KUALA LUMPUR – Affordable leasehold extension is still within reach for landowners, a Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) councillor said.
“They (house owners) should never ever have to fear losing their residential lease,” Derek John Fernandez told The Vibes.
He said the Selangor government had enforced a land reform policy for many years.
“If one can’t afford the lease extension premium, one can opt for a RM5,000 flat fee and get a full 99-year lease extension.
"This is with the condition that if you subsequently sell to a third party, other than spouse or children, the full premium is paid at the time of transfer to the third party and will be assessed at that point of time,” Fernandez said, who drafted the new policy paper on leasehold issue for the late Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim administration in 2009.
In addition, said the lawyer, “If the (land) owner wishes to pay the full premium instead of the flat RM5,000 and do so within six months of receiving the payment notice, you will receive a whopping 30% discount.”
He pointed out that the policy was the then Pakatan Rakyat state government’s commitment to safeguarding the Selangor residents welfare and to removing the fears of losing their homes.
Fernandez also claimed that no other government in any part of the world would offer such a 99-year-lease rate for RM5,000.
There is no greater proof of a government’s kindness than to make them feel that Selangor is theirs and that the government wants them to stay there (in their present houses) no matter how old they are.
“We must give the Selangor government the credit where it is due. The government did not forget the early settlers who made the state great and settled here on their land,” he added.
Fernandez was responding to the Petaling Jaya residents’ outcry that the city is undergoing obsolescence due to prolonged leasehold complications causing uncertainties over commercial and residential property ownerships.
The long-time residents of Petaling Jaya have alleged that many people have ditched the established neighbourhood after becoming unable to sustain the high premiums to extend leases.
“Each day, older parts of the city are looking more and more outmoded, with rundown or deserted properties,” Section 6 Rukun Tetangga chairman Rajesh Mansukhlal had said.
The group is appealing to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor caretaker menteri besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari to resolve the issues and convert the land here under leasehold terms to a freehold title.
Amirudin is slated to be sworn in to serve a second term as menteri besar after the state election on Saturday.
Leasehold title anomalies
Interestingly, former MBPJ councillor Mak Khuin Weng had made the case in 2012 that some land titles in Petaling Jaya were wrongly issued.
“Some might not even be valid. In short, some long landowners have long been denied their dues," he wrote in an article published in the now defunct The Nut Graph.
“In my research into the issue, I have found evidence to show that leasehold titles in these areas may very well be invalid, and property owners of PJ may actually be entitled to freehold titles.”
Mak, who contested in the Bukit Gasing constituency in 2013, has been highlighting the land matters in the past 13 years.
The former journalist had alleged that the leasehold titles issued by the Selangor government contained anomalies.
For one, some of the titles were issued under the National Land Code, with the date of issue listed between 1962 and 1967. However, the National Land Code was only gazetted in 1965.
“What then of the titles that were issued before this year? I would say that many of these titles are suspect,” he wrote.
The Vibes requested for his comments with regards to the latest plea by long-time residents for land conversion to freehold.
Mak replied: “I wish the residents all the best.” – The Vibes, August 14, 2023
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