West Park Towers, Mpesi Lane, Westlands, Nairobi | info@mukambalaw.com | 

Yes — but a trust will not do what a lot of investors quietly hope it will

By Eugene Mukamba, Advocate

We get this question from almost every foreign client eyeing Kenyan land: can a trust let me hold property the way a Kenyan citizen would?

The honest answer, stated plainly at the outset, is no — and any adviser who tells you otherwise is setting you up for an unpleasant surprise at the registry.

The Constitutional Limit a Trust Cannot Route Around

Article 65 of the Constitution restricts a person who is not a Kenyan citizen to leasehold tenure only, capped at 99 years — freehold ownership is reserved for citizens.

Critically, Article 65(3) extends this to trusts directly: property held in trust is treated as citizen-held only if the entire beneficial interest is held by Kenyan citizens.

A trust benefiting a foreign settlor or foreign beneficiaries does not convert foreign ownership into citizen ownership — it remains subject to the same 99-year leasehold ceiling as if you held the property personally.

So What Does a Trust Actually Do for a Foreign Investor?

Within the 99-year leasehold ceiling that already applies to you as a foreigner, a trust remains a genuinely useful tool — just for different reasons than avoiding the restriction itself.

• It provides an orderly succession mechanism for your Kenyan leasehold interest, so it does not get tangled in a cross-border probate process on your death.
• It can hold and manage other Kenyan assets — shares in a Kenyan company, for instance — with the same governance and continuity benefits available to a citizen settlor.
• It can separate management of the property from ultimate beneficial ownership, useful where multiple foreign family members or investors hold an interest and want clear, enforceable rules for how decisions are made.

The Practical Route for Foreign Land Investment

For most foreign investors, the workable structure is a leasehold interest, held either personally or through a properly incorporated Kenyan company, with a trust layered on top for succession and governance — not a trust used as the primary ownership vehicle in an attempt to reach freehold. Getting the sequencing right from the outset avoids a costly restructuring later.