Can your spouse sell or mortgage the family home without your consent?
Matrimonial Property Act 2013 and Land Act 2012 · sources read 2 Oct 2026
No. While a monogamous marriage lasts, matrimonial property cannot be sold, given away, leased or mortgaged without the consent of both spouses, and the matrimonial home cannot be mortgaged or leased without the written and informed consent of both. Your spouse also cannot evict you from the matrimonial home without a court order.
- Where
- Land registry (caution or caveat); the court for a declaration of property rights
Steps
- Protect your interest by lodging a caution or caveat against the title at the land registry, so it cannot be dealt with quietly.
- A charge (mortgage) over the matrimonial home is valid only if every spouse living there signed or clearly assented to it, so a lender should ask for your signature.
- If the property is contested, apply to court for a declaration of your rights to it.
Watch out
- The 'consent of both spouses' rule in the Act is written for monogamous marriages.
- You can still lose the home through a court sale to pay a debt, a trustee in bankruptcy, or a lender using its power of sale.
- Land a spouse gets during the marriage for the co-ownership and use of both spouses counts as matrimonial property, even if only one name is on the title.
Who this covers
- Spouses. The matrimonial home is any property owned or leased by one or both spouses and lived in or used as the family home.
- In a polygamous marriage, the man and any of his wives have an interest in matrimonial property that can be protected.
- A spouse cannot be evicted from the matrimonial home by the other spouse except by a court order.
- Both spouses must give written and informed consent before the matrimonial home is mortgaged or leased.
Official sources (4)
- Matrimonial Property Act, 2013 (No. 49 of 2013), as assented libraryir.parliament.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Land Act, No. 6 of 2012 (Revised Edition 2019) landcommission.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Land Registration Act, No. 3 of 2012 (Revised Edition 2020) landcommission.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Constitution of Kenya, 2010 new.kenyalaw.org · read 2 Oct 2026