You can correct your name on the title deed

Many people have raised concern over various issues affecting land registration in the country. Among the concerns is the relevance of a form called  “application to correct name in the register’’.

These are forms issued to people who want names appearing in the certificate of title corrected to match with the names on their national identification documents.

Some people have even suggested that Lands Cabinet Secretary should look into the relevance of this form and have all certificates of title whose proprietor names have been corrected be reviewed.

Unknown to many, this form is a legal instrument and can be used for registration if executed properly and can greatly benefit property owners who have anomalies in their names as recorded in the national identification documents and land ownership documents. Mismatch of names in those documents might deny a landowner the right to carry out activities like subdivisions, charges, transfers and other legal transactions on their parcels of land.

Error in names

In many instances, errors occur when land ownership documents are being prepared. The same applies to national identification documents, which are vital in any transaction. The errors can be typographical or clerical. Another factor is orthography whereby Kenya being a multi-linguistic community, spelling of the same names might differ with each ethnic group.

Correction of names is minimal in private leasehold properties as a result of certificate of titles being issued to adults with the necessary identification documents. In ancestral lands where rights and interests are being recorded and registered, names of minors may be entered in the register either on first registration or as a transferee in transmission.

Unlike today when it is mandatory to have a birth certificate indicating full name, which a person might use for the rest of his or her life, it was a different scenario some years back. Many people then didn’t have birth certificates and names entered in the land register were customary family names.

Correction of names

As education and religion got entrenched, many people opted to adapt new names on baptism, confirmation, adulthood or change of religion. Many in such situations find their academic documents and national identification documents concurring but differ with the names existing in the land register and certificate of title. These affect their capacity to transact on their parcels of land as it might lead to a legal tussle and disputes hence the need to correct the names in the land register.

Application to correct names in the register is permissible where there is a spelling mistake, which makes the name differ from the one on the national identification document. It is also permissible where a proprietor has acquired an additional name to previous ones.

To commence the process of correction of name, the proprietor must get a letter from the local administration stating that the names are of the same person. In the case of agricultural land, a letter of consent must be obtained from the local land control board.

Thereafter, the forms for application for correction of names in the register is obtained from the respective land registry. Details of the proposed names and names to be corrected are filled in the form, which must be witnessed by an advocate or a person who knows the applicant, stating the number of years he or she has known the applicant.

declaration

The applicant must also make a statutory declaration or file an affidavit to support the correction in the register for all land registration purposes instead of former names.

The instrument is then verified by the prescribed officer or other persons and thereafter registered in the respective land registry whose jurisdiction covers the land in question after paying the prescribed fees. The application can be rejected if sufficient evidence is not produced to support it.

Sometimes, the names in the land register and one appearing in the national identification document may differ completely.

If sufficient evidence has been produced to prove that the names belong to one and the same person and he or she has denounced the previous names, a deed poll has to be prepared and registered at Ardhi House after paying the prescribed fee and stamp duty. Thereafter, the deed poll can be presented to the respective land registry to change the name in the register.

Power to rectify the register

The land registrar is empowered by law in the Land Registration Act 2012 to rectify the register and eventually the certificate of title upon proof of the change of the name, error in name or address of any proprietor.

Upon application by the proprietor, the land registrar may make an entry in the register to record the change.

The land registrar may also rectify the register or any instruments presented for registration in formal matters and in the case of errors or omissions not materially affecting the interest of any proprietor.

In Kenya, verification can be done by a judge, magistrate, registrar of the High Court, registrar general, an administrative officer, a superintendent of prisons, an advocate or a bank official.

In Commonwealth countries, verifications can be done by a judge, magistrate, justice of peace, notary public, commission of oaths or an administrative officer.

In other foreign countries, verification is done by a notary public and a British consular officer or pro-consul who shall affix the seal or stamp of office in the certificate.

For those who have been questioning the legality and purpose for application to correct or change name in the register, the process, if done above board, is beneficial to landowners.

Landowners who for various circumstances might have errors or omissions in their names are therefore able to transact after rectification of the anomalies.

— The writer is a survey and mapping professional with Maptech Consult