Proposed law seeks to protect land buyers from fraudsters
Land buying and selling companies will be forced to deposit Sh500 million if MPs approve a draft Bill aimed at protecting land buyers from fraudsters.
Land buying and selling companies will be forced to deposit Sh500 million if MPs approve a draft Bill aimed at protecting land buyers from fraudsters.
The proposal mirrors the depositors protection fund established to protect customers against the loss of all their deposits following the collapse of a bank.
The proposed legislation by Kirinyaga Central MP Joseph Gachoki seeks to regulate registration and licensing of land-buying and selling companies and protect the interests of purchasers.
The proposed legislation seeks to set up a regulator with whom all land-buying companies will register for purposes of easy tracking. The regulator will impose a fine of Sh5 million on non-compliant companies.
“The principal object of this Bill is to regulate the registration and licensing of land buying companies and to protect interests of persons who purchase land from a land buying company,” reads the Bill.
Hard-earned money
The lawmaker said the proposed law will protect Kenyans after many ended up losing their hard-earned money through fraudsters in the real estate sector.
The Bill comes at a time when the National Assembly committee on public petitions is currently handling a petition by 400 investors who have accused Cytonn Investments of reneging on their plan.
The committee said it will probe Cytonn’s projects and assets over alleged losses in its Ridgway project as claimed by the petitioners.
In 2021, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations deployed over 26 officers with knowledge of land survey, economics, physical planning and administration to its Land Fraud Investigations Unit due to the increase in land fraud cases in the country.
The unit deals with fraud matters regarding land in order to boost efficiency in transactions.
MPs have called on the committee to look into the petition seriously so that the affected Kenyans can get back their investments
They said it is unfortunate that Kenyans work hard to have investments in various schemes but they become victims of fraudsters who swindle them.
