State seeks to regulate land firms in draft bill

Land buying companies will now be required to seek registration and licences to operate if a bill that is currently before Parliament is passed.

MPs last Thursday approved the publication of the Lands Act, 2012 (Amendment) Bill that will see the State collect Sh28 million annually from land-buying companies.

Currently, such companies operate casually without being regulated, a gap which has seen some of them swindle unsuspecting buyers.

The National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC), chaired by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, wants the bill fast-tracked to regulate the activities of more than 200 land buying companies to protect the interest of persons buying land from them.

The bill which is sponsored by Kirinyaga Central MP Joseph Gitari seeks to amend the Land Act, 2012 to provide for registration, licensing, and regulation of over 200 land dealing entities in the country to protect the interest of persons buying land from such companies.

The new bill is also seeking to protect the interests of buyers who have ended up being conned after buying land either without title deeds or those allocated to more than one person.

The proposed law further seeks to create an agency that would control the increase of land-buying companies in the country.

Under the proposed law the regulator will have powers to impose penalties of up to Sh5 million for non-compliance by the land-buying companies.

Gitari told the committee that he was motivated to move the amendment bill to save investors who have been conned by such companies rogue professionals like lawyers, land surveyors and land valuers into buying non-existent parcels of land due to a lack of sufficient laws to regulate land buying entities.

“To regulate this industry a law needs to be enacted to bring sanity and protect innocent buyers from falling prey to these companies,” Gitari told the committee.

According to the MP the companies use celebrities in the media and in particular vernacular stations to advertise non-existent land.

He added: “There is no legislation or policy that regulates the operations of land dealing companies. The directors capitalise on this loophole to rip-off unsuspecting buyers.”

Under the new law an agency that would regulate the proliferation and activities of all land-buying companies will be established.“The Bill provides for payment of a registration fee by each land dealing company which will be prescribed by the Cabinet Secretary responsible for Land and renewed every year,” Gitari said.

He told the committee that most of those who have fallen victims to the unscrupulous companies have been denied justice even after reporting to the security agencies as there are regulatory instruments.

According to Gitari the land buying companies had attempted to address the proliferation of fraudulent land-buying and selling companies by forming the Real Estate Stakeholders Association.

He dismissed the move saying the said association has had no powers in dealing with the effects of unscrupulous members as it is a voluntary membership entity.

He said the establishment of a registration and regulation mechanism for land-dealing entities will go a long way in providing policies that will protect Kenyans from exploitation by fraudulent land-buying and selling companies.

The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) proposes the annual registration fee for land buying firms to be Sh100, 000.

It said the implementation of the bill will cost the national governments approximately Sh9.5 million in the first year, Sh9.4 million in the second year and Sh9.25 million in the third year.