On 5th July 2024, Arnold Okatch and his wife Grace Njoki, paid Titus Musemi, a land agent, Sh300, 000 to process a title deed for a parcel of land in Kilifi.
To the couple, it appeared a little suspicious when the agent did not issue them with a receipt for the payment made.
However, since the agent had been presented by someone well-known to them as a person they could trust to deliver their title deed, the couple did not make a big thing out of the matter.
Two months would later lapse with the couple having received no documents or feedback. That is when they realised they might have been duped, prompting them to seek legal action.
As investigations would later uncover, Titus Musemi was not a registered agent. Since no proof of payment could however be produced, it became difficult for the courts to prosecute the matter, and the case drags on in court to date.
Over the past decade, cases of rogue land brokers posing as professional agents to defraud unsuspecting members of the public of their hard-earned money have been on the rise.
Many of these agents are known to public officials and sometimes work in cohort with them, purporting to be able to process title deeds quickly from the titling centre in Nairobi.
Due to the increase in cases of land fraud occasioned by the growing desire for home ownership, Job Kariuki, a director at real estate firm Zani Properties, says that one needs to be very vigilant to safeguard their investment.
He advises instructing the services of a conveyancing lawyer in order to receive appropriate legal representation throughout the sales process.
“A lawyer can help one to verify the validity of documents such as wills, letters of administration of a deceased estate, and letters of allotment,” says Kariuki.
Getting contracts reviewed by an attorney can also help to identify if there are any red flags in the contract.
Exchange of monies throughout the land transaction process is also safest when done through lawyers as opposed to directly from the purchaser to the vendor.
It is also advisable to instruct the services of a licensed land surveyor to verify dimensions of the land and confirm the availability of boundaries.
Once that is established, the next step would be to instruct the services of a reputable agent to give a market estimate of the value of the land, thereby protecting one from possible exploitation from the seller or brokers. A good agent will also help you get the best deal on the land.
“While these services might cost you some money at the beginning, it is a cost worth bearing because it saves you from losing millions of your money to unscrupulous dealers,” remarks Shamton Githere, a co-director at Zani Properties.
Due diligence on the land in question can also be done by asking neighbors questions about the real owner of the land, as well as history of the land ownership
“This will help you to know whether there are disputes involved, and general questions about the issues often overlooked such as drainage,” posits Githere.
Once you are certain that the land in question is fit for purchase, you can instruct your advocate to prepare a letter of offer, which is a binding agreement between the two parties involved that proves commitment.
Some letters of offer demand that buyers pay a requisite down payment of at least 10 percent of the purchase price immediately on signing it.
“You should however avoid paying a booking fee, or deposits that exceed 10 percent of the purchase price of the land,” says Joseph Kamau, a co-director at Zani.
To further safeguard buyers against fraudulent transactions, Robert, a co-director at Zani Properties, says that there is a need to address the systemic and human factors affecting service delivery.
These issues include delay in the issuance of titles, processing of applications for boundary disputes and enforcement of summons for land dispute and verifications.
In some cases, the huge backlogs and inordinate delay in resolution of boundary dispute and verifications are ploys by registrars to solicit for bribes.
“There is a need to stamp out the rampant practice of rogue persons purporting to be land agents working in cohort with public officials to fleece money from unsuspecting members of the public,” said Robert.