Is it a crime to remove or destroy boundary beacons?
Land Registration Act, 2012 · sources read 5 Oct 2026
Yes. Anyone who defaces, removes, damages or impairs a boundary feature without the Land Registrar's authority commits an offence punishable by up to 2 years in prison, a fine of up to KSh 200,000, or both, and can also be made to pay the cost of putting it back. Owners must keep their fences, beacons and other boundary features in good order.
- Where
- Report the offence at a police station. Boundary orders come from the Land Registrar at the land registry where the land is registered.
Steps
- Removing or damaging a boundary feature is a criminal offence, so you can report it to the police.
- Ask the Land Registrar to act. The Registrar can order in writing that a boundary mark be put back (demarcated) within a set time.
- If the person is convicted, the cost of restoring the beacon can be recovered from them as a civil debt by whoever is responsible for maintaining it.
Watch out
- If the Registrar makes you responsible for a shared boundary feature and you let it fall apart, be destroyed or removed, you can be fined up to KSh 200,000.
- Ignoring the Registrar's written order to demarcate a boundary is itself an offence, with a fine of up to KSh 200,000.
- Tampering with an official survey mark is also a separate offence under the Survey Act: up to 3 years in prison if done to defraud, otherwise a fine of up to KSh 3,000, up to 6 months in prison, or both. The court can also order the offender to pay the Director of Surveys the cost of restoring the mark.
- If a survey mark on your land is damaged or moved and no one else is convicted for it, you as owner or occupier must pay the Director of Surveys the cost of restoring it. Owners and occupiers must take reasonable steps to protect survey marks.
Who this covers
- Applies to anyone, including a neighbour or the owner, unless the Land Registrar has authorised the work.
- Every owner of registered land must maintain the fences, hedges, stones, pillars, beacons and walls that mark the boundaries.
Official sources (2)
- Land Registration Act, 2012 (No. 3 of 2012) new.kenyalaw.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Survey Act (Cap. 299) new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026