Wazua property barons any experience with this?

There are these new properties for example www.migaa.com and another Longonot Gate resort etc. When you make serious inquiries, you are shown a big space on a map - not yet subdivided, no lease available, no plot no - and you just pay a registraiton/booking fee.

The deal with all is work in progress and you leave with receipt and promise of a secret ballot when they get organized to determine your actual plot.

In fact further inquiry shows your money is being used for initial purchase of big space on map from the seller.

Greater risk=greater gain but your lawyer won't like it. Anyone with experience in this and how did it pan out in the end. Is this the thing CMA wants to begin reigning in coz it sure looks like raising funds?

@For Sport, thanks.

I've consulted further with lawyer who advises legal redress would be difficult. As a shareholder, he says if it all went bust then I loose my money. From the angle of having booked with a deposit, I'm not a secured lender.

Too much risk; I'll look elsewhere

However this transaction is structured, your main interest here is the land. Being shown possibilities on a map is not enough. If things go wrong, you cant even sue for specific performance (to compel the seller to transfer a specific parcel of land to you); you dont even know what you were buying in the first place, and it doesnt belong to the person selling to you - yet.

Curious though, any other documentation you get aside from the receipt? What is it exactly that they undertake to do?

And you’re right about the increased risk. It has too many what ifs. What if they dont acquire the land from whoever you say they are buying from? What if they dont get ALL the necessary approvals for the project (subdivision, development)? What if they cant afford to refund you? What if they can afford to refund you and sell to someone else at a premuim once the project has taken shape?

You might want to pay a bit more for a project that has already taken some shape.

Apart from the receipt, i know there is an agreement that is signed.. Muganda, did the lawyer say this agreement is not enforceable? I

@muganda, snt it the same we do when we are buying houses off plan? your deposits are used in construction of the same houses? have you been to Vipingo in coast? It started like this... it picked and those who invested there have seen their investment go up several folds.... This COULD pick up but am not ruling out it going burst!

Investments are a risk.... but of course this one has more risks than when you are dealing with the owner of the plots... but either way, you cant invest without risking.... Personally, i see it as an opportunity..

Disclaimer:- I have interest and we are picking our plot today.

Lawyer issues:

If arranger is still in the process of acquiring the land, title has not been transfered making it impossible to confirm validity of ownership.

Since legal/subdivision/ownership runs behind the offer, deal is basically on TRUST unable to pin arranger down.

How would you file suit in court with only an offer letter and deposit paid? An agreement for purchase/lease clearly stipulating events for default by arranger is a minimum.

Realise also the setup does not provide a tradeable instrument that could be transfered/sold should the need arise.



@ForSport, there may be variations but many just furnish an offer letter which you use to pay deposit. Agreements to be signed within x weeks after. Am I right @Wendz?

So @Wendz, the problem is a business deal that does not cover you much should anything go wrong. That, at a time when there are many options in the property market.

Hello Wazuans, am a newbie to this great forum which has informed me variously over the past few years on several occasions. @Ndaragwa, you are absolutely correct re Escrow. I must say I thought the Migaa development would be working along the same lines - if not, that's strange. However Hass Consult is pushing the project hard (I spoke with the Hassanali girls) and if it goes belly up it would damage their credibility somewhat, and I doubt they would risk that. Maybe something to bear in mind.

Am a newbie too in real estate matters.... SAC Cohen & wazuans. Please shed some light on what sublease transactions are all about.