Plain-English meanings of Kenyan property terms, checked against official sources.
93 terms Last updated 13 October 2026
A 999-year lease is an old colonial-era lease term found on some titles in Nairobi, Kiambu and former settler areas of Kenya. Citizens can still hold existing ones, but they are leases, not freehold, and new ones are not granted. For non-citizens, the Constitution cut such leases down to the maximum lease term.
A 99-year lease is a leasehold title granted for that term. In Kenya it is the usual term for government townland, and the Constitution makes it the longest lease a non-citizen can hold. Longer interests held by non-citizens when the 2010 Constitution came in were turned into leases of this length, which can be renewed.
Longest lease a non-citizen can hold: 99 years (as of October 2026).
An absolute title is the older name for a freehold title issued in Kenya under the repealed Registered Land Act, which recorded the owner as the absolute proprietor. These titles remain valid and are treated as certificates of title under the Land Registration Act 2012. Sellers still advertise absolute title to mean freehold.
Affordable housing in Kenya means the national government's programme to build and sell low-cost homes, run under the Affordable Housing Act 2024. It is funded mainly by the housing levy, and homes are applied for through the Boma Yangu portal. Units are sold to owners, not let on ordinary tenancies.
Agency commission is the fee a Kenyan estate agent charges for selling or letting property. The Estate Agents Act provides for a scale of fees, and only agents registered with the Estate Agents Registration Board can lawfully claim them. Market practice is reported to differ from the scale, so agree the fee in writing first.
Sources differ:
The Court of Appeal treated agents' fees above the statutory remuneration scale as unenforceable. (Kenya Law (National Council for Law Reporting), 2006)
Citizen Digital describes commission charged in the market as a percentage of the price on sales and about a month's rent on lettings. (Citizen Digital, undated)
An allotment letter is a letter offering a person a piece of land, usually public land, on conditions such as paying fees within a set time. In Kenya it is an offer, not a title: it does not by itself make you the owner or let you sell the land.
Amalgamation is joining two or more adjoining parcels of land in Kenya into one parcel with one title. It follows the same route as subdivision: planning approval, a surveyor's mutation, an amended registry map and registration. Developers use it to assemble sites for larger buildings.
An apartment, or flat, is a self-contained home on one floor of a multi-unit building. In Kenya, people tend to say apartment for newer blocks and flat for older or lower-cost ones. Since the Sectional Properties Act 2020, apartments are expected to come with their own sectional title rather than a long sub-lease.
Ardhisasa is the Ministry of Lands' online platform for land services in Kenya: official searches, transfers, stamp duty valuation and payment, and other registry applications. It covers Nairobi, Murang'a and other registries as they are onboarded. Its payment module is called Ardhipay.
Beacons are the physical markers, usually concrete or metal pegs, that a surveyor places at the corners of a plot to show its boundaries on the ground. In Kenya, buyers ask a licensed surveyor to show the beacons before paying, to confirm the land matches the map.
A bedsitter is a one-room home in Kenya where the same room serves as bedroom and sitting room, with a small kitchen area and usually its own bathroom and toilet. It is the most common entry-level rental in Nairobi and other towns, a step up from a single room with shared facilities.
Boma Yangu is the Kenyan government's online portal for the Affordable Housing Programme, where people register, save towards a deposit and apply for affordable housing units. It uses eCitizen for sign-in and offers both outright purchase and rent-to-own routes. The name is Swahili for "my home".
A bungalow is a single-storey house, usually detached on its own plot, with all rooms on one floor. In Kenya it is the most preferred house type in surveys, common in older Nairobi suburbs, satellite towns and rural areas, and often built with a separate DSQ.
The Business Premises Rent Tribunal (BPRT) hears disputes on controlled business tenancies in Kenya under Cap 301: rent changes, evictions, service charges and distress. It can decide whether a tenancy is controlled, set rent, order possession and award costs. Its decisions are published on Kenya Law.
Capital gains tax (CGT) is a tax on the profit a seller makes when they transfer property in Kenya. It is charged on the net gain, not the sale price, and the seller pays it to the Kenya Revenue Authority. The rate rose with effect from 1 January 2023 under the Finance Act 2022.
A caretaker is the person a Kenyan landlord employs to run a rental block day to day: showing units, collecting rent, handling repairs and keeping keys. It has no legal status. In plot rentals the caretaker is often the first contact for viewings, so confirm who the landlord is before paying any deposit.
A caution is an entry on the Kenyan land register warning that someone claims an interest in a parcel, such as an unpaid buyer. It stops specified dealings until that person is notified. Under the Land Registration Act 2012, the word caution includes the older term caveat. Lodging one wrongfully can lead to compensation.
A certificate of lease is the title document for leasehold land in Kenya, issued by the Land Registrar under the Land Registration Act 2012. It shows that the owner holds the land for a fixed number of years under a lease, usually from the government, and is common in towns and on former government land.
A certificate of title is the title document the Land Registrar issues in Kenya for land held outright as freehold, in the form set by the Land Registration Act 2012. Older absolute titles and grants issued under the repealed land laws are treated as certificates of title. It is one of the two formal kinds of title deed.
Change of user is official permission in Kenya to use land for a different purpose from the one in its lease or zoning, for example from residential to commercial. It is approved by the county under the Physical and Land Use Planning Act 2019, after public notice, and the lease terms and land rent may then be revised.
A charge is the Kenyan legal word for a mortgage: the registered right a lender holds over land or a house as security for a loan. It is registered against the title under the Land Act and Land Registration Act 2012, and the lender usually keeps the original title until the loan is repaid and the charge discharged.
"Clean title" is Kenyan sales language for a title with no registered burdens: no bank charge, caution, inhibition, restriction or court order. The only proof is a current official search. Unregistered claims, such as those of family members or occupants, do not appear on a search, so a site visit is still needed.
A clearance certificate shows that all charges on a Kenyan property are paid: a rates clearance certificate from the county for land rates, or a rent clearance certificate from the Ministry of Lands for land rent on leasehold land. The registry needs them before it registers a transfer.
Consent to transfer is the lessor's permission, usually from the Ministry of Lands, to transfer, charge or sublet leasehold land in Kenya. It is separate from Land Control Board consent. The registry needs it, with a rent clearance certificate, before it registers a transfer of most government leases.
A controlled tenancy is a Kenyan shop, hotel or catering-premises tenancy that is unwritten, or written for no more than a set number of years, under the Landlord and Tenant (Shops, Hotels and Catering Establishments) Act, Cap 301. The landlord cannot end it or change its terms without the statutory notice procedure.
Longest written tenancy that can be controlled: 5 years (or a lease the landlord can end within that time) (as of October 2026).
Conveyancing is the legal work of transferring property in Kenya: searches and due diligence, the sale agreement, consents, stamp duty and capital gains tax, registration of the transfer and handover of the title. It is done by an advocate, whose fees are set by the Advocates Remuneration Order scale.
County approvals are the permits a Kenyan county government gives before land is developed: planning permission, building plan approval and, later, occupation certificates. They are issued under the Physical and Land Use Planning Act 2019. The notice of approval is commonly called a PPA2. Fees and timelines vary by county.
A CR12 is the official record from Kenya's Business Registration Service listing a company's directors and shareholders. It is not a land document. Buyers ask for one when the seller of land or a house is a company, to confirm who can sign for it. It is often confused with an official land search.
A deed plan is a surveyed plan of a parcel with fixed boundaries, prepared by the Survey of Kenya and attached to grants and leases. Parcels with a verified survey plan are recorded as having fixed boundaries, unlike parcels shown only on the Registry Index Map, which have general boundaries.
A discharge of charge is the registered document that removes a lender's charge from a Kenyan title once the loan is fully paid. Until it is registered, the charge still shows on an official search, even if the loan has been repaid. Buyers of charged property usually need the discharge registered with the transfer.
Distress for rent is a Kenyan landlord's legal right, under the Distress for Rent Act (Cap 293), to have a licensed auctioneer seize and sell a tenant's goods to recover unpaid rent, after notice. Some goods are exempt. For controlled business tenancies, courts have held that Cap 301 procedures take priority.
Double allocation is when the same parcel of land in Kenya is allocated, sold or registered to two or more people. It can come from public land allocated by bodies with no power to do so, land-company re-ballots or fraudulent duplicate registration. Courts then look at which title has a valid root.
A DSQ (domestic staff quarters, also called SQ or servant quarters) is a small self-contained room or unit next to a main house, used by a house help, guard, relatives or guests. In Kenya it is a common selling point in house listings, as in "4 bedroom maisonette with DSQ".
An eighth acre is one-eighth of an acre of land. In Kenyan land listings it is used to mean a standard 50 by 100 foot plot, but the two are not the same size: a true eighth of an acre is a little larger. Buyers should check the area in hectares on the official search.
The Estate Agents Registration Board (EARB) registers estate agents in Kenya under the Estate Agents Act (Cap 533). Anyone who buys, sells or lets property for others as a business must be registered and hold a current practising certificate. Checking that an agent is registered is a basic defence against fake-agent scams.
A fake title deed is a forged title document used to sell land the seller does not own, land that does not exist, or land already sold, or to borrow against it. Kenyan police have broken up syndicates printing fake titles. The defence is an official search, ID checks, a site visit and an advocate's check of the land's history.
Freehold is a way of owning land in Kenya with no time limit: the owner and their heirs hold it indefinitely. Freehold land is registered with a certificate of title. Only Kenyan citizens can hold freehold land, which matters to diaspora and foreign buyers.
A gated community is a residential estate in Kenya with a perimeter wall and a controlled gate, often with shared amenities and a service charge. They are common in Nairobi's satellite towns such as Syokimau, Ruiru, Kitengela and Ngong. Buyers should check who runs the estate and what the service charge covers.
Goodwill, in Kenyan shop rentals, is an informal lump sum an incoming business tenant pays to the landlord or the outgoing tenant to take over premises, common in busy trading streets. It is not a rent term recognised by law, and the Business Premises Rent Tribunal has held it cannot justify withholding rent.
A green card is the paper register record kept at a Kenyan land registry for a parcel registered under the older land laws. It lists the parcel's history: owners, transfers, charges and cautions. Lawyers and buyers ask for a certified copy to see more than an official search shows.
The housing levy is a deduction from Kenyan employees' gross salary, matched by the employer, that funds the government's affordable housing programme. People earning income outside employment pay it on their gross income. It now rests on the Affordable Housing Act 2024, which the Court of Appeal upheld on 25 September 2026.
An inhibition is a court order, entered on the Kenyan land register, that blocks dealings with a parcel for a set time or until a further order. Only a court can make one under the Land Registration Act 2012, and conflicting dealings cannot be registered while it stands. Inhibitions are common in succession and land disputes.
An innocent purchaser is a buyer who paid for land in good faith without knowing of a defect in the seller's title. In Kenya, a title acquired illegally, unprocedurally or corruptly can be cancelled even against an innocent buyer, so courts expect buyers to check the root of the title, including by visiting the land.
The Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) is a Treasury-backed lender, regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya, that lends long-term money to banks and saccos so they can offer longer, fixed-rate home loans. Borrowers do not apply to KMRC directly; they apply through a participating bank or sacco.
The Land Act 2012 is the Kenyan law on how public and private land is managed and dealt with: allocation of public land, leases, charges and lenders' remedies, compulsory acquisition, and the extension and renewal of leases. It works alongside the Land Registration Act 2012 and was amended by the Land Laws (Amendment) Act 2016.
Land adjudication is the Kenyan government process that records who owns land in areas never formally registered, leading to first-time titles. Claims are heard and recorded parcel by parcel, and titles are then issued from the adjudication record and the registry map. Much rural freehold land was first registered this way.
The Land Control Bill is a proposed Kenyan law that would replace the Land Control Act and its Land Control Boards with land control committees and set a deadline for decisions. It is not yet law. Until it passes, Land Control Board consent under Cap 302 is still required for dealings in agricultural land.
Proposed, not yet law: The Bill would replace the Land Control Act (Cap 302) and Land Control Boards with land control committees. An earlier 2022 version lapsed with the previous Parliament and the Bill was reintroduced in 2023. Status: at second reading in the National Assembly since 18 October 2024 (National Assembly Bill No. 39 of 2023; bill tracker last updated 3 July 2026) (confirmed 13 October 2026).
A Land Control Board is a local board in Kenya, set up under the Land Control Act (Cap 302), that must approve most sales, leases, charges and subdivisions of agricultural land. Members include local officials and residents, and boards usually sit monthly. A pending Land Control Bill would replace them with committees.
Land Control Board consent is the written approval a local Land Control Board must give before most sales, leases, charges and subdivisions of agricultural land in Kenya. Without it, the transaction is void. The application must be made within a set time after the agreement.
A landlord is the owner who lets a house, flat or room to a tenant in return for rent. In Kenya the landlord is called mwenye nyumba in Swahili, and the tenant mpangaji. In rental plots the landlord often lives on site or employs a caretaker, and the tenancy agreement sets most of the rules.
The Landlord and Tenant Bill is a proposed Kenyan law that would have merged the country's tenancy laws and replaced the Rent Restriction Act, Cap 301 and the Distress for Rent Act. It passed the National Assembly in December 2021 but is not law, and appears to have lapsed when Parliament was dissolved in 2022.
Proposed, not yet law: The Bill would consolidate residential and business tenancy law, repeal Cap 296, Cap 301 and Cap 293, and set new rules on notice of rent increases. Status: passed by the National Assembly and sent to the Senate in December 2021; no record of later passage found, and it appears to have lapsed in 2022 (confirmed 13 October 2026).
Land rates are an annual property tax charged by Kenyan county governments on land in their area, usually based on the land's unimproved site value. Each county sets its own rates and penalties. A rates clearance certificate from the county is needed before a transfer. Land rates are different from land rent.
The Land Registration Act 2012 is Kenya's main law on how land and interests in land are registered: titles, transfers, charges, cautions, inhibitions and restrictions. It came in with the Land Act and the National Land Commission Act, replacing several older land laws, and treats titles issued under those laws as still valid.
Land rent is the annual rent a leaseholder in Kenya pays to the lessor, usually the national government through the Ministry of Lands, for leasehold land. It does not apply to freehold land. It is reviewed on change of user and lease extension, and a rent clearance certificate is needed before a transfer.
A land search, formally an official search, is a request to the land registry for a certificate showing who owns a parcel, its size and any charges, cautions or restrictions on a given date. In Kenya it is the most important check before paying for land or a house.
A land surveyor is a licensed professional in Kenya who measures land, places and points beacons, and prepares mutations and survey plans. Only licensed surveyors can certify mutations. Buyers hire their own surveyor to confirm that a plot on the ground matches the map and the title before paying.
A lease extension adds years to a Kenyan leasehold before it ends; a renewal grants a new lease after it ends. Under the Land Act 2012 the National Land Commission should notify lessees before expiry. The process runs through county planning, the commission, a land rent review and a new allotment letter, then registration.
Leasehold is holding land in Kenya for a fixed number of years under a lease, usually from the government. When the lease ends, the land goes back to the lessor unless it is extended or renewed. Leasehold land is registered with a certificate of lease and usually pays annual land rent.
A mabati house is a house built mainly from mabati, the corrugated galvanised iron sheets used across Kenya for roofs and walls. They range from single-room rentals in informal settlements to well-built prefabricated homes on farms and in new estates. Most searches for mabati are about buying the sheets.
A maisonette in Kenya is a family house on two or more floors, usually with the living areas downstairs and bedrooms upstairs. Maisonettes are often terraced or semi-detached in gated estates, though some stand alone. It is the usual Kenyan word for what Nigerians call a duplex.
A management corporation is the body made up of all unit owners in a sectional-title development in Kenya. It is formed once a sectional plan is registered under the Sectional Properties Act 2020. It owns and maintains the common areas, such as lifts, stairs and gardens, and collects service charge from the owners.
A mother title is the single title covering a whole parcel before it is subdivided into the plots being sold. Land companies in Kenya often sell plots against a mother title and promise individual titles later. Until subdivision is registered, the buyer holds no title to their own plot and cannot easily borrow against it.
A mutation is the surveyor's form recording a change to a parcel in Kenya, such as a subdivision or amalgamation, so the map and register can be updated. A licensed surveyor prepares and certifies it, the survey office approves it and the registry registers it. Surveyors can now submit mutations on Ardhisasa.
The National Construction Authority (NCA) is the Kenyan state body that registers contractors in grades and registers construction projects, under the National Construction Authority Act 2011. Developers must register projects with it soon after awarding a contract. Reports differ on whether a levy on larger contracts still applies.
Sources differ:
Business Daily reported regulations introducing a levy on construction contracts above a set value. (Business Daily, 2014)
People Daily reported that the levy was scrapped from December 2016 by a Cabinet decision. (People Daily, undated)
The National Land Commission (NLC) is the independent constitutional body that manages public land in Kenya on behalf of the national and county governments. Its roles include recommending land policy, advising on registration, investigating historical land injustices and approving lease extensions, for which it issues allotment letters.
A one bedroom is a flat or house in Kenya with one separate bedroom plus a sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. It is the usual next step up from a bedsitter and the Kenyan equivalent of what Nigerians call a mini flat. Listings often describe it simply as "1 bedroom" or "one bedroom house".
"Own compound" in Kenyan listings means a house on its own private, fenced plot that is not shared with other tenants or houses. It is a selling point in rentals and sales, often paired with bungalows and maisonettes, and signals more privacy, space for parking and children, and no shared gate with neighbours.
In Kenya, "plot" has two meanings. In land sales it is a piece of land for building, usually advertised as a 50 by 100 plot, measured in feet. In everyday speech it is also a block or compound of rental rooms owned by one landlord, as in "I live in a plot".
A power of attorney is a document that lets one person sign land dealings in Kenya for another. To be used for registered land it must itself be registered. Kenyans abroad often use one to buy or sell. Buyers should check that it is registered, still in force and that the person who gave it is alive.
A quarter acre is one-quarter of an acre of land. In Kenyan listings it is usually sold as two standard 50 by 100 foot plots side by side, which together are a little smaller than a true quarter acre. Check the area in hectares on the official search before paying.
Area of one-quarter of an acre: 10,890 square feet (as of October 2026).
Area of two 50 by 100 ft plots (100 by 100 ft): 10,000 square feet (as of October 2026).
"Ready title" is advertising language in Kenya for a plot that already has its own title deed in the seller's name, ready to transfer, rather than a plot still on a mother title. It should mean that an official search shows the seller as the registered owner of that exact parcel number.
The Registry Index Map (RIM) is the official map at a Kenyan land registry showing parcel numbers and approximate boundaries for a registration section. Unless the register notes fixed boundaries, the RIM shows only general boundaries. Subdivisions and amalgamations need the RIM to be amended so the map matches the register.
Rental income tax, often called MRI, is a tax resident landlords in Kenya pay on gross residential rent within set income bands, filed monthly with the Kenya Revenue Authority. A Finance Bill 2026 proposal to raise the rate was reported, and the rate should be checked on KRA's own page before relying on it.
Proposed, not yet law: The Finance Bill 2026 proposed raising the rate of monthly residential rental income tax. We could not confirm whether this change was kept in the enacted Finance Act 2026. Status: proposed in the Finance Bill 2026; enactment of this change not confirmed (confirmed 13 October 2026).
A rent deposit is money a tenant in Kenya pays at the start of a tenancy as security against unpaid rent or damage, usually alongside rent in advance. No Kenyan law caps the deposit or controls how it is held, so the refund depends on the tenancy agreement. Get both amounts and the refund terms in writing.
The Rent Restriction Act (Cap 296) is the Kenyan law that protects tenants of low-rent homes from unfair rent increases and evictions, and sets up the Rent Restriction Tribunal to hear their disputes. It covers only homes below a low rent threshold, so most city tenancies today fall outside it.
A restriction is an entry on the Kenyan land register that limits how a parcel can be dealt with, for example to protect trustees or minors, to protect a public interest, or where the registrar sees a risk of fraud. Restrictions are made under the Land Registration Act 2012 and show on an official search.
A sale agreement is the written contract between buyer and seller of land or a house in Kenya, setting out the price, deposit, completion date and conditions such as Land Control Board consent. Contracts for land must be in writing and signed. For agricultural land, the time to apply for board consent runs from the agreement.
The Sectional Properties Act 2020 is the Kenyan law that lets each unit in a building get its own title and sets out how owners run the shared parts through a management corporation. It replaced the 1987 Act and required long sub-leases of flats and similar units to be converted to sectional titles within a set window.
Window to convert long leases to sectional units: 2 years from the Act's commencement (closed December 2022) (as of October 2026).
A sectional title is a title deed for one unit in a building or development, such as an apartment, maisonette, townhouse or office, together with a share of the common areas. In Kenya it is created under the Sectional Properties Act 2020 when a sectional plan is registered.
A service charge is a regular fee paid by tenants or owners in Kenya for shared services such as security, cleaning, garbage collection, lifts and common-area power. In sectional-title developments the management corporation collects it; in controlled business tenancies the Business Premises Rent Tribunal can fix it.
Shamba is Swahili for a farm or cultivated piece of land, and in Kenyan English it also means any rural land holding. Buying a shamba usually means buying agricultural land, so Land Control Board consent is needed for the sale. Shambas are usually freehold and measured in acres.
A share certificate, in Kenyan land dealings, shows that you are a member of a land-buying company or cooperative that owns a large farm and allocates plots to shareholders. It is a claim against the company, not a title to land. Courts have dealt with many cases of plots re-allocated or allocated twice.
A single room is the cheapest rental in Kenya: one room with no internal partition, often with shared toilets and washing areas, typical of rental plots and iron-sheet blocks. A "single room self-contained" has its own toilet. It is a step below a bedsitter, which usually has its own bathroom and a kitchen area.
Stamp duty is a tax the buyer pays when land or a house is transferred in Kenya. It is charged on the higher of the price and the government valuation, at a higher rate in towns than in rural areas. Since November 2023 it has been paid to the Ministry of Lands through Ardhisasa and eCitizen.
Stamp duty valuation is the government valuer's assessment of a property's market value in Kenya, used to work out stamp duty, which is charged on the higher of this value and the price. Under the 2020 valuation regulations, the Chief Government Valuer confirms the value, and buyers can object. It runs through Ardhisasa.
Sources differ:
The Ministry of Lands service charter lists stamp duty valuation as free of charge. (Ministry of Lands, 2025)
Money254 reports a fee for a government valuation. (Money254, 2024)
A studio apartment is a self-contained one-room flat with a kitchenette and bathroom, usually in a newer apartment block. In Kenya studios are marketed above bedsitters on finish and location, are often furnished, and are popular as short lets in Nairobi areas such as Kilimani, Westlands and Kileleshwa.
Subdivision is splitting one parcel of land into two or more smaller parcels, each with its own title. In Kenya the usual steps are county planning approval, Land Control Board consent for agricultural land, a survey and mutation, an amended registry map and then new titles. Counties set their own minimum plot sizes.
Succession is the Kenyan court process for passing a dead person's property to their heirs. The court issues a grant, either letters of administration or probate where there is a will, which must then be confirmed. Only after confirmation can land be transferred to the heirs or sold. Buying from heirs earlier is risky.
The Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS) is a rent-to-own route in Kenya's Affordable Housing Programme. The buyer pays a deposit, moves in, and pays monthly until the unit is fully paid, when a sectional title is issued. Sources differ on the size of the deposit, so check the project's terms on Boma Yangu.
Sources differ:
The State Department for Housing, as reported by Kenyans.co.ke, describes a mandatory 5% deposit. (Kenyans.co.ke, 28 July 2026)
An earlier Money254 guide tells buyers to save a 10% deposit. (Money254, undated)
Title conversion is the Ministry of Lands' programme moving land registered under Kenya's old land laws onto the Land Registration Act 2012 registers. Parcels get new numbers, owners get replacement titles, and the ministry says ownership, size and registered interests do not change. Conversion lists are published in the Kenya Gazette.
A title deed is the official document that shows who owns a piece of land in Kenya and on what terms. It is issued by the Land Registrar and backed by the land register, which is the real record of ownership. Formally it is a certificate of title or a certificate of lease.
A townhouse is a multi-storey house in Kenya that shares one or both side walls with neighbouring houses, in a row or a gated estate. The label is used loosely, and many houses marketed as townhouses are also called maisonettes. Estate townhouses usually pay a service charge for security and shared areas.
A transfer is the registered document that moves ownership of land or a house from seller to buyer in Kenya. To register it, the registry needs the original title, proof of stamp duty, the parties' IDs and PINs, and, depending on the land, consent to transfer, Land Control Board consent and clearance certificates.
