Nairobi, Sept. 28 -- Homeowners at Karibu Homes, also known as River View Estate in Athi River, recently raised concerns about their houses developing serious defects after moving in. Their complaints point to a wider question that recurs in Kenyan property disputes: What happens when the house develops serious defects after the keys are handed over?

Understanding what is going wrong structurally is the first step, because not every crack signals that a house is unsafe. Gitonga Muchiri, an assistant resident engineer at RailRoad EPC Consultants Ltd, says some cracking falls within limits allowed under engineering codes.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Business Daily....