The Land (Amendment) Act, Act No. 21 of 2025 (the Land Amendment Act) received presidential assent on 15 October 2025 and commenced on 4 November 2025. It introduces critical enhancements to the administration and registration of public land. These changes aim to protect public land from illegal dealings and enhance certainty in public land dealings.
Overview of the amendments
The amendments contained in the Land (Amendment) Act clarify the process of registration of public land that has been set aside for public purposes.
Any public body or institution receiving land from the National Land Commission (NLC) is required to apply to the land registrar for registration of the public land in the name of the public body (where such public body has its own separate legal personality), in the name of the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning (where such body is unincorporated and has no separate legal personality) or in the name of the relevant county government.
Notably, where an owner of land applies for development permission under the Physical Planning and Land Use Act, such as subdivision or amalgamation, and as part of such process, a portion of land is set aside for public purposes, whether voluntarily or as a condition for such approval.
Then the land set aside as such will be registered as public land, likely in the name of the county government unless another public body such as a roads authority has claim to such land – e.g. if the portion of land surrendered is for purposes of a road, then the Kenya National Highways Authority, Kenya Urban Roads Authority, or Kenya Rural Roads Authority  may require such land to be registered in their name.
Upon registration, the land registrar is required to publish the particulars of the registration in the Kenya Gazette and issue a certificate of title to the relevant public body or entity.
Conclusion
All landowners should be aware of these new amendments, especially where they intend to seek approvals under the Physical Planning and Land Use Act. Any portions of land surrendered to the government as part of the approval process, or land set aside for public purposes by land buying companies, shall, going forward, be registered in the name of the relevant public body or county government.
