Bankruptcy, liquidation and creditor claims (Official Receiver)
Business Registration Service · sources read 2 Oct 2026
Start by presenting your petition or application (bankruptcy, no-asset procedure, voluntary arrangement or company liquidation) to the Official Receiver at BRS, who checks it, tells you the fee and issues a Certificate of Compliance. A debtor's own bankruptcy petition costs KSh 30,000; creditors claim by filing a proof of debt form (KSh 500).
- Fee
- KSh 30,000Certificate of Compliance, debtor's bankruptcy petitionKSh 50,000Certificate of Compliance, creditor's bankruptcy petitionKSh 15,000Application for the no-asset procedureKSh 20,000Application for a summary instalment orderKSh 30,000Individual voluntary arrangementKSh 40,000Certificate of Compliance, creditor's liquidation petitionKSh 500Filing a proof of debt (creditor claim)
- Where
- Office of the Official Receiver, Business Registration Service, 17th Floor, 316 UpperHill Chambers, 2nd Ngong Avenue, Nairobi (official.receiver@brs.go.ke)
What you need
- Your own bankruptcy: Forms 8, 9, 10 and 11 (debtor's petition, statement of affairs and supporting forms)
- Creditor's bankruptcy petition: Forms 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9
- Creditor claim: proof of debt (Form 5)
Steps
- Present your petition or application to the Official Receiver. A State Counsel checks it and, if it is in order, tells you how much to pay.
- Pay the statutory fee at the BRS accounts office.
- The State Counsel issues a Certificate of Compliance and opens a file.
- If the court makes a bankruptcy order, it is advertised in the Kenya Gazette within 30 days. You may be asked for a statement of affairs and to attend a creditors' meeting.
- Creditors: file a proof of debt form for the first creditors' meeting, held within 30 days of the bankruptcy order.
Watch out
- Bankruptcy ends automatically after 3 years if no one opposes your discharge.
- While bankrupt, you must report to the Official Receiver every three months.
- In the no-asset procedure you cannot take new debts, and you must keep paying alimony, child maintenance and a dependent child's education loans.
Who can apply
- Bankruptcy: people who cannot pay their debts. It can release you from most debts.
- No-asset procedure: debtors with no assets to sell and debts between KSh 100,000 and KSh 4 million, who have never been bankrupt or in this procedure before.
- Companies: members' voluntary liquidation, creditors' voluntary liquidation or liquidation by court.
Official sources (7)
- Bankruptcy brs.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- No Asset Procedure brs.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Liquidation by Court brs.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Individual Voluntary Arrangement brs.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Fee Schedule - Official Receiver brs.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Office of the Official Receiver in Insolvency brs.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Contact brs.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026