What a bank must do before selling your charged land
Land Act, 2012 · sources read 2 Oct 2026
If you fall behind on a loan secured on your land, the lender must first serve a written notice giving you at least 3 months to pay, then a notice to sell, and wait at least 40 days after that before completing a sale. It must try to get the best price reasonably obtainable, and a sale at 25% or more below market value can be challenged in court.
- Deadline
- The lender can serve the statutory notice once you have been in default for one month.
- Deadline
- At least 3 months in the statutory notice to pay arrears (2 months to fix other breaches).
- Deadline
- At least 40 days after the notice to sell before the lender completes a sale.
- Where
- The Environment and Land Court
Steps
- Check the statutory notice. It must state what the default is, the amount needed to fix it, the deadline (at least 3 months for unpaid money), what happens if you don't pay, and your right to apply to court for relief.
- Apply to the Environment and Land Court for relief at any time after the statutory notice is served, or while the lender is using its remedies. Applying is not an admission that you defaulted.
- If the land is sold at 25% or more below market value, you can ask the court to declare the sale void.
Watch out
- The lender must get a forced sale valuation from a valuer before selling.
- A sale by public auction must be publicly advertised so that likely bidders hear about it.
- The loan papers can't remove the lender's duty to get the best price: any clause trying to do so is void.
Who this covers
- The borrower whose land is charged (any joint borrower), and a spouse who should have consented to the charge but did not, can ask the court for relief.
- A copy of the notice to sell must also go to the consenting spouse, co-owners, guarantors, tenants on the land and other lenders on it.
Official sources (1)
- The Land Act, No. 6 of 2012 (Revised Edition 2019) landcommission.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026