After reading about 3 of Marty's post, I realized how educative and practical they are, hence I decided to start reading from his 1st (The power of financial education)post. Thank you Marty 4 free education..4 new-farer like me...join-in the party of the serious investors. and start with his 1st post.

@Marty

AKA Godsend. Cant wait for the next post. God Bless.

@marty, resist being subverted. Why sell anything while you can 'profitably' give it for free? Asante @Marty.

@Mukiri thanks true its a desire that wount go away and somethings r better experienced taking into consideration what the wazuans have advised me.thanks

What you need to note is that 'controlling an area' is ideally supposed to be done by the physical planner of the area. However, we know that there is no proper zoning of development hence the reason you see flats next to bungalows and the general confusion. However, resident associations (esp the strong ones) do actually control development and enforce compliance in most cases in liaison with the councils at their jurisdiction.

Your challenge from a legal point of view is the requirement to do a change of user from agricultural to commercial or residential multi-dwelling. If you were to strictly follow the Physical planning act (am not sure whether it has been repealed and what is currently in force), it requires you to place a notice (in the dailies) and also erect a notice next to the land detailing your proposed change. It further demands that you hold a meeting with your neighbours minutes of which form part of the documentation to be presented before the change of user is granted. The residents (or your neighbours) have a right to block the approval if at all they have a valid reason which sometimes would be at the discretion of a court if you cannot agree. But in the past and maybe even currently, people circumvent the procedure and somehow get the change of user.

My advise would be; it seems that there is a lot of pressure around the area and somehow the association may yield altogether at some point. I am not sure whether you have the luxury of time to wait for that. If you force your way, there is real possibility that your approval maybe blocked, with the new katiba you can never assume that you will bulldoze.

Another point u need to consider is that change of user if done using the right procedure takes a lot of time...especially due to what we call circlation of the plan briefs which ideally must go through the relevant council, the physical planner, the land officer and then back to the council for the issuance of the letter...I did one which lasted 8 months..hope I have advised to the best of my knowledge....