The Supreme Court of Kenya’s decision in Dina Management Limited v County Government of Mombasa & 5 Others [2023] KESC 30 (KLR), affirming the Court of Appeal’s earlier judgment in Civil Appeal No. 150 of 2019, has fundamentally altered the landscape of property transactions in Kenya. As an advocate practising in conveyancing, I consider it important to bring this development to the attention of clients, investors, and the wider public to help all of us navigate the new legal environment it has created.
“A registered title is no longer, by itself, sufficient proof that your ownership is secure.”
What happened in the Dina Case?
Dina Management Limited purchased a beachfront property in Nyali, Mombasa-MN/I/6053 from a registered owner. It was not the first, nor even the second, purchaser of the property. It had a registered title. On the face of the land register, everything appeared regular.
In 2017, however, the County Government of Mombasa entered the property without prior notice, demolished the perimeter wall, and flattened the land to beach level, asserting that the property was public land that had never lawfully been available for private ownership.
The courts ultimately agreed. The original 1989 allocation of the land, made to a previous owner, was found to have been done without the requisite Part Development Plan (PDP) approval and in disregard of an existing public access road to the beach. Due to the fact that the root of title was irregular, the courts held that no subsequent owner, not even an innocent third-party purchaser who had paid good money for the property, could claim protection under the doctrine of indefeasibility of title. Dina Management was evicted. No compensation was ordered.