Law & Regulation
Movable Property Security Rights Act, 2017
The MPSR Act provides Kenya's modern framework for consensual security rights in movable property. It addresses creation, third-party effectiveness, priority, registry notice and enforcement across broad categories of present and future movable assets.
Legal Significance
What This Instrument Does
It enables security rights to attach to movable assets under a security agreement, provides methods for making those rights effective against third parties, establishes priority rules, creates a notice-based registry and regulates enforcement. Land charges remain under the land statutes; company-charge filing and insolvency consequences remain complementary.
Why It Matters
Project-finance collateral may include receivables, bank-account rights, equipment, inventory, insurance proceeds and other movable assets. The Act determines whether the security package is sufficiently described, perfected and ranked and how it may be enforced, subject to asset-specific and insolvency rules.
Key Provisions
- Scope and exclusions
Determines which movable assets and transactions fall within the regime.
- Security agreement
Establishes the consensual foundation and minimum requirements for the secured obligation and collateral.
- Collateral description
Permits functional identification while requiring enough certainty for attachment and notice.
- Present and future assets
Supports revolving and after-acquired collateral structures.
- Proceeds
Extends protection into value derived from collateral subject to statutory conditions.
- Third-party effectiveness
Identifies registration, possession, control or other applicable perfection methods.
- Notice registry
Provides public notice without turning the filing itself into the security agreement.
- Priority
Resolves competing claims through general and asset-specific rules.
- Acquisition financing and special priorities
May give defined claims preferential treatment when statutory steps are met.
- Transfers and buyers
Balances secured-creditor rights with protected transferees and ordinary commerce.
- Default and enforcement
Authorises remedies subject to notice, commercial reasonableness and debtor protections.
- Application of proceeds and surplus
Orders enforcement distributions and protects residual value.
- Judicial relief and debtor rights
Provides oversight and remedies against non-compliant enforcement.
When You Would Use This
Preparing or diligencing movable-asset security
Registering notices
Analysing priority
Financing equipment or receivables
Enforcing collateral
Coordinating a security package with company, land and insolvency law
InfraLex Relevance
Primary / Framework for the movable-security component of Security / Collateral. It does not supersede land-charge regimes. Companies Act filing and Insolvency Act priority/enforcement effects remain supporting interfaces.
Legal Framework Position
- Security / CollateralPrimary / Framework Instrument
Instrument Overview
- Official Citation
- Act No. 13 of 2017 (Cap. 499A)
- Instrument Type
- Law / Act
- Source Language
- English
- Last Verified
- 6 September 2026