Why the law might not recognise your 'mabati' house

The enforcement, or lack of it, of laws governing the real estate sector has been blamed for a lot of things, chief among them the collapse of buildings, causing untold damage in the loss of lives and property.

What has not received as much attention is what the laws, or some of them, advocate as best practices. This is where the building code, officially known as the Local Government Adoptive By-laws (Building) Order 1968, comes into focus. Do not be surprised at the date, for even in an age where we have refined laws governing nearly every facet of our lives, those that guide the standards of construction of the houses we live and work in have been in place for nearly as long as the republic.