In 2014, Paul Okoth Rege bought an eighth an acre at Oldonyo Ridge from Property Reality Company (PRC) at Ksh134,000. His heart throbbed with joy as he knew he would be one of the few land owners at the outskirts of Nairobi.
At first, he was told that the land was ‘only a few metres from the main road’, only to realise later that there was not even a footpath leading to the parcel of land. To make it worse, the land was not demarcated with any beacons, making it difficult for him to trace the boundaries of his land.
Being a patient man, Rege was promised that road to the land would be made and beacons laid. Four years down the line, nothing has happened, not the road has been made neither the beacons have been laid.
“I bough land from PRC in 2014. I received my title deed, but up to date they have not placed beacons as agreed. During the site survey, I saw graders and trucks indicating they were making the roads to the plots. They confirmed on the same with regards to access roads only to realize later it was a way of fooling us to believe the work is on progress. Currently, the land is not accessible as promised during purchase,” decries Rege.
Having lost his patience, Rege decided to sell the parcel of land to recover his money. This is when it dawned to him that he had bough a valueless land. No one could buy the land, not even at half the price. PRC could neither agree, even with the half price offer from Rege.
“I have even tried selling the land at half-price, but in vain. I even proposed to sell the land back to them at half price but they declined knowing very well that it has no value,” he says.
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Efforts by Rege to get mutation forms from the company bore no fruits, as they kept giving promises. This meant that Rege could not sell his land, as he could not amend the Registry Index Map (RIM) with the district Surveyor.
On May 16, 2016, Rege received a mail from Juliet Maina, a customer care representative with PRC promising to send him a mutation and survey plan that would enable him to sell his land.
“I have been following up with the production manager on providing a solution for you. I will be sending you a copy of the mutation and survey plan which you can use in the meantime as we wait to be issued with the RIM map that have coordinates you can use to locate your plot. With the mutation and the survey plan, you will be able to sell your plot,” read the mail from Juliet.
Three weeks later, Rege did not receive anything promised by Juliet. He therefore asked for an alternative e-mail address where he could launch his complains. This landed him to Catherine Mwai, the Customer Care Team leader for PRC.
Upon inquiry, the narrative of promises continued. Ms Mwai sent him a mail asking him to confirm whether he had received the mutation forms, without indicating the sender.
“I understand your frustration over the beacon process. Kindly confirm if you received the mutation form, as the email was resent to you last week by…” read the incomplete statement from Ms Mwai.
“I want to promise you that PRC is taking this matter with the utmost urgency and we are hoping to have the RIM issue sorted out as soon as possible,” continued Ms Mwai’s mail, dated May 16, 2016.
In January 2017, more than two years after the purchase, no beacon had been set, to the frustration of Rege who could not correctly locate his piece of land. He contacted Ms Mwai, who, as usual, continued with her sweet-talking antics.
“Your concerns are understandable, we apoligise for delays in beaconing process of Oldonyo project at Kajiado. We are doing everything possible to make sure that the process is fast tracked to meet your needs. We are in the process of outsourcing the service by engaging with several construction companies to assist us with the project. We assure you that we are committed to concluding this matter,” promised Ms Mwai.
Up to date, the only promise delivered to Mr Rege by PRC is the title deed, as he remains a frustrated man. To him, it feels like a daylight robbery from the property management company.
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