Owners of unregistered land risk losing it to squatters if it is not listed in 12 years.
Justice Oscar Angote yesterday said the Limitations Act allows squatters to acquire title deeds through adverse possession after 12 years.
He explained the concept of adverse possession during the annual judges colloquium in Mombasa.
In the case of a registered title, the registered proprietor holds it in trust for the person who acquired the title by virtue of statute.
There are thousands of adverse possessors at the Coast.
They forcibly settle on the land, making the owners give it up. This has led to chaos and bloodshed.
Angote said people who retain land through adverse possession can apply to the High Court for an order so they are registered as proprietors.
“The fact that one is an adverse possessor does not give him title, but prevents the owner from asserting his title and forms a basis for applying to have the title issued to them by the court,” he said.
Angote said the consent of the Land Control Board should be obtained six months after the High Court ruling, a procedure he disagrees with.
Angote said that since the occupation is illegal for lack of the consent of the board, the claimant cannot succeed under the doctrine of adverse possession.
He said, however, a suit can be filed for extension of time within which to obtain the consent of the board.
The colloquium started on Monday and will end on Friday. The judiciary said there will be minimum activities at the High Court divisions outside Mombasa during the conference.
The colloquium is organised by the Judiciary Training Institute once a year during the August vacation. Since judges are away, they are required to write judgments for the cases they have heard.