Help us stay competitive, say industry bodies
10/12/2005 NST

Three industry associations have in a joint memorandum highlighted the difficulties they face in six specific areas and have called on the Government to "value our role" in stimulating and maintaining the nation's economic growth.

"We have always valued our role" in the Government's efforts to achieve economic growth, the Heal Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda), Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ACCIM) and Malaysian Association for Shopping and High rise Centre Management (PPK) in a memorandum submitted to the National Economic Action Council (NEAC).

In order to encourage private sector and foreign investments in the property sector, they said, the Government should consider their proposals in these six areas "so that we can remain competitive and to ensure a more efficient and effective delivery system".

These areas are:

Solicitors Remuneration Order 1991 and the No Discount Rule
Rehda, ACCIM and PPK want, among other things, the scale of fees charged by lawyers to be standardized, with the maximum fee chargeable to be prescribed. Professionals, they argue, should be allowed to negotiate their final fees based on market and commercial considerations without compromising their professionalism and duty of care to house buyers.

Survey fees for land surveyors
The Government should prevent the implementation of the upfront fee proposals of land surveyors, as this fee would be passed on to the house buyers.

REITs Guidelines on property management and the proposed amendments to the Valuers. Appraisers and Estate Agents Act 1981
Property and building management should not be regulated by this Act. Property owners, the three bodies argue, should be allowed to choose the most suitable managers for their assets based on expertise and the specialized services required for each property.

Private common areas in gated-and-guarded communities and proposed amendments to the Strata Titles Act 1985
Urgent action is required to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place as soon as possible whether in the form of amendments to the Strata Titles Act or the drafting of a new law to resolve the existing lacuna in the Act. This will facilitate new development concepts such as gated-and-guarded communities and community schemes that involve the management and maintenance of shared or private common properties.

Landlord's and tenant's rights
The Government should set up a special claims tribunal to hear and decide on disputes between land- lords and tenants so that such issues can be settled with greater efficiency.

The role of the tribunal, the three associations suggest, can be similar to that of the Building Commission to be appointed under the amended Strata Tiles Act or modeled after the Tribunal for Homebuyers Claims.

Illegal transfer of land and properties
In spite of the computerized 'and title registry system, hard copies of the land title should continue to be issued to landowners and all dealings should be recorded on hard copy as well.

Alternatively, the Land Office should be compelled to issue periodic state- ments to the landowner, identifying the titles registered in his name for his record, similar to that sent by Bursa Malaysia on the shares being held

In this way, the landlord may be able to alert the authorities on any unauthorized dealings that he may suspect to have taken place under the computerized land registry system.

December 2004 Guidelines on Foreign Participation in the Distributive Trade
These Guidelines need to be reviewed in detail. Rehda, ACCIM and PPK want a one-stop agency to process applications for alternative Uses of unoccupied premises so as to make the process speedy and flexible.

They also called for electricity, water, sewerage and other utility rates for the shopping centre sector to be lowered.