across the country and the world over of hundreds of Kenyans whose houses in Syokimau had been brought down because homeowners had been sold land belonging to a government facility.

These two incidents became a turning point for Gitau and he decided that if there was a single honest land seller in Kenya, then he would be that person.

So, six years ago, he set up a land buying and selling company in Kenya. “What happened to my mother and to those Kenyans whose houses were brought down in Syokimau should never happen again in our country,” says Gitau.

He also cites recent news reports that some houses in Runda have been ear-marked for demolition. According to him, it is every Kenyan’s right, whether they reside in the country or not, to own a piece of their beautiful country. Gitau also believes that no one should lose money in the process of acquiring land for building his or her family home or as an investment.

Although the new National Land Commission is in the process of computerising land acquisition processes to fight corruption, Kenyans should seek the services of reputable land procurement companies to verify land documents as a simple search at the lands office is not enough, he says.

Unknown to many Kenyans, locals, particularly those who have lived in the same area for over 15 years, will in most cases have better information regarding land ownership than what is held in various land registries across the country.

“It is not possible for employed Kenyans to take a week off to drive around and go through the labourious process of trying to acquire a piece of land, while those living abroad may need upward of three months to be able to leave with their title deeds. The National Land Commission has a massive task of computerising land records and working with county governments to enforce the Physical Planning Act.

“It is unlikely that much will be achieved in bringing order to construction and land use because huge damage has already been done, but one can never be too pessimistic.

“About 15 Kenyans living in New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States of America once sent me to buy them land when I came back. Though I was able to buy all the plots we had identified, I had to exercise extra caution not lose their money and months later, the title deeds were sent through a courier service.

“While the experience was a satisfying one for my friends and I, I had many questions lingering in my mind about the entire land buying process in Kenya after I left the country. I was concerned by the amount of time wasted driving to see different areas and the huge amounts of money lost through agents and brokers,” recalls Gitau.

He adds that the sheer lack of information on where to verify if the title deeds and the many fraudsters present also weighed heavily on his mind. Founded on the principles of honesty, fairness and business justice, he established Peter’s Plots, which has helped more than 1,000 Kenyans living here and abroad to buy land without a single purchase going wrong.