There is hereby established a National Housing Corporation which shall be a body corporate by that name with perpetual succession and a common seal, and which shall perform the duties and have the powers conferred on it by this Act.

In appointing the persons under subsection 2(d), the Cabinet Secretary shall ensure that the marginalised groups are represented.

Appointed members of the Corporation shall each hold office for a period of three years or such longer period as the appointing Cabinet Secretary may think fit, but an appointment may be cancelled at any time by the Cabinet Secretary who made it.

The Corporation shall have power to enter into contracts, to hold and dispose of property both movable and immovable, and may sue and be sued in its corporate name.

In the absence of the chairman from any meeting of the Corporation, a person shall be chosen by the members present at the meeting, from their number, to preside at such meeting.

The quorum of the Corporation shall be four members, of whom at least two shall be public officers and at least two shall be persons who are not public officers.

The person acting as chairman of any meeting of the Corporation shall have a deliberative vote and, in the case of an equality of votes, shall also have a casting vote. A decision of the majority of the members present and voting at a meeting of the Corporation shall be deemed to be the decision of the Corporation.

The Corporation shall have power to act notwithstanding a vacancy among the members thereof, and all acts done at any meeting of the Corporation shall, notwithstanding that it was afterwards discovered that there was some defect in the appointment of a person purporting to be a member of the Corporation, be as valid as if that defect had not existed.

Subject to this section, the Corporation shall have power to regulate its own procedure.

The seal of the Corporation shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman of the Corporation, or any other member of the Corporation, authorized in that behalf, and the officer for the time being the managing director of the Corporation, and such seal shall be officially and judicially noticed.

All documents, other than those required by law to be under seal, made by, and all decisions of the Corporation may be signified under the hand of the chairman, or any other member of the Corporation authorized in that behalf.

The accounts of the Corporation shall be examined, audited and reported upon annually by the auditor.

The Corporation shall, when required by the auditor so to do, produce and lay before the auditor all accounts of the Corporation, with all vouchers in support thereof, and all books, papers and writings in its possession or control relating thereto, and the auditor shall be entitled to require from all members, officers and servants of the Corporation such information and explanations as he may deem necessary for the purposes of his duties as auditor.

The Corporation shall, within a period of six months (or such longer period as the Cabinet Secretary may approve) after the end of each financial year, furnish to the Cabinet Secretary a report on its operations during that year, the accounts, balance sheet and statement referred to in subsection (1) of this section, and the auditor’s report for that year.

The reports furnished under subsection (4) of this section, and the capital account and such accounts and statements as the Cabinet Secretary deems sufficient, shall be laid by the Cabinet Secretary before the National Assembly within the next fourteen days on which the Assembly is sitting after they have been so furnished, and shall be published in the Gazette by the Corporation.

For the purposes of this section—

"auditor" means the Auditor-General;

"financial year" means any period of twelve months which the Corporation may adopt as its financial year for accounting purposes:

Provided that, where at any time the financial year of the Corporation is changed, the period between the end of the old financial year and the beginning of the new shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to constitute a financial year and the word "annually" in subsection (2) shall be construed accordingly.

There is hereby established a National Housing Development Fund under the control of the Corporation, consisting of such securities and money and applicable to such purposes as are provided for by this Act.

There shall, by virtue of this Act and without further assurance, become vested in the Corporation the right of the Government to demand, sue for and recover, and give receipts for, and the benefit of all securities for every loan made to a local authority by the Government out of the National Housing Development Fund established under the Housing Ordinance (Repealed) to the extent to which such loans, at the commencement of this Act, remain outstanding, and all moneys received by the Corporation on account of every such loan shall be carried to the National Housing Development Fund.

Every loan made by the Corporation under this Act shall bear interest at such rate as the Corporation may from time to time prescribe.

The Corporation, in considering the propriety of making a loan to any company, society or individual person, shall have regard to the financial position of the company, society or individual person and the sufficiency of the security for the repayment thereof.

Any moneys which the Corporation is called upon to pay under guarantee given under subsection (1) of this section shall be provided from the National Housing Development Fund.

All loans made to a local authority by the Corporation shall be secured against the development financed by the loan advanced or against or in addition to any other specific immovable property owned by the local authority.

The Corporation shall be a party to any contract or agreement between any person and the local authority advanced such loans with power to assume all the rights and remedies of such local authority in respect of developments financed by funds advanced by the corporation.

Where a local authority defaults in the repayment of debt charges due to the Corporation, the Corporation shall take over the management of the property developed by the local authority using funds borrowed from the Corporation andassume collection of any monies payable to the local authority by the beneficiary or any other person as provided in section 8(2) until the outstanding debt is recovered substantially or in full.

Upon taking over the management of the property under subsection (1), the Corporation shall have the same rights and obligations as the local authority has in respect of the developments financed with funds provided by the Corporation.

Any shortfall experienced as a result of the Corporation exercising its powers under this section shall be recovered from any other securities provided by the local authority or as civil debt recoverable summarily.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act or of any other written law, the Corporation may take over the management, control and title to any property developed by a local authority which is in default using funds provided, secured or guaranteed by the Corporation upon the expiry of a ninety days’ notice given by the Corporation to the local authority:

Provided that the Corporation shall compensate for the undeveloped site value of such property upon the vesting of title in the Corporation under this subsection.

Every loan made under this Act shall be repayable by such instalments as the Corporation or the local authority, as the case may be, shall specify and within a period not exceeding forty years or such other period as may be prescribed by the Cabinet Secretary.

Where a loan has been made repayable within a period less than the full period allowed by subsection (1) of this section, the Corporation or the local authority, as the case may be, if the repayment of the loan with interest is in its opinion sufficiently secured, may extend the period for the repayment thereof to a period not exceeding the full period from the date of the loan.

Subject to the provisions of this section, every loan made to a company, society or individual person shall be secured by a first mortgage or charge over the land on which the dwelling is to be constructed or is situate or, as the case may be, over the land acquired for the approved scheme, together with all the buildings and improvements on such land, and on such further security or on any other security, as the Corporation or the local authority, as the case may be, may require.

The Corporation may prescribe the form of such first mortgage or charge, and the affixation of the seal of the Corporation or the local authority, as the case may be, to any mortgage or charge purporting to be made under the provisions of this Act shall be conclusive evidence that the same is in the prescribed form.

Any loan may be made notwithstanding that the land in respect of which the loan is made has not been surveyed or that such a map or plan of the land as any officer concerned with the registration of the title to or the title deeds of such land is bound to accept for the purpose of registering any dealing with the land is not, for the time being, registered or available for registration.

If any such dwelling is not completed, the Corporation or the local authority, as the case may be, may in its discretion complete the same before such sale.

The proceeds of such sale shall be applied in payment of all sums due to the Corporation or the local authority, including the cost of completing any such dwelling and of the sale; and the balance (if any) shall be paid to the individual person to whom, or the company or society to which, the loan was made or to any other person who is the legal representative thereof or is otherwise entitled to receive such balance.

The Corporation or a local authority may itself purchase any land and premises sold by public auction as aforesaid and take transfer of any dwelling sold as aforesaid and treat the same as if it had been constructed by the Corporation or by the local authority under this Act, and no stamp duty or registration charges shall be payable on transfer to the Corporation or to the local authority.

Any officer having any duties in connexion with the registration of the title to or the title deeds of any such land and premises as aforesaid shall make all the necessary entries in his registers and sign all documents necessary to give effect to this section.

Upon the failure of a local authority within the time fixed in any notice given under section 20 of this Act or within any extension of that time granted by the Cabinet Secretary to comply with any requirement notified under that section, the Cabinet Secretary may, after written notice to the local authority, carry out such works and do all such things as may be necessary to give effect to that requirement; and for that purpose the Cabinet Secretary is hereby authorized to exercise all such rights, powers and authorities as might have been exercised by the local authority in that behalf.

Any expenditure reasonably incurred by the Cabinet Secretary under this section in excess of revenue derived from the exercise of the powers vested in him may be recovered in the manner provided by section 9 of this Act.

The Corporation may, and shall when required by the Cabinet Secretary or the local authority, inquire into and report to the Cabinet Secretary or the local authority on the necessity or otherwise of the provision of dwellings in the area of any local authority.

The Corporation shall advise and assist in the preparation of proposals for dwellings and schemes.

The Cabinet Secretary may from time to time make regulations for prescribing anything which may require to be prescribed under this Act, and for the better carrying out of the objects and purposes of this Act, and such regulations may be expressed to apply throughout Kenya or in any specified or defined portion thereof.

Such regulations may provide penalties for any contravention thereof or failure to comply therewith not exceeding a fine of ten thousand shillings or to imprisonment for two years or to both.

Any member of the Corporation and any officer or servant of a local authority generally or specially authorized by such local authority, and any person likewise authorized by the Cabinet Secretary, may, at any hour reasonable for the proper performance of the duty, enter upon any land or building in respect of which a grant or loan has been made or undertaken to be made under this Act to make any inspection or to perform any work or to do anything which he is required or authorized to do under regulations made under this Act.

Any person who fails to give or refuses access to any person mentioned in or authorized under subsection (1) of this section or obstructs or hinders him in the execution of his duties under the regulations made under this Act, or who prevents any servant or workman of a local authority from entering any such land or dwelling for the purpose of complying with any requirements under the regulations made under this Act, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.

A person convicted of an offence under this Act shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both.

Where an act or omission of a person results in the loss of money from the National Housing Development Fund, that person shall be liable to a penalty equivalent to twice the amount lost.

There shall, by virtue of this section and without further assurance, become vested in the Corporation the right, formerly vested in the Local Government Loans Authority under and by virtue of the Local Government Loans Act (Repealed), to demand, sue for and recover, and give receipts for, and the benefit of all securities for, the scheduled loans, to the extent to which those loans were outstanding at the commencement of this section.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the reference in subsection (1) of this section to rights formerly vested in the Local Government Loans Authority under and by virtue of the Local Government Loans Act (Repealed) shall include the right which was purported to be vested in that Authority by a resolution of the Legislative Council dated the 18th February, 1953.

For the purposes of this Act, the scheduled loans shall be deemed to be loans made or granted by the Corporation under that Act.

All moneys received by the Corporation on account of the scheduled loans shall be carried to the National Housing Development Fund established under section 7 of this Act.

"The scheduled loans" means the several loans particulars of which are set out in the Schedule to this Act being loans made from moneys supplied out of funds of the Development and Reconstruction Authority, and issued to the local authorities respectively specified in the said Schedule, for the construction of houses for Africans.