Impose deadline on property titles

Impose deadline on property titles
The Star 4/4/2005

SOME developers have been found to drag their feet after the sale of their properties by not applying for individual titles to these properties.

As long as individual titles are not issued, every time a buyer wants to sell his property, he will have to seek the developer’s consent and the developer can charge a fee of up to 1% of the sale price. This could turn out to be a hefty figure.

Although the law has been amended in December 2002 so that developers can only charge up to a sum of RM500 for this fee, some developers claim that the amendment does not apply to properties bought before December 2002.

I know of a case in Pahang in which the developer sold landed houses but did not apply for individual titles at all.

The developer is believed to have migrated to Australia a long time ago. However, whenever there is an owner who wants to sell his house, there is someone who can give the “developer’s consent” and charges a fee for it.

A developer in Selangor sold a townhouse to one of my friends in 1990 but until today no title has been issued to the house.

When the house had to be transferred pursuant to a court order in a divorce proceeding, the developer charged a fee for giving his consent.

Recently another friend of mine was interested in buying a shophouse in Setapak from the owner who had bought it in 1993.

The project was a joint venture between the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and the developer.

Up to this day, the shophouse has not been issued with a title and City Hall is still registered as the owner of the land.

As it is a joint-venture project, my friend will need the consent of both the developer and City Hall. My friend has also found out that City Hall takes about four to six months to issue its consent.

The problem with this state of affairs is obvious. It is unfair to the property buyers and is open to abuse. Buyers will only have a sale and purchase agreement to hold on to and are not protected by being a “registered owner” with a document of title.

There must be a law to impose a time limit on developers to obtain titles to their properties.

If they do not meet the deadline, they should be required to pay damages to the buyers. All this while, it is the buyers who have to pay for the developer’s failure to obtain individual titles.

JUSTICE FOR ALL, Cyberjaya.
(via e-mail)