Lockdown relief: State now reopens land registries

The Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning has partially reopened all land registries across the country in a move that offers relief to individuals and companies whose land dealings had stalled due to the closure.

In a statement on Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney announced the reopening of the registries – backtracking on an earlier notice extending the closure for another 14 days.

“The following services will be offered at the customer care centres of our registries countrywide; registration of bank charges, registration of bank discharges, registration of court orders and verification of sureties,” Ms Karoney said in a public notice.

On March 16, the ministry announced a 28-day closure of all land offices and registries countrywide in measures meant to curb the spread of the Coronavirus that was first reported in Kenya on March 13.

The directive also affected services at the Survey of Kenya headquarters in Ruaraka, Nairobi. It effectively stopped all land registration services, preparation and issuance of land leases, issuance of land title searches, and determination of land boundaries.

Sale of maps and change of land user, valuation of land for sale and payment of stamp duty was also suspended, sparking understandable disquiet among real estate stakeholders.

But even before the pandemic-induced shutdown, the ministry had issued a notice of intention to close registries at Ardhi House to conduct an audit. This forced the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to move to court seeking orders to compel the State to abandon the plan.

The lawyers argued that closure of the registries would disrupt operations with documents already evaluated by the collector of stamp duty risking penalties due to delay.

They also claimed that dealings where advocates or banks had issued undertakings for performance of various obligations would be put at risk.

The lawyers also argued that contracts where obligations of parties are tied to timelines dependent on functions of the land registries would be obstructed. 

The orders were granted, but the registries remained closed “in compliance with the Presidential directive on the management of Covid-19”.

Closure extension

After the expiry of the 28-day closure, land offices and registries countrywide were to re-open on April 29, but Ms Karoney extended the closure by another 14 days – sparking an uproar.

READ: Coronavirus lockdown hits Kenya’s construction industry

Interested parties who have not been able to obtain bank loans or deposit title deeds in courts moved to prosecute the ministry in the court of public opinion.

One Hannah Wanjiku told the Daily Nation that her family was unable to get a bank loan using their title deed to foot her husband’s medical bill due to lack of proper documentation.

“Our efforts to get a loan from a financial institution have been fruitless due to lack of proper documentation,” she said.

Nahashon Mwangi, a landowner seeking to bail out his son from remand, told the newspaper that he had visited the registry to documents without success.

“My son has been in remand for the last two months now. When I presented my title deed at the court, I was directed to get a valuation certificate,” he said, validating claims that remands are now overstretched due to closure of the land registry.

Bowing to pressure from the public, the government on Wednesday withdrew the notice that sought to extend closure of the land registries by another 14 days, ending weeks of lockdown.

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