Closure Of Old Registers and Migration to New Registers
On 31st December 2020, the Cabinet Secretary for Lands and Physical Planning published a special issue of the Kenya Gazette Notice No. 11348 of 2020 (the Notice) notifying the general public of the conversion of specific old land registration numbers for certain properties in Nairobi, to new parcel numbers. A further series of Gazette Notices on titles earmarked for conversion have since been published with the latest being published on 20th May, 2022
(https://lands.go.ke/category/gazette–notices/).
The Notice was made pursuant to Section 6 of the Land Registration Act and Regulations 4-9 of the Land Registration (Registration Units) Order, 2017 (the Regulations), which empower the Cabinet Secretary to convert and migrate titles registered under the repealed land laws and create new registration units.
The Ministry of Lands by an internal memo dated 16th May 2022 directed that following the expiry of the appeal period stipulated in the various Gazette Notices, all further dealings on the affected titles should proceed in the new registers.
The directive undoubtedly affects titles that are held by financial institutions as security for advances to borrowers. However, the Ministry has sought to dispel any fears secured creditors may have by affirming that the interests registered in the old registers will be migrated to the new registers without the need for the registration of new instruments. That said, the Ministry had canvassed two forms that would be submitted by secured creditors alongside the proprietor’s application for conversion namely, the Consent by the Chargee for the Replacement of Title Issued from a Closed Register and Partial Discharge of Charge for the Replacement of Title Issued from a Closed Register.Â