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The drama surrounding the occupancy of a house in Karen by Labour Cabinet Secretary (CS) Florence Bore took a new twist on Monday night when she moved out, hours after receiving a demand letter from the company managing the property.
Bore had insisted she had a right to stay in the house, for which she had paid 10 per cent, even as Gatanga MP Edward Muriu insisted the deal had not been concluded.
The MP's wife, Mary, who is the registered owner, had said she had asked for Sh120 million against the Sh90 million price the CS was offering.
While Bore claimed there was a signed agreement, Muriu accused the CS of encroaching on his property.
"I entered into an agreement to purchase the property at the negotiated and agreed purchase price. I signed my part of the agreement for sale and transmitted the agreement through my lawyers to the vendor's lawyers for signing on their part," said Bore in a statement.
"In compliance with the respective clauses of the agreement, I sourced a 10 per cent deposit from my Sacco and paid directly to the Vendor's lawyers' account via RTGS," she added.
"We agreed that I take occupation of the house while I retreated to seek a mortgage facility for the balance, which I legitimately expected to obtain within the agreed transaction period of 90 days."
Peddling lies
Muriu also accused the CS of peddling lies and dared Bore to produce the alleged sale agreement.
"I have never signed a sale agreement with CS Bore and if she has one, let her table it. The deposit is paid after signing the sale agreement. Let her table the payment receipt," he said.
She denied Muriu's accusation that she was using her CS position to take the house by force.
But Bore moved out after Amara Management Company Treasurer, Edwin Dande, demanded that she provides either the executed sale agreement or executed lease agreement or any other legal documentation that granted her access to the property within 24 hours.
"Please note that failure to provide the information shall sanction the disconnection of all services currently being enjoyed by yourselves while occupying the villa. Further, your entry both into the villa, and the property, shall be denied," wrote Dande after the Amara Community meeting.
The Bore-Muriu saga adds to the growing list of cases involving prominent people finding themselves in property ownership disputes in the city.
Some of the disputes that hit headlines include those of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, businesswoman Agnes Kagure, gospel singer Alex Apoko aka Ringtone, Richard Hooper, and Niraj Shah.
Sometimes it does not matter whether one has all the resources or connections at their disposal to ward off property vultures who are giving residents sleepless nights.
Owning a title deed does not guarantee anymore that your land is now safe; if you thought that you are secure, then think twice as some dwellers in posh Kitisuru, Runda, Karen and Westlands have come to discover.
One's level of education or status in society does not help either while investing in property.
Fraudsters have found ways of manipulating ownership documents, sale agreements, or falsifying identity to transfer property and disenfranchise the legit owners.
According to Peter Gitau, an established land seller and Managing Director of Peter's Plots, losing land to fraudsters or to litigation is easy, and mundane details should not be taken for granted.
Gitau advises buyers to ensure they follow the laid down procedure of purchasing land without skipping a step, which might turn out to be a costly mistake many years down the line. In Kenya, the land-buying process is largely still manual. Documents are filled in by hand and passport photos are thatched to transfer forms using glue.
"This creates a loophole in that wrong photos of buyers or sellers can be attached to the forms thus rendering the application flawed. This can be challenged later by the family of the seller on account of wrong information provided during transfer," points out Gitau.
To avoid being caught up in ugly quarrels, Gitau is urging potential property buyers to exercise caution by employing the services of professionals and established land sellers who are able to identify fake identification documents and comb through sale agreements.
"A number of technicalities in the land transfers during the acquisition process can result in the kind of wrangles we are witnessing," says Gitau.
According to the land seller who has been in the business for 18 years, chances of losing property become high when copies of the national identity (ID) card and KRA personal identification number (PIN) do not belong to the seller, there is no spousal consent, surveyor signs mutation forms on behalf of the seller, the official search was not done and paid for the property was not completed.
Although it is a legal requirement that the spouse of the seller must sign a spousal consent indicating that they consent to the sale, many buyers are unaware of this obligation.
"Where a seller is single or widowed, then a signed affidavit at a commissioner of oaths is mandatory so that the status is captured on record and filed at the land registry," says Gitau.
In the scenario where land is to be subdivided into small portions, it is mandatory that the seller signs the mutation form consenting to the property to be transferred and it is also mandatory that the seller seeks the consent of the District Land Board for the subdivision.
"It is not always possible that a buyer will know how to get this information and that is why it is recommended that buyers seek the services of established land sellers who already have these references," notes Gitau.
In some instances, disputes erupt when buyers fail to complete payments but still manage to obtain titles.
"This is definitely an illegal act and it does not matter how long it takes but the courts will eventually overturn the sale and order the land to revert to the seller. The amount owed is irrelevant in such a case," warns Gitau.
Adverse possession has also come to haunt many absent landowners. Adverse possession is when a person proves in court that he or she is entitled to ownership after squatting on the land for twelve or more years. The country has witnessed several such cases.
In cases where leases have elapsed or owners have died, fraudsters will easily obtain transfer documents and transfer the land to third parties. Another possibility of losing property is when the transfer agreement is not done professionally.
"You should always let a property lawyer handle your sale agreement as there are clauses that will protect you in case of any complications. It is risky to sign an agreement that you do not fully understand," says Gitau, adding that property owners should keep proper records of all their purchase documents.
