Urban population in Kenya is rapidly growing posing a major challenge in housing that has seen majority of urban inhabitants reside in informal settlement commonly known as slums. With a deficit of 250,000 thousand housing units per annum, a new building technology in Kenya known as Expanded Polystyrene Panel EPS technology is expected to turn around construction industry. The technology that uses...

First published in November 2013 There was an investor forum in Nyeri county a while back and some of the dignitaries in the meeting asked the Nyeri county Governor to emulate Dr Alfred Mutua, the Governor of Machakos county. Every one seems to be singing praises of Dr Mutua, myself included, but maybe a critical look into his ambitious plans for Machakos might open our eyes to the harsh reality that he...

When my wife and i got our first baby, we were very anxious about the thought of bringing in a 3rd party to take care of our bundle of joy. At first, we wanted to get a house help who would do everything else in the house apart from touching our baby. However, as fate would have it, after my paternity break and my wife’s maternity break, it was time to leave our small prince in the arms of our house...

There has been an increase in Islamic housing finance products across Islamic compliant banks, a move that has prompted conventional banks to offer such products. What is behind this trend? We are witnessing increased appreciation of Islamic banking, which is based on sharing of profits and losses. This has led to an influx of Islamic banking products, one such being the Islamic mortgage finance, which...

So I get this email from a lady from a local bank asking to collaborate with us on projects. She rightly points out that because most projects are killed by lack of financing, we should work together seeing that I am deeply involved in this sector. She goes on to give me snap shot of their success projects done in town, which are quite impressive and are the talk of town. Wait a minute, are banks now...

Qualifying for a mortgage is a process that begins with self. Self evaluation helps to determine ones level of commitment and prepare one psychologically especially on what to expect. This culminates with an interview with a mortgage lender to determine the various options available and it is the first step in risk assessment performed by the lender to determine key fundamentals of lending including...

Inheritance in Kenya is guided by the Law of Succession Act Cap 160 of the Laws of Kenya. Under this Act, a person may either die testate or intestate. A person dies testate when he has made a valid will on how his property should be distributed on his death. A person dies intestate when he has not made a will on how his property will be distributed on his death or his will has been invalidated. If a...

First published on April 1, 2014 in the Daily Nation Speculators who have bought land close to the planned Konza Technology City may be in for a rude shock as the government implements stringent physical planning guidelines for the area. A local physical development plan for the 252km square buffer zone around the planned city has set minimum plot sizes that may restrict land owners from developing their...

First published on April 15, 2014 Last Saturday I was speaking to several leaders of various cooperative societies and saccos in Nairobi and its environs. The default thing that these saccos (and am sure this is what your sacco or coop society is doing, raise your right hand if am wrong…) do is buying large parcels of land, they subdivide it and sell it to its members and make a “small profit”. This...

Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop. This requires control for the following reasons. To ensure that each subplot has adequate access roads, open spaces and social infrastructure. To ensure that the proposed population density can be served by the available services. To ensure planned and coordinated development so as to avoid...