The foreigners are at a liberty to buy any commercial class land in Kenya. This kind of land is put for income or revenue-making purposes. The Kenyan Law allows the foreigners to acquire this property as well as build on the same. Farm lands or agricultural land couldn’t be acquired by the foreigners in the country. This is because the law of Kenya allows the acquisition of agricultural land to all the indigenous people only.

The land in Kenya are of two types – freehold as well as leasehold. Most portion of the land within the country is owned by the government and the land could be leased for a period of 50 to 99 years respectively.

Hiring a real estate agent lawyer is required to purchase a property in Kenya. This is because a title search on to the property is very important as a number of areas are not properly registered. One the property has been chosen and the price has been agreed, a sale agreement is prepared by the lawyer which is further signed by both the parties. Upon the execution of this agreement, a buyer is bound to pay a deposit of 10 to 30 percent of the total purchase price. This is generally refundable when the seller defaults in terms of the transaction.

The seller is required to obtain a certificate of clearance from the municipality which is presented to the buyer in order to make sure that all kinds of local taxes as well as utility bills have been settled down. The entire procedure of buying a property takes a period of two to four weeks.

All the important documents including the consent transfer, original title, clearance certificates, form of valuation for the stamp duty, etc. are then submitted to the Lands Office. During the same time, the remaining balance is settled down by the buyer. All the taxes as well as lawyer fees is paid within a period of 30 days from the closing.

• Certain transaction costs are to be incurred by the buyers while buying residential or commercial property in Kenya.
• Stamp duty is charged at the rate of 4 percent for land within a municipality, 2 percent for the agricultural land outside a municipality, and 1 percent if the property has been registered as a company.
• The agency fee is charged at a maximum rate of 3 percent of the total value of the property.