Planning to buy land and build a home

@mawu0723

Hello what kind of information are you looking for please ?

Regards

Bhavna

I am interested in buying land as well.

What would be the best route for a foreigner not to get taken advantage of?

Hi all,

It is possible for foreigners to buy land and build a home in Kenya. The only land that is off limit is freehold land, agricultural land and other zoned areas. As a foreigner, you will get an 99 year Lease. I am curious to understand if you currently hold a permit or if you are visitor. If you hold a permit, the process is straightforward as you already have a KRA PIN  and presumably an alien card, which will be required for the process. There are many genuine land sellers in Kenya and there are also dubious ones. Your best shield will be to use a good conveyancing lawyer to assist with due diligence and the transfer process. It is also advisable to pay for the land through the lawyer's client account rather than deal directly with the seller.

If you do not have a permit yet and your projected investment for purchasing the property and constructing is above $100k, I would advise you to take advantage of your anticipated funds transfer to Kenya, and use the same in  applying for an investors permit.

I hope this helps

Having bought and sold a few properties and a piece of land, I understand that a foreigner can technically buy freehold (residential) land, but the property is converted to leasehold by the government.  As above, land gazetted as agricultural cannot be purchased by foreigners.

Unless things have recently changed, you don't need to have a resident permit - all my purchases were done while I held a Single Entry Visa and my passport was used as ID.  You do need a KRA PIN.

"It is also advisable to pay for the land through the lawyer's client account rather than deal directly with the seller."  I would say absolutely not.  My wife and I paid the deposit for a property though the lawyers account (and this was a lawyer we knew well).  He used our money to buy a new car.  He had anticipated new business with which he would make up the shortfall and cover the cost of the car.  However the new business did not materialise and he could find the funds to complete the deal.  Lots of threats and stress later, he managed to find the money, but we came really close to losing the purchase.

Investors Permit;  Quite difficult to obtain even with $100,000 plus of available funds - you need a registered business too and evidence that it will be of benefit to Kenya and so on.