Court Rules on When a Wife's Consent Is Required Before Land Is Auctioned

Kenya’s Court of Appeal clarified that under Section 79(3) of the Land Act, consent to charge a matrimonial home is required from the spouse living there. In the case, a company secured a Ksh20.6 million loan with land registered to its director, and the lender began auction proceedings after the borrower defaulted. The director’s first wife said she had not been consulted, but the court found she had never lived on the property; another wife lived there and had consented, while the bank did not know the first wife existed. The court ruled that the bank had followed the required notice procedures and found no legal basis to stop the auction.