Buy land only from genuine sellers

When buying land or property in Kenya, there is a common yet painful phrase “Be careful, lest you buy air in place of land”.

The real estate sector in Kenya is filled with fraudsters, who always seem have an inside information of land that is being sold and promise buyers paradise while hoping to make a killing out of gullible buyers and even sellers.

For a buyer or investor in land and property, the first important task is always to identify a legitimate owner of property that you are interested.

Many buyers, hope for a hustle free experience where sellers are authentic and the process of transactions is transparent. Unfortunately, this is currently not the case.

At Land and Property Centre (LPC) we identified this as one of the obstacles in the land and properties sector and define, and verify a genuine seller before any property is listed on our system. We ensure that a buyer has proper knowledge of an owner or seller of property.

We basically help the seller in answering the question “who is the genuine seller of the listed properties?”

A genuine seller, can be an individual, a group of joint owners or company, possessing a legitimate proof of ownership, the Title Deed.

Legally, a seller information should be accurately captured in the Title Deed. Before proceeding with any land transaction, it is important to conduct a thorough investigation of the property’s title and ownership history.

A genuine seller has a clear and marketable title, free from any encumbrances, liens or disputes. To identify this, it is imperative to carry out a registry search and ascertain that the details as captured in the title are accurate and that there are no issues pertaining to the land in question.

At LPC, we have three levels of verifying the seller information, firstly, we screen and compare seller details against the information that is contained in the Title Deed and Identification documents as uploaded by the seller at the point of onboarding.

Secondly, we transmit the documents to a verified land surveyor to carry out a registry search in the locality where the land is registered.

If the search is successful and the details still match with those that were provided by the seller. We send the approved surveyor to carry out a physical verification of the land whereupon the surveyor will liaise with the seller to visit the physical location of the land and confirm that the location, area and status of the land is described in the titling documents.

The surveyor then provides a structured report, together with the initial checks, we only list properties that have been checked through these steps, ensuring that only genuine land owners ultimately list on our platform. Visit www.landandpropertycentre.com and find your little piece of heaven.