Expert Commercial Real Estate Lawyer

The Cabinet Secretary of Transport, Infrastructure and Urban Development published the Urban Areas and Cites (General) Regulations, 2022 (the “Regulations”) to operationalize the Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011 (the “Act”). We highlight some of the key provisions below. Accreditation of Business and Neighbourhood Associations The Regulations provide for accreditation of business and neighbourhood associations...

Introduction Recently, the High Court found the Small Claims Court lacked jurisdiction to listen to rental claims. We analyse the decision in HC Commercial Appeal No. E036 of 2022, Lisa Kristine Christoffersen vs Kavneet Kaur Sehmi T/A The Random Shop. What happened? A landlord appealed against a finding by the Small Claims Court to the...

Introduction On November 26, 2021 the Cabinet Secretary for Lands and Physical Planning gazetted various regulations (the “Regulations”) under the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, 2019 (the “Act”) and they include: The Physical and Land Use Planning (Development Permission and Control) (General) Regulations, 2021; Physical and Land Use Planning (Development Control Enforcement) Regulations, 2021;...

Introduction The Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning published a list of titles within Nairobi County whose land reference numbers have been converted to new parcel numbers. Landowners of the listed titles can now apply for new titles on the Ardhi Sasa portal: https://ardhisasa.lands.go.ke. How can we help? Landowners This includes landowners of vacant land...

Introduction  The High Court on April 28, 2022, quashed The National Construction Authority (Defects Liability) Regulations 2022 (the “revoked Regulations”). The revoked Regulations proposed to regulate defects liability periods applicable to commercial buildings by setting out statutorily mandatory minimum patent and latent defects liability period. The Regulations among other things sought to define minimum Defect...

Introduction In our recent article on Recent Changes to Trustee Perpetual Succession Act (accessible here) we had mentioned that we will provide an update once Parliament passes changes to the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act (the “Act”). Generally, the Act deals with the legal rules touching on perpetuities and excessive accumulations in trusts. Perpetuities or the...

Introduction The National Land Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2022 (the “Bill”) seeks to amend sections 14 and 15 of the National Land Commission Act (the “Act”). Section 14 of the Act gave the Commission the mandate to review grants or dispositions of public land to establish their propriety or legality within 5 years from the date...

Introduction In a judgment delivered on March 03, 2022, the Kenyan High Court directed a developer to provide clean and safe water in adequate quantities by installing water filtration systems to its residential development and to provide designated play areas for children. Brief Facts The suit was instituted by the Development’s residents through a constitutional...

Introduction On December 07, 2021, Trustee (Perpetual Succession) Act (the Act) was amended to streamline the registration of trusts and shift the administration duties from the Cabinet Secretary to the Principal Registrar of Documents. It makes a new provision for irrevocability of trusts, definition on the various types of trusts, adding property to trusts, validity...

Introduction The Cabinet Secretary for Lands and Physical Planning has gazetted the Sectional Properties Regulations, 2021 (“the Regulations”). Their objective is to operationalise the Sectional Properties Act, 2020 (“the Act”). The Act covers ownership of units in a building such as offices, apartments, flats, and townhouses. We summarize below the key provisions of the Regulations....