By Victor Orandi
On 31st December 2020, the Lands and Physical Planning Ministry (“Ministry”) announced that all title deeds issued under the Indian Transfer of Property Act, the Registered Land Act (RLA), the Registration of Titles Act (RTA), the Land Titles Act (LTA), and the Government Lands Act (GLA) shall be cancelled and replaced with new ones under the Land Registration Act, 2012 (“Act”).
Through Gazette Notices, the Ministry has published the conversion list in respect to parcels within Nairobi area. The conversion process involves migrating land parcels registered within Nairobi from the Repealed Statutes to the Act. This is in compliance with the Land Registration (Registrations Unit) Order 2017.
Persons with interest in land have been advised to take note of the information contained in the notices in order to ascertain the accuracy of the land reference number and acreage.
Repealed Statutes
The Act repealed RLA, RTA, LTA and the GLA following its enactment in 2012 and unified the registration systems under the repealed statutes into one Act. However, the land registries did not fully migrate to the exclusive use of the Act and thus the repealed legislations created separate registers making land registration complex
Conversion of Titles
With the Act and the Land Registration (Registrations Unit) Order 2017, the Registrar of Lands shall cancel and replace the old titles with the new ones while retaining the ownership, size and the other interests registered against the respective titles.
The conversion entails the Ministry of Lands preparing cadastral maps, together with a conversion list which will show the old land reference number and the new one.
Integration of e-Citizen
The Ministry integrated an e-Citizen platform to enable all Nairobi land transactions be undertaken under the online lands registrar. This however, is yet to be enrolled in other parts of the country.
The move is aimed to curb fraud in land transactions, delays in service delivery, centralization of land services and threats to the right to property. Parliament had declared manual land transactions invalid and set up the Land Registration (Electronic Land Transactions) Regulations 2020. The regulations took effect on Tuesday, 14th July 2020.
Complaint Process
Any person aggrieved by the process is required to lodge a complaint with the registrar at no cost. The complainant shall attach certified copies of identification documents. The Registrar is obligated by law to resolve all complaints within ninety (90) days of receiving any such complaint.
Challenges
A key challenge involves the process entailed in conversion of titles held by banks as collateral or in court pending determination of cases. The Ministry has not provided any guidelines on how persons with interest in the said titles shall proceed in obtaining new titles in addition to consulting the creditors or judicial systems to facilitate the application for title replacement.
The Ministry has also been challenged to specify on the period the general conversion process will be effectively completed given the backlog of tasks pending at the land’s registry in Nairobi.