A Kenyan appeals court has ruled that a prime seafront plot in Mombasa, created when the Indian Ocean permanently receded in the early 2000s, belongs to the state, rejecting rival claims by a private developer and a public university college.
In a judgment that reinforces public control over newly formed coastal land, three Court of Appeal judges in Mombasa upheld a High Court decision to cancel a title held by Timeless Properties Limited and dismissed Mombasa Polytechnic University College’s assertion of ownership through “dereliction”, the legal principle governing land gained from water.
The disputed 0.43-hectare plot, known as Plot 430, emerged along the city’s seafront after the shoreline retreated below its usual mark. Timeless Properties obtained a leasehold title, while the adjacent polytechnic argued the land naturally accreted to its bounded campus.
The appellate bench, reviewing historical maps and survey reports, found the polytechnic’s existing land was “ager limitatus”, fixed by beacons and walls under Roman-Dutch law, preventing automatic extension into the new formation.
“Plot 430 was never part of Plot 180,” the judges wrote, noting the developer’s title stemmed from an irregular alienation process under the repealed Government Lands Act.
Timeless Properties insisted it had followed due process, citing a letter of allotment and registered lease. The court disagreed, stating titles are not indefeasible if allocation was unlawful.
The ruling underscores that land created by marine recession vests in the state unless adjoining owners prove prior rights, a burden neither claimant met. The government may now re-alienate the plot constitutionally.
