The Ministry of Lands Proposed changes that would increase the land transaction fees. This comes as a tough blow to Kenyans considering they are already struggling with the rising cost of living and high taxes.
The Lands Cabinet Secretary, Alice Wahome, proposed these amendments to the law. These increments were made on land charges that had not been revised for decades since they were set.
” The main objective of the proposed statutory instruments is to amend the existing state instruments that have not been updated for a long time, especially in respect of fees and charges prescribed for various services rendered by the Government in the land sector,” the CS mentioned.
Some of the charges have been exponentially increased. Among them are, fees for incorporation of trust has been hiked from Ksh 5,000 to Ksh 50,000. In addition to that, the official search of land charges have been revised to Ksh 2,000. Registration of land documents and corporation of certificate fees has also been increased to Ksh 1,500 each.
Within her proposal, the application for the certified copies of the proceedings arising from the determination of the land registrar has been revised to Ksh 3,000 for the first 10 pages only. If an applicant wants any additional page, they’ll be charged Ksh 100 more for each page.
Other Charge Increments
For one to incorporate a trust, they will now be charged Ksh 50,000 whereas they would have paid Ksh 5,000 previously. To resubmit any document for registration in land transaction will now cost Ksh 1,500. The correction of a name not done by the registrar will now cost Ksh 2,500 while revocation of the power of attorney will cost Ksh 5,000.
For one to confirm their boundary disputes, Kenyans will now pay Ksh 5,000 whereas to fix these boundaries, Ksh 5,000 will be charged. Placement of caution will now be charged at Ksh 3,000.
To have any officer of the registry attend a place outside the registration office for more than a day, a charge of Ksh 5,000 has to be paid, plus transport as per the rates. In addition to that, a similar amount will be paid for professional advice on any registration matter by the land registry.
Some of these changes according to the ministry, haven’t been made for over 30 years. This has warranted the need to balance the service delivery and the cost of service provision.
The proposal comes after a recent push by the government to increase the taxes and in turn revenue for the government. These taxes are supposed to touch on some of the major services Kenyans benefit from.
How to Access Land Services From Home
To access the services from the Ministry of Lands, one could either visit the Ardhi offices or access some services online through the Ardhi Sasa platform.
This proposal comes soon after the Ministry of Interior gazetted a list of revised charges on some government services. Among those services are, ID replacement, citizenship, passport acquisition, marriage certificate, among others.
The charges have however been halted by the court until the next hearing slated on November 26.
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