Suppose three siblings are registered together on one parcel of land.
The title shows that each owns a one-third share. They have agreed that they would now prefer separate plots, so that each person can hold and use their own parcel independently.
The first question is usually where each one-third share sits on the ground.
It does not.
When land is registered to people as tenants in common, each person owns an undivided share in the whole parcel. A one-third share describes the person’s interest in the property. It does not mean the left third, the road frontage or the portion around a particular house.
Partition is the process used to separate those undivided shares into individual parcels.
The survey work helps turn the agreed arrangement into measurable boundaries, survey records and new parcel information that can be registered.
What does the survey team check first?
The starting point is the existing parcel and the way the owners are recorded.
The title or land register should show the registered proprietors and their shares. The survey team also needs the parcel number and the survey records that define the existing property.
These may include the cadastral map, previous survey plans, mutation records, deed plans and information about adjoining parcels.
The existing parcel is sometimes called the parent parcel because the new plots will be created from it.
Before designing the partition, the team needs to understand where that parent parcel lies and whether its existing boundary evidence agrees with the survey records.
If a boundary beacon is missing, a previous survey contains a discrepancy or the recorded parcel cannot be confidently related to the site, that issue may need to be dealt with before the new internal boundaries are established.
The Survey Regulations require the available information from previous surveys of the land and adjoining plots to be obtained before the survey is carried out.
What does a one-third share become?
Suppose the parent parcel is three acres and all three siblings hold equal one-third shares.
It may be tempting to draw two straight lines across the land and call each resulting strip one acre.
The site may not make that sensible.
The road may enter from only one side. A house may already occupy part of the property. A drainage route may cross one corner. The shape of the parent parcel may also make three simple strips difficult to use.
The proposed partition therefore needs a layout showing the resulting plots and how they relate to the existing property.
The owners need to agree on the arrangement they want to pursue. The survey team can then measure the site and prepare the survey information needed to support that arrangement.
The registered shares remain important, but an undivided share on the title does not itself tell the surveyor where to place a new boundary.
How is access dealt with?
Each resulting plot needs to make sense as a separate property.
In our example, suppose the public road touches only the western side of the parent parcel. If the land is divided into three plots running from west to east, the rear plots still need an identifiable way to reach the road.
The layout may provide a road within the partition or another properly recorded access arrangement, depending on the approved scheme and the circumstances of the property.
This is one reason it is useful to think about the resulting parcels before the new boundaries are placed on the ground.
A line can divide an area mathematically while still producing a plot that is difficult to reach or use.
Existing buildings also matter. If one sibling is intended to retain the house, the proposed line should be examined in relation to the building, access and the rest of the site before the survey is finalised.
Does the county approve the layout?
The registration documents for a partition include a copy of the relevant county development approval.
This means the proposed arrangement is not simply drawn on site and taken straight to the land registry.
The layout must pass through the applicable approval process for the property. The survey submitted afterwards must conform to the approval obtained.
The Survey Regulations require a surveyor, before submitting the survey, to make sure that any approval required for the transaction has been obtained and that the survey agrees with it.
For the owners, the useful document is therefore not merely a sketch showing who wants which portion. The approved layout becomes part of the information guiding the survey and registration work.
What happens during the field survey?
Once the relevant records and approved layout are available, the survey team establishes the partition on the ground.
The team checks the existing boundary evidence, takes the measurements needed to relate the new plots to the parent parcel and establishes the new boundary positions.
New beacons may be placed to mark the corners of the resulting parcels.
A beacon is a physical survey mark identifying a boundary point. The measurements used to establish it are recorded so that the survey can be checked and the point can be related to the rest of the work.
The survey also produces field notes, calculations and plans.
Field notes record the observations and measurements made during the survey.
The computations show how the measured information was used to calculate positions and areas.
The survey plan presents the resulting geometry in a form that can be checked against the survey records and the approved arrangement.
The important connection is that the new boundaries on the ground, the measured survey and the approved partition should describe the same arrangement.
What does the mutation form do?
A mutation form records the change being made to the parcel arrangement.
For a partition, the prescribed mutation form is Form LRA 27.
The form begins with the existing title details and the registered proprietors’ instructions to the surveyor. Partition is one of the transactions that can be selected on the form.
The survey section then records the layout measured on site. The surveyor confirms that the plotted information contains the actual field measurements and takes responsibility for the survey work.
The proprietors also confirm that the boundary extent of the resulting parcels has been shown to them.
Later sections provide for the new parcel numbers, amendment of the cadastral map, certification of the survey information and registration by the Land Registrar.
For the owners, this makes the mutation form useful for following the work from one co-owned parcel to the resulting parcel records.
A partially completed mutation does not mean the partition has finished. The checking, parcel-number allocation, map amendment and registration sections show which later stages have been completed.
What is submitted for registration?
The Land Registration Regulations prescribe a specific application for partition.
Where the tenants in common have agreed, the application is made in Form LRA 29.
The supporting documents include the title or certificate of lease for the parcel, the cadastral map, the registered mutation, the county development approval and any consent required for the transaction.
For parcels with fixed boundaries, a cadastral plan is also required for each resulting parcel.
A cadastral plan is a geo-referenced plan approved by the authority responsible for land survey. Where the boundary system requires one, it provides the survey information for the resulting parcel.
The documents allow the registry to connect the existing co-ownership, the approved layout and the completed survey to the parcels created by the partition.
What if one of the owners does not agree?
The survey team cannot settle an ownership disagreement simply by choosing where to draw the line.
The Land Registration Act provides a separate process where one or more tenants in common want partition but all the co-owners do not consent.
An application can be made to the Land Registrar. The Registrar hears the affected co-owners and considers matters including the nature and location of the land, the registered shares, improvements made to the property and whether the proposed partition would allow the land to be properly used.
The Land Registration Regulations prescribe Form LRA 30 for an application made without the consent of all tenants in common and Form LRA 31 for the notice of hearing.
The resulting survey should follow the arrangement that is properly authorised through that process. A disagreement between owners is therefore something to identify before the survey team treats a proposed internal line as settled.
What if the land is charged to a lender?
A charge can affect the partition.
If an undivided share is subject to a charge, the Land Registration Act requires the lender’s written consent before the partition can be registered.
The Land Registration Regulations prescribe Form LRA 32 for that consent.
This is the kind of issue the owners should identify early. A partition layout may be technically workable on the ground while a registered interest still has to be dealt with before the resulting parcels can be registered.
The title and land-register information help establish whether such an interest exists.
What should you have at the end?
For our three-sibling example, you should be able to follow the property from the original co-owned parcel to the separate parcels created from it.
The records should show the approved layout, the completed survey, the mutation, the resulting parcel numbers and the registration of the partition.
On the ground, the new boundary positions should correspond with the survey records.
Each owner should also understand which resulting parcel relates to their registered interest and how that parcel is accessed.
The point of the process is not merely to put three sets of beacons into one piece of land. It is to make the physical layout, survey record and land register describe the same partition.
What should you send to Walterland?
Send the parcel number, location and a copy of the current title or certificate of lease.
If you already have a cadastral map, survey plan, mutation form, deed plan, approved layout or earlier survey report, include it.
Explain who the registered co-owners are, the shares shown in the register and the arrangement the owners would like to achieve.
Also mention any buildings, access issues, existing boundary concerns or registered charge that may affect the proposed partition.
These details help the team identify the records, approvals and survey work needed before new boundaries are established.
Related Walterland services and guides
- Cadastral surveys: Establish new parcel boundaries and prepare the survey records required for an approved partition.
- Boundary verification: Check the parent parcel’s existing marks and occupation before new internal boundaries are established.
- How subdivision works: Understand the related process of dividing a parent parcel into separately registered plots.
- Missing land beacons in Kenya: See how a surveyor investigates a missing boundary mark before relying on it.
- When title area and the ground differ: Learn why boundary evidence must be resolved before interpreting an area difference.
Do co-owners want separate parcels?
Send the parcel number, location, title copy, registered shares and the arrangement the owners hope to achieve. Walterland can advise on the records, approvals and survey work needed before new boundaries are placed.
Need to understand the parent parcel first? Read the boundary-verification guide →
Legal references
General guidance, not a determination of a particular co-ownership or legal advice. A licensed surveyor and the relevant professionals should check the register, approvals and applicable process for the property.