Getting your own title for an apartment (sectional title)
Sectional Properties Act, 2020 · sources read 5 Oct 2026
Yes. Once the developer's sectional plan is registered, the Land Registrar opens a separate register for each unit and issues a certificate of title (freehold) or certificate of lease (leasehold) that includes your share of the common property. Old long-term sub-leases for flats must be converted to this system.
- Deadline
- The Act gave owners of old long-term sub-leases two years from its start on 28 December 2020 to have them reviewed and converted, so that window closed on 28 December 2022.
- Where
- The Land Registry (Ministry of Lands) where the parcel is registered, usually through your developer or management company
Steps
- The developer, the management company or you as a unit owner can start the conversion of an old sub-lease.
- Once the sectional plan is registered, the Registrar opens a separate register for each unit and, on payment of the prescribed fee, issues its certificate of title or lease.
- If the developer will not or cannot hand over the original title for the conversion, the Registrar can go ahead without it.
Watch out
- If you already paid stamp duty on the sub-lease, you do not pay it again for the conversion.
- If the owner or developer does not comply, the Registrar registers a restriction that blocks further dealings on the land.
- A rented unit that is not in a registered sectional plan may not be sold as a unit until the plan is registered.
- The two-year conversion window in the Act ended on 28 December 2022. A developer, management company or owner can still start the conversion, and the Registrar can block dealings on the land if the owner or developer doesn't comply.
Who this covers
- Owners of units (apartments, flats, offices) in a building with a registered sectional plan.
- Owners holding a long-term sub-lease for an apartment, flat, maisonette, town house or office registered before the Act began.
Official sources (1)
- Sectional Properties Act (Cap. 286), version of 31 December 2022 new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026