E-transaction to ease property transfer

Real Estate

Harold Ayodo

The adoption of electronic transactions on property would propel the real estate sub-sector to new heights. Currently, purchasing of property is conducted manually involving tedious paperwork even as the world becomes a global village.

For instance, the legal process of buying land or a home entails performing manual personal or official searches at the Ministry of Lands.

A visit to land registries countrywide, strewn all over with old documents, could explain why some files ‘disappear’ without trace.

Furthermore, lawyers for the buyers and sellers exchange written documents such as sale agreements on paper. As the Ministry of Lands continues with its grand plan to computerise record keeping countrywide, the real estate sub-sector could benefit a lot.

With the developments in information technology, players in the sub-sector should warm up to electronic conveyancing (e-conveyancing).

Lawyer Tom Ojienda insists in his book, Conveyancing Principles and Practice, that even lawyers ought to adopt computerised transactions on property.

According to Ojienda, the adoption of the National Land Policy (NLP) is a good starting point to revolutionise property transactions. For starters, the policy stipulates that the Government shall computerise land records and facilitate access to information on land.

It further states that Government should modernise the infrastructural apparatus for delivery of land through information technology linked systems. The policy envisages the creation of a Land Information Management Systems (LIMS), currently on process at Ardhi House (headquarters of the Ministry of Lands).

Tamper-proof

LIMS is a computer-based information system that enables the capture, management and analysis of geographically referenced land.

The system will produce land information for decision making in the tamper-proof administration and management of land.

Ultimately, it would be prudent for the Government to consider the enactment of legislation to enable electronic transactions.

Jurisdictions like England where Kenya largely borrows its current laws are soon unveiling e-conveyancing through the Land Registration Act 2002.

According to Ojienda, electronic transactions would enable an effective system following a complete and accurate register. It would be possible to investigate title to land or genuine owners of property online with minimum additional enquiries and inspections.

Currently, confusion reigns over the sanctity of title deeds as the Ministry of Lands struggles to rein in on fraudulent deeds.

For instance, the minister said last week that the Government would crack the whip on bogus owners of over 200 prime properties in Nairobi.

The writer is a lawyer and journalist

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