Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check a licensed estate agent in Kenya is to search the Estate Agents Registration Board’s public records, not a firm website, a social-media page or a property advert. The Board, checked on 12 November 2026, states on its homepage at estateagentsboard.or.ke that it is the regulatory body for estate agency practice in Kenya, that it derives its mandate from the Estate Agents Act, 1984, Cap 533, which was operationalized in 1987, and that it is under the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development. The same homepage says: “Only EARB registered and licensed Estate Agents with a current practicing annual certificate can conduct Estate Agency.”
On a count of the official Kenya Gazette of 27 March 2026 still posted by the Board on 12 November 2026, Gazette Notice No. 4432 had 707 printed name-and-registration-number rows, covering 706 unique names and 705 unique registration numbers. Gazette Notice No. 4433 listed 60 estate agents companies. This guide does not paste the names. Search the exact name and registration number. A later official gazette or a later Board list would supersede those counts. A registered valuer, a licensed land surveyor, an architect, a physical planner or an NCA contractor is not a licensed estate agent merely because they work on a property transaction.
On this page
In this guide
- What registration and an annual practising certificate are
- How to search for a licensed estate agent in Kenya
- What the March 2026 gazette includes, and what it omits
- How this sits with a land search and a tenancy agreement
- Who to contact at the Estate Agents Registration Board
- Frequently asked questions
What registration and an annual practising certificate are
The statutory basis is the Estate Agents Act, Cap 533. The Board’s own homepage, checked on 12 November 2026, defines an estate agent as “any one individual that is involved in selling and renting out buildings and land” and, in the next sentence, as “a person whose job is to arrange the sale, renting or management of homes, land and buildings for the owners.” The same page repeats that only a Board-registered and licensed estate agent with a current practising annual certificate may conduct estate agency.
The official Kenya Gazette of 27 March 2026 is still served from the Board’s site. The copy checked on 12 November 2026 is the PDF at estateagentsboard.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Kenya-Gazette-Vol-CXXVIIINo-56-131-146_fin.pdf.
Gazette Notice No. 4432 in that issue is headed “Registered Estate Agents”. It is made in accordance with section 9 of the Act, and it notifies the public that the “registered and licensed estate agents” named in that notice “have renewed their Annual Practicing Certificates as at 27th March, 2026 and are therefore sanctioned by the Board to practice as Estate Agents.” The notice is dated 25 March 2026 and signed by Hellen Abuya, Registrar. The columns printed for each person are Name, Reg. No, Qualification and Address.
Gazette Notice No. 4433, in the same issue, is headed “Listed Estate Agents Companies.” It notifies the public that the companies named in that notice “have been listed with the Estate Agents Registration Board as at 27th March, 2026.” It is also dated 25 March 2026 and signed by the same Registrar. A company appearing on that list is not a substitute for checking the individual agent who is handling your sale, letting or management instruction.
How to search for a licensed estate agent in Kenya
To check a licensed estate agent in Kenya, ask for the person’s full name, their Board registration number, and a copy of the current annual practising certificate. Then use the Board’s own tools, which were still public on 12 November 2026.
Search the members directory at members.estateagentsboard.or.ke/directory. The directory, checked the same day, lets you search by name or member number, filter by chapter (including “ESTATE AGENT” and “ESTATE AGENTS COMPANIES”) and browse by alphabet. Result cards carry a standing badge: “IN GOOD STANDING” or “NOT IN GOOD STANDING”. The Board’s own note on that page says it “presents at most 50 records” and tells you to use the filters to narrow the results. This guide does not invent a live headcount from that paginated list.
If you were given a certificate, use the Board’s certificate validation page at members.estateagentsboard.or.ke/validate. The page, checked on 12 November 2026, is titled “Certificate Validation” and tells you to verify “the authenticity and status of your certificates” by scanning the QR code on the document or by entering the certificate serial number “from the top right of the document”.
If you are dealing with a firm, also search the official firm directory at members.estateagentsboard.or.ke/directory?type=firms. In an 8 July 2026 notice still posted on 12 November 2026, the Board describes that directory as “an official online register of Board-approved estate agency firms in Kenya,” says listed firms “have successfully met the Board’s listing requirements,” and says those firms “are managed by registered estate agents.” A firm listing does not, on its own, prove that the person you met is the registered agent.
Compare what you were shown with Gazette Notice Nos. 4432 and 4433 if you need the 27 March 2026 snapshot. An agent who first renewed after that date, or a company listed after that date, would not appear on those notices. Use the live directory and the certificate validation page as well, not the gazette alone. Match the name on the certificate to the person in front of you. The directory and the gazette identify a registered name and a number; they do not, by themselves, prove that the person at a viewing is that agent.
What the March 2026 gazette includes, and what it omits
The count below is from the official PDF the Board still served on 12 November 2026, not from a later list and not from a media republication. It is the gazette snapshot behind a licensed estate agent in Kenya, not a live headcount. This guide does not paste the names, registration numbers, qualifications or addresses.
In Gazette Notice No. 4432 there were 707 printed name-and-registration-number rows. Those rows covered 706 unique names and 705 unique registration numbers: one name is printed twice with the same registration number, and two different names are printed with the same registration number. Those typographical clashes are disclosed, not resolved. The printed registration numbers in that notice run from 20 to 2723; unused numbers in that range are not a second official list.
In Gazette Notice No. 4433 there were 60 listed estate agents companies as at 27 March 2026. That company list is a snapshot. The live firm directory described above is the Board’s current official online list of approved firms; this guide does not treat the March company count as a live total, and it does not invent a later headcount.
The gazette notices do not say when each person first registered, and they do not print a certificate expiry date in a separate column. They also do not replace a land search, a title deed inspection or a building-approval check.
How this sits with a land search and a tenancy agreement
Checking a licensed estate agent in Kenya is one step in a property transaction, not the whole due-diligence file. Before you pay a deposit on land or a house, run the official ArdhiSasa land search and, where stamp duty or a transfer is involved, follow the published stamp duty rates and payment steps. For a letting, read the terms of the tenancy agreement rather than relying on an agent’s oral summary. A separate land-fraud checklist covers other checks that a directory search cannot replace.
Those guides do not tell you whether the go-between is a licensed estate agent in Kenya. That question stays with the Board’s directory, the certificate validation page and, for the 27 March 2026 snapshot, Gazette Notice Nos. 4432 and 4433.
Who to contact at the Estate Agents Registration Board
If the name, registration number or certificate serial does not match, or if the directory badge and the paper you were shown do not line up, use the Board’s official contact page at estateagentsboard.or.ke/contact-us. When you write, include the exact name and registration number you were given, the certificate serial if you have one, the document on which they appear, and the date you searched the directory.
The official records answer a narrow question: is this person or firm on the Board’s current public list, and, for the March 2026 snapshot, were they among the agents or companies named in Gazette Notice Nos. 4432 and 4433? They do not, on their own, approve a sale, a letting or a management fee.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official licensed-estate-agent list?
The live official list is the Estate Agents Registration Board members directory at members.estateagentsboard.or.ke/directory, checked on 12 November 2026. The same Board still posted the Kenya Gazette of 27 March 2026, in which Gazette Notice No. 4432 lists registered estate agents who had renewed their annual practising certificates as at that date, and Gazette Notice No. 4433 lists 60 estate agents companies.
How many licensed estate agents are on the 2026 gazette?
On a count of Gazette Notice No. 4432 in the official PDF on 12 November 2026, there were 707 printed name-and-registration-number rows, covering 706 unique names and 705 unique registration numbers. That is the March 2026 snapshot of a licensed estate agent in Kenya, not a later directory total. One name appears twice with the same number, and two different names are printed with the same number. The live directory is paginated and this guide does not invent a later headcount from it.
Is registration the same as a practising certificate?
Not on the Board’s own wording. The homepage says only “registered and licensed Estate Agents with a current practicing annual certificate can conduct Estate Agency.” That is what a licensed estate agent in Kenya has to show for the current year. Gazette Notice No. 4432 is the list of registered and licensed agents who, the Board said, had renewed those annual practising certificates as at 27 March 2026. Check the live directory badge and, where you have the paper, the certificate validation page.
What if the agent or firm is not on the March 2026 gazette?
Search the current members directory and, for a firm, the official firm directory, to check a licensed estate agent in Kenya against the live list. The gazette notices are a snapshot as at 27 March 2026. An agent who renewed after that date, or a company listed later, would not appear on those notices. Absence from an earlier gazette is not, by itself, the last word if the live official directory shows a current standing.
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