Kota Sentosa rep proposes review of Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

KUCHING (July 11): The Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 should be revisited and strengthened to prevent delay of payment of premium and fees and the issuance of land titles for new developments, said Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap.

This is because, he added, the changes made so far in the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations 2009, effective on June 1, 2009, are inadequate.

“The changes say that the last five per cent of progress payment is split into 2.5 per cent to be released upon the issuance of occupation permit and the final 2.5 per cent upon the issuance of new land titles.

“It’s still inadequate while further improvement through amendments should be made including banning shareholders and directors of errant development companies from being involved in property development,” he pointed out in a statement yesterday.

Another alternative, according to Yap, is for payment of the conversion premium in advance upon approval of the development by the developer upfront to prevent situations where after approval, the developer applies midway for amendment of the approved plans despite the developer having already entered into Sale & Purchase Agreements.

Meanwhile, he said that he had a meeting with a group of house purchasers from Taman Kalien, Lorong 2, Jalan Sungai Tapang who expressed their frustrations as the individual titles to the property have not been issued after 20 years.

He said he understood their frustrations as owning a house or any premises gives one a sense of pride and security and that security is tied to holding the document of title or land title.

However, he added, as many property owners have experienced, new properties are often not yet issued with land titles at the time of purchase or even when they move into the premises.

He noted that many a time, new property owners lament that the authority is slow in issuing land titles to their new properties.

“I will not resort to the blame game which is unhealthy but hope all parties, stakeholders and the relevant authorities will be sensible and come to a solution to resolve this outstanding issue which has dragged on too long already.

“This issue is not about politics but the purchaser’s rights to a land title after paying for it. In fact, this could very well be the only asset the purchasers bought using their lifelong savings.

“The non-issuance of individual land titles could very well be just the tip of the iceberg with many more similar predicaments faced by house buyers,” he said.

Following that, and without making any promises, Yap said he will first find out from the Divisional Land and Survey Office as to the actual reason for the delay and try his best to assist.