Jennifer Chebet Sang v Jane Jeptoo Sawe [2015] KEELC 472 (KLR)
The bottom line
#The Kitale court ruled that land sale agreements without Land Control Board consent within six months are void, so the buyer's family lost the land.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Validity of the three sale agreements for want of land control board consent
The agreements became null and void for want of consent, and the defendant could not claim the 6 acres under them
The suit land was agricultural land requiring land control board consent under the Land Control Act. No consent was applied for or obtained within six months of the agreements dated between 28.4.1983 and 1.4.1985. The transactions therefore became void, and no legal interest passed to the defendant or her late husband.
Adverse possession
The defendant had not been in peaceful continuous possession for 12 years; time was stopped in 1987 by the filing of the Tribunal claim
Possession began on the dates of the sale agreements, and even computing time from six months after each agreement, only slightly over 3 years had elapsed before Jennifer Sang filed the Tribunal claim in 1987, which was adopted as judgment in Kitale SRM Land Case No. 10 of 1987. Filing a suit for recovery of land stops time running.
Constructive trust
No constructive trust arose; the circumstances differ from Macharia Mwangi Maina and Sammy Likunyi Adiema
Constructive trust acts on the conscience of the legal owner. Here the sale was opposed from the outset by the plaintiff, her husband was of unsound mind, possession was not peaceful due to litigation, and the defendant filed no counterclaim, her belated attempt having been rejected for lateness and lack of letters of administration.
Legal principles established
#- An agricultural land transaction effected without land control board consent becomes null and void after six months
- The filing of a suit for recovery of land stops time running for purposes of adverse possession under section 38 of the Limitation of Actions Act
- Constructive trust is a matter of evidence dependent on the peculiar circumstances of each case
Court orders
#- 1.A declaration that the late Sylvester Kimagut Sang is the sole registered owner of the land comprised in title no. Kaplamai/Kachibora Block 2/Mateket/95
- 2.The defendant to move out of the land voluntarily or be forcefully evicted forthwith
- 3.A permanent injunction against the defendant or anyone claiming under her from interfering with the suit land
- 4.The defendant to pay the costs of the suit to the plaintiff
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Original civil jurisdiction of the Environment and Land Court over the suit land LR No. Kaplamai/Kachibora Block 2/Mateket/95
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
- Board of Governors Kenya Baptist Theological College v Evans Mwana Katana Dzuya [2021] KEELRC 1342 (KLR)[2021] KEELRC 1342 (KLR)3 Jun 2021applied
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Jennifer Chebet Sang v Jane Jeptoo Sawe [2015] KEELC 472 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2015). Land Case No. 122 of 2012. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2015/472/eng@2015-05-05
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.