A new bill to amend the Land Registrations Act has been proposed. The Land Registration (Amendment) Bill 2020 proposes to amend the Land Registration Act No. 3 of 2012 (the LRA) by introducing a complaints mechanism into the new act.
The amendment aims to provide members of the public with a forum to lodge complaints with respect to land registration and survey services in order to increase effective delivery of land registration and survey services.
The Bill proposes to amend the LRA by introducing a new part that provides a complaints mechanism to the public. The complaints mechanism introduced applies to both land registration services under the LRA and survey services under the Survey Act.
To support this end, the bill proposes to establish the office of a Complaints Reviewer empowered to:
- Receive, process and resolve all complaints relating to land registration and surveying lodged by the public;
- Recommend actions to remedy complaints relating to land registration and survey services at the Lands Registry and Survey of Kenya;
- Provide advisory opinions or proposals on the improvement of processes and procedures;
- Maintain a register and keep a file of all complaints, including proceedings and determinations;
- Submit quarterly and annual reports to the Cabinet Secretary on the complaints investigated, remedial actions recommended and matters pertaining to the Complaints Reviewer’s office; and
- Determine frequency of meetings, sittings and venues.
However, the Complaints Reviewer will not have the power to consider or review the merits of a decision of the Lands Registry and Director of Survey, matters concerning Lands Registry and Survey of Kenya employees or recruitment procedures, and matters that are subject to legal proceedings.
In addition, the Complaints Reviewer may only consider complaints within the internal complaints procedures at the Lands Registry and Survey of Kenya which have not been addressed to the satisfaction of the complainant.
“In the event the bill passes into law, the complaints mechanism will grant the public an avenue to raise their concerns in a forum that will help the land and survey processes improve service delivery,” says law firm Dentons HHM.
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