As a person residing in the Diaspora, I have attempted to purchase three properties in the Kenyan market over the last 10 years. In all three cases, I did not receive the property but ended up losing my money. In the first case I bought a house in Mlolongo, Mavoko Municipality that was offered by Archer Drummond Morgan (ADM), it was a three bedroom bungalow with nice servant's quarter. When the property was constructed the seller claimed that we did not make the final payment in time and asked to refund our deposit which we declined. They turned around and claimed that the house had structural damage hence it needed to be pulled down which was not true.

We filed a suit and ended up paying Kshs. 590,000.00 in arbitration fees. We won at the arbitration and at that point thought we had the home but alas Kenya being Kenya, they appealed even though arbitration awards are generally not appealable except on points of law. Anyhow they lost the appeal and again we thought the home was ours. In contempt of court, they have either sold the home or rented it to another family as it is now occupied.  My lawyer asked for Kshs. 2.5 million to finish the case! We had bought the house in 2005 for Kshs.2.9 million! We are still waiting for justice and equity.

In the other transaction, we bought two plots in Utange offered for sale by an agent known as Anthony Kamau and sponsored by Omondi Waweru and Company Advocates. We put down a deposit of Kshs. 550,000.00 but when the titles came out, it turned that they were fraudulent. We are still waiting for our deposits from this law firm that has turned out to be run in the most unethical manner.

Do these woes sound familiar to you? This blog is your forum to name and shame fraudsters camouflaging as real estate agents and lawyers. Let your ordeal be the engine that cleans the Kenyan market of illegality and changes how we transact real estate. Share your story!

Richard Ngibuini, LLB, MBA, BCBA