The decision to go digital with official property searches so that users can conduct them online is a positive move for the real estate sector.
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu said prospective investors would no longer queue at the Ardhi House registry.
Ngilu said recently in newspaper advertisements that Nairobians can search for property details, apply for clearance certificates and pay land rent from home, their offices or in cyber cafés.
The payments can now also be made using mobile money, debit and credit cards — this is not only efficient but will also reduce corruption.
According to the cabinet secretary, once payment has been confirmed, search results can either be printed or accessed on e-Citizen accounts.
The Ministry of Lands should take the next step and introduce the electronic service in registries countrywide. The ministry has for decades been media fodder for all the wrong reasons including cases of lost files, double allocations of land, alleged fraud and land grabbing.
Act
Adoption of computerisation of land documents is also in line with the new Land Registration Act, which aims to improve service delivery.
The problem ailing property transactions in land registries countrywide is the over reliance on manual records since 1903.
Computerisation would enhance timeliness of service, eliminate disappearance of documents, install a file tracking system and guarantee faster results of official searches.
Embracing technology will also guarantee improved access, information processing towards improving service delivery and ensure data availability for transactions, valuation, taxing and planning. According to a paper titled Automation of Kenya’s Lands Records by Cesare Mbaria, reconstruction of the Government Lands Act (GLA) records is necessary before any automation can be carried out.
Automation
Automation of such property records by creating a document management system (DMS) for authenticated cadastral survey plans countrywide would ensure efficiency.
According to the paper, a DMS would guarantee easy storage, retrieval, secure storage and back up. It will also be a one stop shop for obtaining a survey plan.
There will also be no movement/misplacement of survey plans and they would be used by several officials at a time. A file tracking system would reduce time taken to retrieve settlement plot files, ensure timeliness in transactions and reduce cases of missing files.
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According to the Land Registration Act, registries countrywide can transform from manual records into digital.
Law
The law provides that the Registrar shall maintain a register and any other document in a secure, accessible and reliable format — including electronic files and an integrated land resource centre.
The Land Registration Act provides that the land register must contain the name, personal identification number, national identity card number and address of the proprietor.
And in case of a corporate body, the name, postal and physical addresses and a certified copy of the certificate of incorporation.
Other requirements are personal identification numbers, passport size photographs of authorised officials and where necessary affixing the common seal.
Others are names and addresses of previous proprietors, size, location, user and reference number of the parcel and any other particulars that the Registrar may determine.
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