Buying land in Kenya involves not more than 3 steps but as a buyer you should be extremely careful, unless you are psychologically prepared to be conned.
The process of buying land involves the buyer, seller, lawyer, witness and lands ministry. The first step is to contact the seller, who takes you to the site to confirm that indeed the land in question exists.
Once you confirm that land exists, ask for a copy of title deed, which you will use to search whether the land is held by another individual or it’s free for sale. At the land’s ministry they will give you an okay.
You then negotiate the price with the seller. At this stage, you should ensure the price of your land is similar to the price of neighbouring plots. Then approach your own lawyer who will take you through the agreement, which you will sign with the seller.
When signing the agreement, ensure that the details on the agreement are similar to what you confirmed at the lands ministry. Sometimes the sellers can give wrong details, which will put you at an awkward position after settling the payment.
The most important details include the land identity number, your name, size of the land and the period you will take to settle the payment.Also,make sure there are more than 1 witnesses during the signing of the agreement.
Now, remember this: when you are about to complete the payment, inform the seller to prepare a genuine title deed for you. At this stage, ensure you confirm that indeed the title deed is genuine, this is done at the land’s ministry-they have representatives in every town. When you pay the last coin, you expect to be issued with a title deed.
There are important things to note here:
Make sure you buy land from someone you are familiar with,avoid buying from strangers.
- It is always advisable to buy from SACCOs or Banks
- Never buy land without signing agreement and searching at the lands ministry.
- Don’t pay the entire amount without seeing the title deed bearing your name.
Finally, when buying land in Nairobi, be extremely cautious. Land is almost exhausted in the city and several people have complained of buying and already sold land.It is wise to buy land from SACCOs.
