THE Selangor government will be coming up with a solution for 138,000 strata units that are unable to obtain their titles due to unscrupulous developers who have failed to settle the land premiums, says its Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
Addressing the issue at the “Rewang Komuniti Strata” at the Baiduri Apartments in Bandar Tasik Kesuma, Beranang, Amirudin said the problem was prevalent in developments that had taken place before 2010, involving medium and low-cost units.
“This was because the planning permits were issued before the developers had settled their land premiums. Some unscrupulous developers naturally took advantage of this loophole to forego their responsibilities. Their actions left many housebuyers hanging without a proper document to certify ownership of their strata units.
“This is a serious problem that the state government will need to look into. Though the selling of strata units can still take place without their respective titles, there is extra cost involved in the legal process to acquire the deeds and sales and purchase agreements.
“I was told that the legal fees for such a process may take at least an addition of RM1,500, provided that there are no lingering issues involving land titles or legal discrepancies with the local government. If we multiply that amount by the 138,000 titleless strata units, that is enough to sponsor the state’s Bantuan Kehidupan Sejahtera Selangor (Bingkas) programme for two years.
Though Amirudin promised that the state government would be coming up with a formula to come up with a solution to the strata title issue during the tabling of the Selangor 2025 Budget in November, he stressed that it would not be fair to expect the state government to bear the entire cost.
“If we do that, that will be like we are letting these unscrupulous developers go scott-free by taking over their responsibilities. We will need to base our solutions on a case-by-case basis based on three main areas- land use, legal aspects such as lawyers’ fees and Real Property Gains Tax which is income arising from the disposal of the property,” said Amirudin.
