You've identified that ideal piece of land, its somewhat within you price bracket, meets your intended objectives plus you've fallen madly in love with it. What should you do next to avoid being a victim of a land sale scam.

First and foremost, there certain things you have consider before committing yourself to a given property, these include:

1. Location: From the perspective of the purpose that you intend to use the land, is the land you want to acquire intended to be used to construct your holiday home, if so, is it within a half days drive of where you live? This has a bearing on how often you will utilize or enjoy the property. It has been my experience that if the land is too far away it could be a burden rather than an enjoyable asset.

2. Land Quality: Depending on the reasoning behind buying land, land quality could affect the price and future worth of your property. For example; land with qualities such as streams or rivers running through it, oceanfront land, lakefront land, land with views etc. These types of land investments will probably be a higher end investment initially, but by the same token a better investment for future value. The lesser the quality of land usually the longer it takes to increase in value and less enjoyable along the way.

3. Access: You should always make sure that any land investment has good legal and physical access. Usually this involves a close look at the Title Report. As far as physical access is it accessible year round? Are the roads leading to the property maintained, especially during the heavy rains seasons. Improving some of these conditions while owning the land could increase value.

4. Drainage: I just had to include this since I have witnessed several people who have been conned into buying waste or swamp land. During the dry season the land might look very ideal but when the rainy season come, you find the land flooded and you are forced to further dig into your pockets to drain out the water. You shouldn't go through all this trouble. Its more ideal to buy land during the wet seasons to personally witness how the area copes with the sever weather, though asking around might also help.

After finishing up with all the above, you have to determine who the real land owner is and if you are dealing with the correct land agent, Please refer to Distinguishing between fake and real estate agents for more information concerning the above. Afterwards run some background research on the said property to determine its actual value thus avoid being ripped off. Its only after this that you can commit yourself to purchasing the property.

It is important to begin by noting that there is no strictly defined procedure in sell and purchase. however such atransaction is only legally enforceable if it can be proved by a written Sale of Land Agreement (contract).

Once the Seller and the prospective buyer agree to enter into a sale of land transaction they should put this in writing into an agreement that contains the following:

a. Identity of the parties to the transaction

b. Identity of the property

c. The price, completion date and other terms and conditions of the transaction

The parties must execute the agreement. Then the agreement should be witnessed by all parties to the transaction and attested by a person present at the execution ofthe agreement.

It is important to point out that the purchaser should only execute, or agree to be part of the Agreement after confirming the following:

i. Firstly, the seller is the actual owner or has interest in the land that the seller is prospecting to transfer to the buyer.

ii. Secondly, all the interests that exist in the land; and

iii. How the land is restricted in its use in the future.

The matters pointed out above can be confirmed by undertaking "a search" on the title to the land

The government authorities that should be involved in a legal land sell and their role

The Ministry of Lands and the Local Authorities are the mainly the authorities involved.

The Ministry of Land is where "the search" is to be conducted. It is also where the transfer of the interest in Land will be registered.

So, what do we mean by the term "the search". Well this is an official request, to the ministry of lands by you the purchaser, to be provided with the current status of the title of that land. An official search is state guaranteed. If you are relying on the results of "the search" and enter into the transaction but incur damages, you can claim indemnity from the state.

The local authorities are involved in two main ways:

*In respect to land rates.

*Where the land is to be used for agricultural.

Rates are paid for within a township. It is important for Purchasers buying such land to investigate what are the current rates payable to the relevant local authority and if the landlord has cleared the rates to the date of the Agreement to sell.

Where the land is agricultural the transaction for the sale of land can only be valid if the consent of the relevant Land Control Board (within the local authority (county))where that land is located is sought.

It is perhaps important to also point out that where the land is leasehold a land rent clearance certificate has to be obtained. This certificate shows that the rent owed to the government of Kenya has been duly paid to the date of registering the transfer. The commissioner of Lands would not accept to register the transfer in the absence of this certificate.

Roughly How long Should the Sale of Land Transaction take?

There is no a statutory prescribed period of how long it should take to complete a Sale of Land transaction. Setting up a completion date is left to the parties, the buyer and seller.

This being the case a Sale of Land Transaction can complete in as fast as 21 days or more.

It is however very important that the parties concretely identify the completion date. The completion date is the turning point in the transaction. It is the yardstick for determining whether or not one of the parties has breached the contract.

It is important therefore that the parties set the completion date practically taking into consideration all the factors that surround the transaction.

As stress full as this may sound, its best to follow the prescribed legal procedure illustrated above and to involve the necessary legal official to avoid future complications.

Its a big step to become a land owner, plus you stand to benefit a lot from owning this valuable piece of asset. this goes without mentioning lands' continuous appreciation in value plus it can be something that you'll leave behind for your children and from which they will remember you for eternity. Though don't sit back and let your dreams of becoming a land owner get shattered over-night. Always take precaution when purchasing this very valuable asset.

This marks the end of the our 5 weeks series of the Do's and Don't s of buy land in Kenya. We at the Money Academy hope that you found the articles useful and insightful.

In case of any questions or queries, please feel free to contact us.