Kenyan buyers have earned their caution. Enough off-plan developments have stalled, changed specification mid-build, or collapsed outright that scepticism is now the rational default rather than a personality trait.
The good news is that the risks are well understood and largely checkable. Buying a luxury apartment in Nairobi safely is not a matter of instinct or of trusting the right person. It is a sequence of specific verifications, most of which a competent conveyancing advocate can complete in a few weeks, and each of which either produces a document or produces a red flag.
Here is the sequence.
1. Verify the Land, Not Just the Building
Start at the Lands Registry, before you start anywhere else. An official search on the parent title confirms who actually owns the land the development sits on, and — critically — what encumbrances sit against it.
What you are looking for: the registered proprietor’s name matching the entity selling to you; any charge or mortgage registered against the title; any caution, caveat or restriction; and whether the tenure is freehold or leasehold, and if leasehold, how many years remain. A ninety-nine-year lease with eighteen years left is a very different asset from one with eighty.
Charges are not automatically disqualifying — most developments carry construction finance at some stage. But you need to know it exists, understand how it will be discharged, and ensure your sale agreement protects you if it is not.
2. Confirm the Sectional Title Position
Kenya’s Sectional Properties Act 2020, which commenced in December 2020, replaced the 1987 Act and substantially changed how apartment ownership works. Under the current framework, apartment owners should receive an individual sectional title certificate rather than a long-term lease — a materially stronger form of ownership that gives you registered title to your unit and a share of the common property as a tenant in common.
The questions to put to the developer, in writing:
- Has the sectional plan been prepared and registered?
- What is the legal title number for the specific unit I am buying?
- Will I receive a sectional title certificate, and on what timeline?
- Has the Owners’ Corporation been constituted, and is it operational?
- Can I see the by-laws, the service charge budget and the accounts?
The Act also obliges developers to furnish purchasers with due diligence documentation before sale — including the title or lease for the parcel or unit, and disclosure of any charge affecting or proposed to affect the unit’s title. If a developer treats these requests as unusual, that is itself information.
3. Interrogate the Funding Structure
This is the question that most reliably predicts whether an off-plan development finishes, and it is the question buyers ask least often.
Ask directly: how was construction funded? There are three broad answers, in descending order of safety.
Self-funded. The developer financed construction from its own balance sheet. Completion does not depend on sales velocity or on a lender’s continued appetite. This is the strongest position for a buyer.
Debt-funded. A bank or institution is financing construction. This is normal and workable, but you need to understand the charge on the title, the discharge mechanism, and what happens to your deposit if the facility is called.
Buyer-funded. Construction depends on incoming deposits from purchasers. This is where the majority of Kenyan off-plan failures originate. If sales slow, construction slows, which slows sales further. Proceed with real caution, and never without escrow.
4. Check Who Actually Built It
A development is only as good as the firms that delivered it, and those names are a matter of record rather than opinion. Ask for the project manager or quantity surveyor, the architect and design consultants, the main contractor, and the structural engineer.
Then look each one up. Established international and regional consultancies bring documented processes, independent cost and quality oversight, and — importantly — reputational exposure that a shell contractor does not have. A developer who engaged credentialed firms will name them without hesitation, because it is one of the strongest things they can say about the project.
Confirm too that the contractor is registered with the National Construction Authority and that the relevant approvals — county planning approval, NEMA licence where applicable, and occupation certificate for a completed building — are in place. Ask to see the occupation certificate specifically. A completed building without one is a problem.
5. Read the Clauses That Protect You
Sale agreements are where risk is actually allocated, and where a good advocate earns their fee. The provisions worth focusing on:
Anti-transfer and double-sale protection. Clauses that prohibit the developer from transferring, charging or otherwise dealing with your unit once you are under contract. This is the specific mechanism that prevents the same unit being sold twice, which is a recurring feature of Kenyan property fraud cases.
Payment schedule tied to milestones. Payments should be linked to verified construction stages, certified by an independent professional, not to calendar dates.
Escrow or stakeholder account. Deposits held by an advocate as stakeholder rather than released directly to the developer. Non-negotiable for off-plan.
Completion date and remedy. A defined completion date is worth little without a defined consequence for missing it. Look for liquidated damages or a right of rescission with full refund.
Specification schedule. Finishes, fittings and materials listed in an annexed schedule, with any substitution requiring your written consent. This is what stops a marketed specification quietly becoming a cheaper one.
Defects liability period. A window after handover during which the developer remains responsible for defects. Six to twelve months is typical.
6. Weigh Completed Against Off-Plan Honestly
Off-plan buying offers a discount. That discount is the price of assuming delay risk, specification risk and completion risk — and in the Kenyan market those risks have repeatedly proven to be real rather than theoretical.
A completed development removes all three at once. You inspect the actual unit rather than a render. You verify that the finishes match what was marketed. You confirm the amenities exist and function. You meet residents who have lived with the building’s quirks. And you move in on your own timetable.
For a purchase of this size, that certainty is usually worth more than the discount.
7. Understand the Service Charge Before You Commit
The service charge is the cost of ownership that continues indefinitely, and it is frequently underquoted at the point of sale.
Ask for the current figure per square metre or per unit, a line-item breakdown, the last two years of actual accounts if the building is occupied, the mechanism and cap for increases, and the balance of the reserve or sinking fund. A building with amenities and no sinking fund will eventually issue a special levy, and it will not be small.
8. Assemble the Document File
By completion you should hold: the official search result on the title; the registered sectional plan; the sale agreement and all annexures; the signed transfer form (RL 1, or RL 7 for sectional properties); the original title deed or lease certificate, and ultimately your sectional title certificate; developer or management company consent where required; KRA tax compliance certificates for both parties; stamp duty valuation and payment receipts; the occupation certificate; the by-laws and service charge budget; and the defects liability schedule.
Red Flags
- Pressure to pay a deposit before your advocate has completed a search.
- Payment requested to a personal account, or in cash.
- Reluctance to name the contractor, architect or project manager.
- No registered sectional plan and no clear timeline for one.
- Refusal to allow your own advocate, or insistence you use theirs.
- Completion dates that have already moved more than once.
- Discounts that only apply if you sign immediately.
- Unwillingness to introduce you to an existing resident.
How The Saruni Answers These
We publish this guide knowing buyers will apply it to us, which is the point.
The Saruni is a ninety-unit residence on Riverside Drive that is complete, with residents already moved in — so there is no completion risk to price and no specification to take on faith. Construction was fully self-funded by Riverside Strand, without reliance on external debt or on buyer deposits to reach the finish line. The project was delivered with credentialed international consultants engaged across project management, design and construction, and we will name them on request. Our sale agreement includes express protection against unauthorised transfer of a unit once a buyer is under contract.
Bring your own advocate. Run the searches. Ask for the documents in section eight. And ask to speak to someone who already lives here — we will make the introduction.
You can view the available residences or arrange a private viewing.
This article is general information about the property purchase process in Kenya and is not legal advice. Property law and procedure change, and every transaction differs. Engage a qualified Kenyan conveyancing advocate to act for you on any purchase.
