Twenty-four months. Four milestones. Held in escrow until each one is independently certified met. A buyer payment plan should read like a contract, not a brochure. Ours does.
The four milestones
Buyer funds sit in a segregated client account at Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited. They are released only when the named counter-signatory below has certified the milestone in writing.
Offer letter execution
At signing
Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited
Excavation certified to formation level
Q4 2024 · achieved
Knight Mwangi Quantity Surveyors
Top slab cast and signed off
Q4 2026 · expected
Knight Mwangi Quantity Surveyors + Joseph K. Otieno, MICE
Snag clear, handover certificate issued
Q2 2029 · target
Knight Mwangi Quantity Surveyors + Joseph K. Otieno, MICE + Westgate Living Management
How escrow works
Buyer deposits are held in a segregated client account governed by a CMA-licensed trust deed. Funds are not commingled with DEMAR or SPV operating accounts. A draw cannot be released without the counter-signatures listed for that milestone.
Independent quantity surveyors. Each draw is released only after the QS issues a certificate confirming the milestone is physically met on site, with photographic record and measured-progress schedule.
Buyer-deposit insurance and construction-all-risks cover sit alongside the escrow. The deposit insurance underwrites any shortfall the trust deed cannot meet from held balances. Policy numbers issued in the reservation letter.
Currency mechanics
Reservation, escrow and final payment are denominated in KES. For diaspora and international buyers we quote a USD reference rate in the offer letter, calculated at the signing-day spot rate published by the Central Bank of Kenya.
Once contracts are executed, FX movement during the twenty-four months does not change the contract price. The buyer carries no FX exposure on the build. We carry no FX exposure on the receipt.
If we fail to hand over by the contractual handover date, the buyer is credited 0.5% of the unit price for every month of delay, capped at 6%. The credit is paid out of escrow at handover, not invoiced separately, so it cannot be deferred or renegotiated.
The clause is codified in section 9 of the reservation letter. The same clause names the conditions under which a delay does not trigger the penalty — force majeure events drafted to the standard ICC formulation, with notice and mitigation duties on us.
The unlikely case
In the event the SPV cannot complete the build, the trust deed instructs Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited to return held deposits to the buyers of record, in the order received and against the schedule of payments made.
The Riverside Indemnity Kenya buyer-deposit insurance underwrites any shortfall between the held balance and the cumulative deposit received — a structural belt-and-braces that we have priced into the SPV from day one. Bowman Adair Kenya audits the escrow position annually and on request from any reserver.
We walk through the reservation letter clause by clause, with the trust deed and the QS scope of engagement on the table. No slides.