In this day and age, building green homes should be the only way to build our homes. This involves taking advantage of sustainable design to using green materials and even fixtures. As you embark on building your home consider the following: A few considerations in building green homes Size matters A smaller house means less building resources and lower running costs when living in it. Smaller houses...

This is not a new tax being introduced by the finance bill 2012 The Income Tax CHAPTER 470 of the laws of Kenya has always given KRA the powers to Tax Rent Income just like any other Income. The following is an extract from the said Act. “Section 3 (1) Subject to, and in accordance with, this Act, a tax to be known as income tax shall be charged for each year of income upon all the income of a person,...

The Law Rental income is taxable under Section 3(2) (a) (iii) of the Income Tax Act, Cap 470 Laws of Kenya. In addition, rent on non-residential buildings (Commercial) is also taxable under Section 5 and 6 VAT Act Cap 476. What is Taxable? All rent, premium or any other consideration for use or occupation of property. Rates of Taxation Taxation rates are dependent on whether the taxable person is an...

What is considered rental income for tax purposes? Who is taxable? Is taxation on rental income a new law? Is this a new tax and will the burden be passed to tenants through increase in rent? I have not been declaring tax on rental income so I am in a dilemma on how to compute the tax due. The media has given the impression that rental income will be taxed at 30%. Please clarify this. I am...

Real estate investment is one of the most popular investment options, other than stock and forex trading and investment. In fact, many high profile investors, and billionaires, and the market watchers are of the view that it is better and safe to invest in the real estate and the mortgage market. This is because, both stock and forex investments are much more complex, and involves risks at various...

Yesterday I went to value a property in Nyahururu. As usual, I carried my tape measure, camera and a map of the parcel that I had gone to inspect. I didn’t carry my scale rule as I should, coz in the past I have not really had to use it in Nyahururu. After all , the smaller the luggage, the better for me since I was using public transport. When I arrived in Nyahururu town, I met with my client and we...

There is this tycoon that had bought land along Kangundo road. The reason I call him a tycoon is because apart from the 5 acres that we are talking about, he had many other parcels of land scattered across the country. Let’s just say he was a typical Kikuyu man who had accumulated a lot of “wealth”. Let’s call him Mr Gitonga. Just like all of us, once you have bought a parcel of land and fenced it,...

Two weeks ago, a guy came to our office. He looked like he is in his late 20s and asked the receptionist how much it would cost to do a valuation and to do a search separately. This was strange since a search is normally part of valuation so we don’t charge it separately. The receptionist referred him to me. For the sake of this illustration, let’s call him Peter. When Peter started explaining what he...

The other day, my friend called me. He sounded very excited. After a minute of catching up, he told me that he needed my opinion. He had finally found land that he could afford. He told me that he had found some land in a County not far from Nairobi that was selling at a very fair price. He said, “I saw an advert that an acre is going for Kshs 30,000 per acre”. He said that the neighboring land was...

This morning in a local fm station, the presenter talked about a certain “investment of a lifetime”. Am not really a fun of listening to him but due to unavoidable circumstances, am compelled to listen in as I go to work. This is not the first time he has used the above words to describe a property…I guess he has a standard script and all he does is change the name of the property. Anyway, that’s...