SPL LANDS

Transfer of land disputes mostly arise when a party claims to have bought land and the vendor has refused to transfer the property to him/her.

This is as a result of both the purchaser and the vendor not following the right procedure on land transaction. For prospective buyers intending to acquire property, that is freehold, it is important to have a written agreement witnessed by an advocate and a letter of consent from the relevant land control board.

For leasehold properties, consent from the commissioner of lands for government land, consent from a local authority for council land and clearance certificate of rates and rent.

If the above procedure is followed, a lot of dispute will be avoided as the party, which breaches the contract can be sued.

Adverse possession

This kind of dispute arises when a person enters another person’s property without any legal title to it. A person who enters and occupies land for 12 years can petition the High Court to declare him/her adverse possessor.

For a person to qualify for adverse possession, he must prove to the court that:

• He/she entered the land adversely.
• His/her entry to the land was open and not secretive.
• His/her stay was continuous without interruption and peaceful for 12 years.

Boundary disputes

Property boundaries disputes are also numerous. Boundary disputes arise mainly due to negligence by property owners and absentee landlords. In order to avoid such kind of disputes it is important for property owners to fence or hedge their boundaries and maintain them.

This will discourage intruders from entering the properties leading to the registered proprietors losing their land. Any dispute arising from general boundaries can be addressed by the Land Dispute Tribunal Act.

Another way to avoid boundary dispute is to have the boundaries fixed by precise survey and beacons placed.

Conclusion

There are numerous other land dispute cases involving succession, group ranches, land buying companies, co-operative societies, grabbing of public land and landlessness.

It is hoped that new land policies will solve some of those problems. In the meantime, people are requested to use the available means of solving land disputes including arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution.

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