Sectional Title Deeds in Kenya

What is a sectional title deed?

This is a legal document that confers ownership of a single unit within a larger property development such as an apartment building or a townhouse complex.

This type of ownership is common in shared property developments where multiple units are housed within a single property.

Each owner of a unit receives a title deed that outlines their ownership rights to their units, as well as shared ownership of common areas and facilities.

Following the enactment of the Sectional Properties Act of 2020, on December 11, 2020, Kenyan apartment owners can now obtain sectional title deeds.

How it works

A sectional title deed is established using house coordinates, a task handled by a surveyor. The surveyor extracts coordinates from the unit, which then form a unique identifier serving as the title number.

The description of sectional unit boundaries is achieved through referencing floors, walls, and ceilings. Load-bearing walls dictate the interior finishing materials like plaster, paneling, or flooring. Typically, doors and windows are part of a unit, unless otherwise indicated by the sectional plan.

Both the Sectional Properties Act of 2020 and the Land Registration Act of 2012 necessitate that submitted sectional plans be geo-referenced. These plans must indicate parcel numbers, unit numbers, and approximate floor areas.

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For each unit, it must be signed by the unit’s proprietor and sealed by the Director of Surveys, clearly indicating the unit’s designated user.

The Sectional Properties Act of 2020 repealed the 1987 version, introducing revolutionary provisions. It facilitates the division of buildings into individually-owned units.

The law prevents developers from constructing additional units on plots where blocks of apartments have already been sold, curbing misleading practices.

Furthermore, the Act introduces the issuance of title deeds for common property, jointly owned by individual unit owners.

Homeowners will receive certificates outlining their share in the common property, ensuring it cannot be sold without consent.

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Under the new law, developers must register apartment plans for each housing unit, aligning existing structures with approved building plans.

With this arrangement, apartment unit owners can employ their sectional titles as collateral for loans, simplifying transactions and ownership documentation.

Previously, apartment owners couldn’t acquire title deeds, because developers retained original titles even after selling units due to the legal impossibility of subdividing common property.

This scenario exposed investors to fraud and property loss, especially when developers built on land titled by money lending entities.

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