The Land ministry has from today stopped all manual payment of fees and duties on property transfers and registrations, as it seeks to ease processing of land dealings.
Land owners will, however, have to liaise with land registries to have their properties validated and reflected on the online platform before being able to transact through eCitizen.
Transfer of ownership, land rent, rates, consent fees, registration fees, stamp duty, caveats and official land searches will all be done through the eCitizen platform.
The ministry had in January last year shifted land rent and official searches payments to the eCitizen platform.
Stamp duty
In October, last year, it added payment of stamp duty to the list of online payments.
To complete a transaction revolving around land, one will now have to log onto the ministry’s page on the eCitizen platform, select “manage property” which will then show a number of options ranging from rent payment to transfers.
“The Ministry of Land and Physical Planning has upgraded the electronic transaction management system to ease the processing of transactions at the ministry. All required fees and duties will be paid online through www.ecitizen.go.ke portal from December 4, 2017.”
“For your land to be listed on the manage property page, you are required to validate it with your local land registry with your original title/certificate of lease, your original ID card and KRA pin during working hours. This will enable linking your land with your particulars,” Land principal secretary Nicholas Muraguri announced Sunday.
Large payments
For large payments, individuals will make payments to accounts at KCB which will be sent to one’s phone upon request for a transaction through the eCitizen platform.
The automation of payments is expected to weed out middlemen who broker land deals at a fee, while adding transparency to transactions, according to a ministry communication last year after rolling out the rent payment automation.
Long queues and unending paperwork usually discourages several individuals from following the processes at the lands registries, which pushes several people towards brokers who can complete searches and payments in a matter of hours.
Others have also opted to pay advocates, who charge between Sh2,500 and Sh5,000 to conduct land searches and even more to complete land transactions on behalf of individuals seeking to sell or purchase land.