That of "legal" property usurpation is a phenomenon that has always created problems in Kenya for those who bought land and realized that they could not kick out squatters (often read "ancestral owners") to build on it or start any business.
It is an issue that affects both foreigners buying property in Kenya and Kenyans themselves and increasingly creates difficult negotiations as well as diatribes and disputes that often result in endless court cases.

This is an issue that has come back into fashion lately, because with the economic difficulties of so many Kenyans and the collapse of the local currency, the Kenyan shilling, real estate is one of the most attractive and seemingly "easy" investments to undertake in the country. The potential increase in property value in the medium to long term, given the exponential growth of many regions and areas, the regular income through rent payments, the ability to leverage for loans and mortgages, and the still all-too-low prices of construction materials and especially labor.

Often, precisely, one of the most important issues that is underestimated concerns the presence on the land or even in the purchased property of people living there illegally, so-called "squatters." It may happen that they are already found in the acres of land acquired with regular title or, if the property is left unattended, that they squat on it.
In this case in Kenya it is even more difficult than in Italy to get rid of these presences that apparently may seem irregular.

Indeed, according to the law in Kenya, "a person obtains the right to own land by reason of actual, open and continuous occupation for a certain number of years, even if it belongs to someone else." As a rule, under Sections 7, 13 and 38 of the "Limitation of Actions Act," the prescribed period is 12 years, after which even a squatter can go to the High Court and apply to be registered as the owner of the land or lease instead of the original owner of the land.

The problem is that there is also a difficult interpretation of the precedent, so one has to be very careful when buying, to understand whether there is a presence, even occasional (and even, for a house, service personnel living, for example, in an outbuilding). There are some not very comforting precedents, which have seen those who were settled prior to a transfer of ownership, succeed in taking possession of the land or otherwise bring the new owner, through lawsuit after lawsuit, to handout even substantial sums, compared to the cadastral value.
In the case of especially real estate, the time can even be reduced to five years if the tenant or squatter living in a property to which water or electricity (or both) are connected has registered the relevant accounts in his or her name.

All in all, buying land or real estate can still be a bargain in Kenya, but one should not take anything for granted and pay attention to many aspects, especially since the law that governs many matters in this regard, is not the Italian law but is a legacy of the British law, moreover from seventy years ago, and in many of its sections has never been changed.