Our Refusals
Eight categories of work we decline in every engagement, without exception. What we refuse, why, and what to do instead.
These are the eight categories of work Litmus declines in every engagement, without exception. We do not negotiate these boundaries. If your matter falls into one of these categories, we will tell you so at intake and recommend where to go instead.
Legal opinions
What we refuse to do
Advise on whether a transaction should proceed. Advise on whether a title is “clean” for legal purposes. Advise on whether a specific risk is material, acceptable, or acceptable with a given indemnity. Draft legal recommendations, warnings, or due diligence conclusions.
Why we refuse
Legal advice is a regulated profession in Kenya. Providing legal advice without admission to the Roll of Advocates is unlawful. More practically: legal conclusions require professional judgement, professional indemnity, and professional accountability that only a qualified advocate can carry. Our role is to provide the factual record that your advocate uses to form their opinion — not to form the opinion ourselves.
What to do instead
If you need a legal opinion on a property transaction, engage a qualified Kenyan advocate. If you are working with us and you need an advocate recommendation for the specific matter type, contact us — we can suggest firms familiar with our dossier format.
Property valuations
What we refuse to do
Estimate the market value of a parcel. Estimate the replacement cost, investment value, or forced-sale value of a property. Assess whether a proposed loan amount is adequately secured by a specific parcel. Advise on whether collateral is adequate.
Why we refuse
Valuation is a specialist, regulated discipline. It requires inspection of the property for condition, access, and comparables — not just the title record. A verification dossier that contains a value estimate would be misunderstood as a valuation report. Confusing the two causes financial and legal harm.
What to do instead
Engage a licensed valuer registered with the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK). Our dossier can be provided to a valuer as a verified title and encumbrance summary to support their valuation instruction.
Expert witness testimony
What we refuse to do
Appear as an expert witness in court, tribunal, or arbitration proceedings. Prepare affidavits or sworn statements for use in litigation. Produce a report designed to withstand cross-examination by an opposing expert.
Why we refuse
Our dossiers are prepared according to court-documentation standards (physical registry inspection, NLIS cross-check, named verifier attestation). They are designed to be cited in transaction documents and credit files. They are not designed as litigation instruments. Expert witness work requires a different mandate, a different level of detail, and a different contractual relationship with the instructing party.
What to do instead
Engage a forensic title expert or senior advocate with documented court experience for expert witness matters. If you are in a dispute and need a factual record of what the register showed at a specific date, a Litmus dossier from that date is a valid supporting document — but the expert who gives evidence about it must be the person qualified to explain it to the court.
Credit scoring
What we refuse to do
Score a borrower’s creditworthiness. Assess a guarantor’s financial position. Advise on whether a lending decision should proceed based on the financial profile of the borrower or guarantor. Produce a report that combines property verification with borrower assessment.
Why we refuse
Credit scoring is regulated under the Banking Act and the Credit Reference Bureau regulations. More fundamentally, combining a collateral verification service with a credit assessment service would require us to make judgements about people — not just about land records. We are a land record verification service. We do not assess people.
What to do instead
Use a licensed Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) — Metropol, TransUnion Kenya, or Creditinfo — for credit scoring. Our collateral dossier can be used alongside a CRB credit report; they are complementary, not interchangeable.
Title insurance
What we refuse to do
Guarantee title. Insure against loss arising from defects we did not identify. Provide indemnities that extend to the value of the transaction.
Why we refuse
We report what the register shows on the date of inspection. If the register is wrong — if a fraud has occurred, if a prior transaction was registered incorrectly, if the registry itself contains an error — our dossier will reflect the registry record and note any discrepancy we can identify. It will not catch every possible defect. Our liability is limited to the dossier fee. We are not an insurer.
What to do instead
Title insurance is available from specialist insurers in the Kenyan and East African market. Ask your advocate or broker. A Litmus dossier provides the current registry record that a title insurer will want to see before underwriting.
Beneficial ownership tracing
What we refuse to do
Identify the ultimate beneficial owner behind a registered company, trust, or nominee structure. Trace ownership chains through offshore entities. Advise on whether a registered company is ultimately controlled by a specific individual or group.
Why we refuse
We report the registered proprietor as it appears on the Land Registry title. Where the registered proprietor is a company, we record the company name. We do not investigate the company’s shareholding structure, its beneficial ownership register, or its relationships with associated entities. This type of investigation requires specialist legal, compliance, or investigative resources with access to company registry records, beneficial ownership databases, and cross-border due diligence tools.
What to do instead
Engage a specialist due diligence firm, a law firm with anti-money-laundering expertise, or a forensic accountant for beneficial ownership investigations. Our verified title record can be a useful component of a broader investigation but does not substitute for it.
Fraud investigation
What we refuse to do
Investigate the origin or perpetrators of a suspected title fraud. Produce reports designed for submission to law enforcement. Advise on whether a criminal offence has been committed. Assist with the reconstruction of a fraudulent title chain for prosecution purposes.
Why we refuse
If we identify a discrepancy — a mismatch between the register and field evidence, an apparent duplicate registration, an encumbrance that appears to have been incorrectly discharged — we will note it clearly in the dossier. We will describe what we saw. We will not investigate why it happened or who is responsible. That is a different function requiring a different mandate and different legal authority.
What to do instead
Report suspected title fraud to the Land Registry’s fraud unit, to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), or to your advocate. Our dossier’s factual record of what the register shows at a specific date can be a useful starting point for an investigation. We will cooperate with lawful requests from law enforcement.
Planning and land-use advice
What we refuse to do
Interpret planning consents, zoning classifications, or development conditions. Advise on whether a proposed development is permitted under applicable planning law. Advise on whether a property complies with environmental, building, or land-use regulations. Assess whether a change of use has been properly consented.
Why we refuse
Planning and land-use law is a specialist discipline that requires engagement with county and national government planning records, zoning maps, and regulatory correspondence. The Land Registry title record does not contain the full planning history of a parcel. Interpreting what is or is not permitted on a given parcel requires expertise we do not hold.
What to do instead
Engage a licensed planner, a land-use consultant, or an advocate with planning law experience. Contact the relevant county planning department for official records. Our verified title and encumbrance summary is useful context for a planning due diligence exercise but is not a substitute for it.
Our refusal log
Every matter we have declined to attest — because it fell within one of the eight categories above, or because a factual finding during verification led us to decline — is recorded in our refusal log. The log is accessible on this Trust Center. It shows the matter category, the date, and the reason for refusal. It does not show client names or parcel identities.
We publish the refusal log because we believe the number and nature of our refusals is evidence of our independence. A service that never refuses anything is either extraordinarily lucky or not looking carefully enough.