In this episode, I will share a very common experience that property agents face – and that is, often going unpaid for their labour even when they have worked diligently for their clients. There are many scenarios in which this happens – but most often, it happens when clients just squelch on meeting their obligations to the property agents. This tends to be the most common experience that many agents face. Why you may ask? Well, for several reasons – some based on the structure of the market, the inadequacy of robust regulatory frameworks, and underdeveloped repositories of market information.

SECTIONAL PROPERTIES ACT, 2020 - Everything You Wanted to Know

In this episode, Monica Mwangi, an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, and I begin by discussing what sectional properties are, and thereafter understanding the fundamental differences between the two laws (Sectional Properties Act (No. 21 of 2020) and Sectional Properties Act 1987).

We also discuss the changes that the new regime of law makes to the administration of sectional properties and how that affects property investors. One of those changes is that unlike in the past when long-term leases were issued, now, a certificate of title (if the property is freehold) or a certificate of lease (if the property is leasehold) is issued.

In his book, Don’t Buy That House, Nashon Okowa makes a case for investors to exercise prudence, caution and tenacity in arriving at the decision to purchase property in off-plan home purchasing schemes. He elaborates in great detail on a methodology that home buyers can use to make a clear-headed, rational assessment of their decision. In this episode, I provide a review of this book, including some of my personal sentiments on the subject of investing in property in off-plan home purchasing schemes with a view to helping investors understand some of the pertinent questions they ought to pose whenever they are considering the decision. Don't Buy That House. At least not until you have read this book.

At what point do we willingly define the madness of real estate firms going under with investor billions as a multi-dimensional problem that needs to be debated outside the myopic lens of greedy, unscrupulous property sellers and developers? For whom is it convenient that this one-sided narrative is told repeatedly? Certainly not the investors losing their money. And somebody needs to boldly let them know that they are culpable in their own fate! On every occasion, the attendant slew of bad press only serves to erode the credibility of genuine operators in the real estate industry, casting aspersions on the nature of the industry as inherently corrupt. And while this may be true, nobody is willing to address the problem with broader strokes - and that is that this endemic problem also requires a fiscally inept "investor in the mix. We can ask for intervention from the government, but will this be enough to address the issue? Not even likely!

In this episode, we continue the conversation around selling property in a depressed market by offering advice to a client who presented her specific scenario of the challenges she was facing attempting to dispose of her property. We further demystify the misconception that selling property in a depressed market is solely about price by considering several scenarios to demonstrate the need for sellers to become acutely aware of the market.

Selling a property in a depressed market requires a robust and dynamic approach to positioning property offers as well as understanding the market sufficiently in order to change tack or strategy as the need arises.

Selling property in a depressed market is fraught with more challenges than one ordinarily encounters when market conditions are favourable.

One of the most commonly held misconceptions about selling property in a depressed market is that price is the sole determinant of how successful you will be in actually disposing of your property. But there is so much more. Price definitely is a factor, but not the only one. And sometimes not even the most important one. This isn't just true in a depressed market.

The Transfer of Property Under Succession is a subject of wide interest in Kenya. In many of our communities, when the breadwinners in families pass away, there is usually quite a bit of contention over the property of a deceased person. Especially when that deceased person's intentions were unknown. Even worse, in instances where the deceased had more than one family, the contention can be extreme.

In today's episode of the podcast, we delve into the transfer of property that is the subject of the process of succession (the property of a deceased person), and how these processes interact with the transfer and registration of ownership.

So, what exactly is a property encumbrance? Simply put, it's a claim or a burden on a piece of real estate that affects the owner's ability to use or sell the property. There are many different types of encumbrances, including cautions, caveats, charges, liens, easements and more.

Did you know that a registered lease whose term is unexpired serves the same purpose as any other type of encumbrance? Well, neither did we!

Did you know that the Government can place a restriction on a property that may be the subject of disputed ownership, property that may be the subject of compulsory acquisition, or that may be the subject of fraud or that may have been acquired using illegal proceeds?

This episode is a follow-up to last week's episode where we sought to understand the preliminary measures one takes before purchasing property in Kenya. In today's episode, we want to understand, in broad strokes, how the transfer and registration process works. Today, Monica Mwangi and I look more in-depth at the actual transfer and registration of property in Kenya.

Having a basic understanding of the registration of transfers of property is essential to any property investor. Hopefully, this information will help you to proactively engage with the process whenever you are in the market.

What measures can Kenyan property investors take to ensure that their best interests are taken care of whenever they undertake to purchase a property?

Especially, how do Kenyans in the diaspora ensure that, even though they may be acquiring property “sight unseen”, the property of their interest can and will be duly transferred to themselves?

Is it enough to merely seek the help of professionals during the acquisition process and if not, what else can a buyer do to protect their interest in a property?

In today’s episode of the RealEstateGuru254 Podcast, our legal expert, Ms Monica Mwangi, discusses the process by which property acquisition should be safely undertaken.