Sectional Titles in Kenya: What the 2020 Act Means for Apartment Owners

For decades, buying an apartment in Nairobi or Mombasa came with an uncomfortable legal ambiguity. While buyers paid millions of shillings for luxurious penthouses and executive suites, they rarely walked away with an authentic title deed. Instead, they received a long-term sub-lease, typically drafted for 99 years, issued by a private management company often controlled indefinitely by the original developer.

This legacy structure created severe vulnerabilities: developers holding onto original mother titles, charging predatory management fees, withholding common areas, or taking bank charges against the primary land without homeowner consent.

The enactment of the Sectional Properties Act 2020 (Act No. 21 of 2020) and the Sectional Properties Regulations 2021 marked a watershed moment for Kenya real estate. It aligned apartment ownership with international best practices, giving unit buyers direct, unassailable legal titles guaranteed by the Constitution and registered at the Ministry of Lands.

Sub-Leases vs Sectional Titles: The Structural Difference

To appreciate the security offered by the 2020 Act, understand how the new legal framework fundamentally transforms your property rights:

How the Conversion Process Works

Under statutory directives, all apartment developments across Kenya with existing sub-leases must transition to the new regime. The conversion workflow follows four structured phases:

1. Sectional Plan Preparation: A licensed surveyor prepares a comprehensive Sectional Plan delineating each individual apartment boundaries, common areas, parking allocations, and calculated unit factors (the mathematical percentage of common property attached to each unit).

2. Survey Office Verification: The Director of Surveys reviews, approves, and assigns official sectional numbers to the development.

3. Ministry of Lands Registration: The original mother title, the approved sectional plan, and existing sub-leases are lodged at the Lands Registry (via the digital ArdhiSasa portal in Nairobi).

4. Sectional Title Issuance: The Chief Land Registrar closes the old sub-lease register and issues an individual Certificate of Sectional Title to each property owner in their full legal name.

The Corporation of Owners: Empowering Homeowners

One of the most transformative elements of the Sectional Properties Act 2020 is Section 17, which establishes the Corporation of Owners:

“

Upon the registration of a sectional plan, there is constituted a corporation consisting of the owners of the units in the parcel to which the sectional plan relates.

Crucially, this Corporation is created automatically by statutory law. It does not require incorporation under the Companies Act, eliminating annual corporate filing fees, secretarial overhead, and developer dominance.

The Corporation responsibilities include:

- Enforcing community bylaws governing noise, pets, external architectural alterations, and short-stay operations.

- Establishing an administrative fund for operational costs and a mandatory reserve sinking fund for major long-term capital replacements (such as roof replacement or lift modernization).

- Procuring comprehensive structural and fire insurance for the entire building.

- Electing a transparent management committee composed of homeowners to oversee property management contractors.

The Sectional Properties Tribunal

In any multi-unit building, disagreements naturally arise regarding service charge non-payment, unauthorized parking use, or plumbing leaks across unit ceilings. Historically, resolving these disputes required expensive, multi-year civil litigation in the High Court.

The 2020 Act solved this by creating the specialized Sectional Properties Tribunal. The tribunal possesses judicial authority to issue binding orders, determine service charge arrears, penalize bylaw violations, and order structural repairs quickly and affordably.

Buyer Due Diligence Checklist for New Apartments

Before purchasing an apartment in Kenya today:

1. Verify the Title Mode: Explicitly ask the developer whether the development is registered under the Sectional Properties Act 2020.

2. Inspect the Registered Sectional Plan: Confirm that your specific unit number, floor level, interior square footage, and designated parking bays match the official survey plan.

3. Review the Corporation Bylaws: Check whether the building permits short-stay Airbnb operations, pet ownership, or commercial office use.

4. Demand Sectional Title Delivery: Ensure your Agreement for Sale specifies that final balance disbursement is conditional upon delivery of your stamped, registered Sectional Title Deed.