999 YEARS VS 99 YEARS LEASE TERM

By : DAP MEDIA

THE 999-year lease term to the land titles should return instead of the 99 years after master land titles had been subdivided for landowners, developers and house owners, and this measure should be encouraged.

The proposal made by the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) is valid and supported by all quarters. The Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Musa Aman commented that the Sabah State Cabinet will study and will take into account the views of the stakeholders and the people before a decision is reached on the matters.

Sabah DAP Member of Parliament for Kota Kinabalu and the DAP State Advisor Hiew King Cheu said this 999 year lease term must be reinstated in view of the necessity of the many land titles which were given a lease term axed from the original 999 to only 99, and some cases even as low as 60 years term.

The cut to 99 year term did not benefit the many stakeholders but instead had given them difficulties in passing the properties down to their future generations. The commercial banks will be hesitated and reluctant to provide finance on a property which has a short lease term remaining, normally less then 15 to 20 years. It is very true that the limited time left on the titles did affect the value of the property concerned.

MP Hiew said if the returning the 999 year lease term is approved, the previous land titles which had been subdivided and given the axe and had lost their 999 year status should be returned with the same 999 year to these titles. The existing extension procedure and paying of the expensive premium money on the extended leased period should no longer come into force.

The many applications for the extension of time on the leases had caused difficulties and troubles for the property owners. Many applications had been delayed and there is no significant progress in the process. The typical case is the Inanam Kolombong Industrial Estate.

The titles are very near to the expiry dates now, but their applications are still pending in the land and survey department without much progress. The application procedure for the extension on the lease had become more difficult and troublesome. This is due to the guidelines set down by the authorities that one must go through the various authorities to seek comments on the extension of time.

For example in Kota Kinabalu, one will have to go through DBKK, JKR, Fire Department, Health Department, DID, Town and Country Planning Department and so on to get their final approval.

MP Hiew supported the move to return the 999 year to the subdivision titles from the master titles to all the stakeholders. This is their basic entitlement and should not be axed away by the government as far as fairness is concerned.