[Source: Daily Nation, by Joseph Wangui]
A housing development company has lost ownership of a prime piece of land in Malindi to squatters as the legal principle of adverse possession continues to trip up clueless land owners.
Fort Properties Ltd lost a 142-acre parcel to a group of 240 squatters after the Environment and Land Court ruled in favour of the squatters in a case they filed in 2012 against the housing firm. The squatters moved to court together with 145 others seeking ownership of the land,registered as Plot No. 130 in Malindi.
Justice James Olola found only 240 of the 385 plaintiffs had proved to be genuine squatters and had also proved a case of adverse possession.
The evidence tabled in court showed that the land was largely unoccupied when the squatters moved in. They took possession without any objection from the registered owners, Bacha Noor Mohamed & Partners and Tropical Village Apartments Ltd, who in October 1987 sold the land to Fort Properties.
To support their claim, the squatters said they had buried their relatives on the land, registered a welfare association (the Mtangani Welfare Association) for purposes of processing titles for their parcels, and built schools, churches and mosques. The squatters cited a letter written by the area chief in 1992 to show that they were already on the suit property at the time.
They also cited as evidence of the long peaceful and uninterrupted occupation the hundreds of buildings whose photographs were produced in court. The plaintiffs accused the company of trying to use force to re-assert ownership of the land.
Due to the may years they have lived on the land, the squatters said, the housing firm has been holding the title in trust for them as its title stands extinguished by the operation of the law. But the company through its Property Manager, Akil Rahimji, denied that the squatters had been on the land for 30 years.
He stated that in 2011, they met the plaintiffs and agreed to survey the land in order to determine how much of it was free, how much was occupied and how much had structures.
The intention was to negotiate with squatters and to sell the portions of the occupied land to them. However when they started the survey, the company was served with a court order stopping it.
The court stated that claimants of adverse possession are required to show continuous possession of the land for 12 years or more.
[Full article: Daily Nation, by Joseph Wangui]
