A Sectional Property is where a building has been divided into units, and each unit is owned by an individual proprietor or co-owned by two or more proprietors.
The governing law is the Sectional Properties Act 2020 that provides guidelines on; Preparation and registration of sectional properties, Establishment of Corporation, Provisions of the units and other provisions that provide for sale of sectional property, termination of sectional property titles, taxes and rights etc.
How to prepare and register sectional Titles.
That building plan of a building that already exists, that had approval from the county government, a surveyor shall make a sectional plan from that building plan, but proof of ownership of that parcel must be presented to him. Additionally, the sectional plan shall be accompanied by an application of the corporation of owners and a list of the owners of the units of the parcel. The register shall then close the register of that parcel, mother title, and open a new one of each unit as described in the plan.
On opening a register, the registrar shall issue certificate to indicate share in the common property such as corridor, shared amenities etc. The common property shall be held by each owner of the unit as tenants in common in shares proportionate to the unit held.
There shall be a corporation which shall be in charge of running and management of the units. Upon registration of the sectional property units, the registrar shall issue certificate to effect the registration of the corporation that shall possess the characteristics of a company including but not limited to suing and being sued.
Based on the developments on this area of law, specifically Sectional Property Act 2020, section 13 read together with sec 54(5) of Land Registration Act 2012, any person who holds a long term sub-leases, should start the conversion process to have the sub lease converted into a sectional title so as to enjoy the full protection and safeguards of the law. This is done by surrendering the original title to the land Registrar who shall do the conversion. Failure to do this, restriction is put on the title which shall block any dealings or transfer of that parcel of land or building.
The current jurisprudence lies on the case of Skyview Properties Limited and another V Njoroge 2025, in Environmental and Land court, where it held that where long-term sub-leases intended to confer ownership of apartments exist, the developer is obliged to register a sectional plan and surrender the original title to the Registrar so separate unit registers can be opened. The developer cannot bypass the statutory mechanism just because they sold units; they must comply with the Act’s conversion requirements.
Note that sectional property can either be freehold or leasehold depending on the underlying nature.
At MMS Advocates, we ensure legal compliance is in line with the Sectional Properties Act requirements including proper title conversion and registration.