Tuesday January 25, 2011
Dual title status confuses Taman Kepong residents
By FAZLEENA AZIZ
RESIDENTS of Taman Kepong in Kuala Lumpur are confused over the title of their homes as the grants state the status as temporary as well as freehold.
The problem cropped up recently after some residents settled their bank loans and went to collect their grants.
In the 11AK Form it is stated temporary ownership and also freehold at the bottom of the page.
Other residents realised the problem when they wanted to sell their property.
Taman Kepong, consisting of 534 houses in Phase 1 and 600 under Phase 2, are supposed to have freehold titles. The houses were built by Kepong Garden Development Sdn Bhd in the 1970s.
A meeting was held with about 200 affected residents to gather information as well as bring them together to resolve the problem.
Taman Kepong action group chairman M.U. Arumugam said they planned to get more information from the land office and survey department.
He said they were unable to trace the developer as the development was 40 years old.
“The land office said a proper survey on the properties was not carried out, hence the problem with the titles.
“We are happy the residents are united in resolving the matter and they have been cooperative,” he said.
Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw, who was present at the meeting, said 47 houses had now been surveyed under phase 1.
“The main fault lies with the developer as it is their responsibility, but Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Housing and Local Government Ministry and survey department should have better supervision.
“Most residents are unhappy with the situation so we want to survey the area after the Chinese New Year,” he said.
Dr Tan said in the past, it was not compulsory for surveyors to get a licence or for owners to apply for a permanent land title.
Registered land ownership for a development would normally involve the issuance of qualified ownership to its owners.
The final title will be issued after a licensed land surveyor appointed by the project developer has carried out a survey and submitted the plan to the Survey and Mapping Department for validation.
The Survey and Mapping Department will then check, verify and produce a certified plan to be registered by the Land Office.
The Committee and YB Dr Tan has on numerous occasions explained that (a) the titles are freehold if it is stated in their title deeds as "Kekal". (b) The confusion is because the title also used the name "Hakmilik Sementara" (Qualified Title). (c) The main issue that residents want to address is not whether it is freehold or leasehold. It is the question why the title is still "Qualified Title" (Hakmilik Sementara) instead of Final Title (Hakmilik Akhir). Hope this explanation will give residents a clearer picture of the issue.
2) Taman Kepong, consisting of 534 houses in Phase 1 and 600 under Phase 2, are supposed to have freehold titles. The houses were built by Kepong Garden Development Sdn Bhd in the 1970s
We were told by the Land Office that there are 524 (correction, 524) houses in Phase One and 600 houses in Phase Two.
3) “The land office said a proper survey on the properties was not carried out, hence the problem with the titles.
We wish to inform that this statement has been misquoted. The Land Office has informed us that (a) survey and mapping of Phase One has been done previously, but need to be converted from the Imperial System to the Metric System (i.e. from "kaki persegi" to "meter persegi"). This means that Phase One residents should be getting their titles changed to Final Title soon, depending on how soon the Survey and Mapping Department makes the conversion of land area; and from the time that the Land Office receives the file, they need about one month to issue the final title. TO DATE, 21 houses have been informed of the change of status of their title. They have to present their "Hakmilik Sementara" to the Land Office and collect their Final Title immediately.
(b) The other 600 houses in Phase Two are not so fortunate as the developer had failed to carry out the survey. Efforts have to be made with the help of Dr Tan Seng Giaw to urge Survey and Mapping Department (JUPEM) to carry out the necessary survey, before the files can be presented to the Land Office for the issuance of Final Title. This is why the Taman Kepong Action Group has urged representatives from Phase Two to meet Mr M.U. Arumugam.
4) Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw, who was present at the meeting, said 47 houses had now been surveyed under phase 1.
Dr Tan has been misquoted here. He was the leader of the delegation who went to the Land Office to talk to the Deputy Director, Latif Ali. In the discussion, Encik Latif said that 47 house owners would be the first batch to receive their final titles. The list was later provided to Dr Tan and copied to the Action Group Chairman, M.U. Arumugam, who counted the number of houses under TAMAN KEPONG as 21. The rest of the houses are in other housing estates, which has led us to believe that more housing estates are having the same problem with Qualified Title ("Hakmilik SEMENTARA." Go back to some of the blog posts here to see the list and inform your friends to contact Dr Tan, who will be raising this matter in parliament in March this year.
We have said that Phase One (524 houses) have been surveyed previously, and technically, the residents will be able to receive their final titles soon. If they still fail to receive their final title, this speaks volume about the efficiency of the Land Office and the people who managed the office before this. I am sure the good office of En Latif Ali would put things in order.
One reason why certain houses were picked to be given the final titles first (instead of being done in proper order according to the roads), in my opinion, is a reflection of how the previous staff of both JUPEM and/or Land Office had kept the files. It is hoped that there will be springcleaning now that they are working hard to put things in order. I don't think I want to comment any further what has been done in the past, but what we can do from here.