Strata Title Act to be amended

09/11/2006 The Star By V.P. SUJATA

PUTRAJAYA: Developers of gated community projects, unable to get bank loans due to problems of getting strata titles, can heave a sigh of relieve with the Cabinet’s approval to amend the Strata Title Act 1985.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said the draft for the amendments had been approved and would be read out in the current Parliament sitting.

He hoped it could be passed next year.

He said the gated community concept has become popular, as it is a mixed development concept with swimming pools, community centre, recreational facilities and security services.

He added that homebuyers, whether in terrace houses or high-rises, shared the facilities and paid maintenance fees.

“So far there is no law to show how all these people can share the strata title,” Azmi told reporters at his ministry’s Hari Raya gathering here yesterday.

“Due to this, there is a delay in issuing the titles. Banks, using this excuse, do not want to offer loans to developers of such projects.”

Acknowledging that this had affected the housing industry, he added that another Act under the purview of the Housing and Local Government Ministry would also have to be amended to solve the problem.

“The other Act would deal with the management and maintenance of high-rise buildings, many of which do not have strata titles due to inadequate provisions in the law,” he added.

Azmi said with more provisions, strata titles could be issued within two months, and banks would also give loans.

On the landslide at the Wangsa Maju low-cost flats on Oct 9, Azmi said the Cabinet had instructed the Public Works Department to produce a report as well as conduct a study on the surrounding areas.

Residents from four blocks of the Section 10 low-cost flats were evacuated after a section of the hillside nearby collapsed.

On the quarry landslide in Kedah on Tuesday, Azmi said quarries were normally approved after an EIA report was accepted, and the local authority should look into the matter.