Shareda protests the move on strata title fees

Published on: Thursday, April 25, 2013 by daily express

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Housing and Real Estate Development Association (Shareda) is concerned with the requirement of 100 per cent upfront payment by the Board of Land Surveyors Malaysia prior to the process of any strata title or sub-divided title fees.

Its President Francis Goh said members of the Royal Institute of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM), Sabah branch, especially licensed surveyors, should give an indemnity to the Housing Controller that they will process and obtain the subsidiary title on behalf of developers and housebuyers instead of the government putting the blame on delay caused only by the developers.

"Professional licensed surveyors are like architects, he said.

"They are the rightful profession who should give such assurance to Lands and Surveys Department or Housing Controllers as long as Shareda members have fully paid up the premiums and surveying fees to the survey board," he said.

To this, he urged the Board of Land Surveyors Malaysia to provide some form of guarantee on the performance or services rendered by its professional members to fully discharge their duties and obligations.

He also said that RISM should play a more important key role in assisting the developers especially in property management, land and building surveying fields, valuation or appraisal of property and other specialised surveying consultancy.

With their wealth of professional knowledge, he said, RISM is the right body to provide updated advice to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing including its agencies and the Housing Controller on matters relating to property management and process of subsidiary titles or subdivided titles.

He said this during a courtesy visit by Sabah RISM led by its Deputy Chairperson, Catherine Yen to the new office bearers of Shareda last Tuesday.

Goh and his Council Members welcomed the delegates who are looking forward to collaborate closely with Shareda members so as to encourage more active involvement by RISM in property development.

He also addressed several concerns on the roles and responsibilities of surveying professionals involving property development particularly land and building surveying and property management.

Yen stressed that RISM will provide more training syllabus and programmes to its members in order to meet the needs of the industry.

Presently, the shortage of qualified licensed building surveyors in the construction and real estate fields will affect the efficiency of the professions, she said.

"A competent licensed surveyor is expected to monitor and coordinate every aspect of building and development work and acts as a vital link in the project between affiliated professions included architects, engineers, planners and builders," she said.

To this, she said that both Shareda and RISM will co-ordinate and constantly engage the members with better knowledge on organising more talks, meetings and dialogues.

It is expected that more high rise condominiums and apartments will be completed in the next few years. In view of this, Goh urged RISM to play an active role in property management.

Most developers prefer to pass the management task to the professional property manager after the title is issued, he said.

"So, it is critical for property managers to discharge a higher professionalism and ethical standards by providing competent and quality services to their respective clients such as maintenance of building and equipment, collection of rental income to ensure optimum profitability and sustainable income to the property management," she said.

Meanwhile, Liaw Lam Thye thanked Shareda for accepting the invitation to be one of the speakers in the 6th Sabah Surveyors' Congress organised by RISM, Sabah Branch.

The two-day annual Congress will be held on May 14-15 at Pacific Sutera, Kota Kinabalu with the theme this year "Economic Turbulence: Survival or Opportunities?".

Several speakers from overseas countries and Peninsula Malaysia are invited to present their respective papers during the congress.

Dato' John Chee Shi Tong, who is also Shareda Vice President will be presenting a paper entitled "Supply Chain In Sabah Construction Industry" at the second day of the congress.

Also present were Deputy President, Chew Sang Hai, Vice President, Dato John Chee Shi Tong and John Tan, Secretary-General, Ben Kong and council members Ronnie Ang Guo Wei and Chua Soon Bing while RISM delegates comprised Yen, Samuel Chong, Liaw Lam Thye, Peter Yapp, Sunny Kelvin and Executive Secretary, Noryzan Kelim.  

source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=85127

Francis Goh elected as new SHAREDA president 

Published on 28th March, 2013 by New Sabah Times 

KOTA KINABALU: Kinsabina Sdn Bhd (Kinsabina Group) managing director Francis Goh Fah Shun was elected as the new president of the Sabah Housing & Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA) at its 20th annual general meeting and election of office bearers yesterday.

The meeting, held at SHAREDA secretariat at Beverly Hills Plaza, saw Francis garner 84 votes against incumbent president Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen who obtained 69 votes. There were two spoilt votes.

Francis, who led the Revamp Team, won by a majority of 15 votes to unseat Susan who helmed the presidency for two terms since 2009 and was bidding for a final third term of two years to complete her unfinished jobs.

The candidates aligned to the Revamp Team won all the positions they contested except for a council member post which went to the Vision Team led by Susan.

There are a total of 163 SHAREDA members but only 155 of them turned out to cast their ballots for the president’s post.

In the contest for the deputy president’s post, Chew Sang Hai from Grand Merdeka Development Sdn Bhd polled 87 votes to defeat incumbent Datuk Robin Loh Hoon Loi from Dapan Holdings Sdn Bhd who obtained 67 votes. There were two spoilt votes.

Four candidates vied for the two vice president’s posts. Dato’ John Chee Shi Tong from J&M Development Sdn Bhd and Tan Duo Zer from Hap Seng Properties Development Sdn Bhd, respectively polled the highest votes of 92 and 83 to clinch the positions.

The two incumbents, Wong Ten An from Mega Sunwise Sdn Bhd and Wong Chen Yee from The W Property Collection Sdn Bhd, respectively obtained 69 votes and 49 votes.

Incumbent Ben Kong Chung Vui successfully defended the secretary-general’s post when he polled 88 votes to edge out Linda Wong Chung Hie from Sunyap Development Sdn Bhd who obtained 66 votes.

The post of treasurer-general was won by Chai Meng Kong from Top Green Development (Sabah) Sdn Bhd when he secured 84 votes against Datuk Chong Hon Len from Nadi Properties Development Sdn Bhd with 67 votes.

Ten candidates vied for five council member’s posts and the top five who polled the highest votes would be appointed to the committee.

Pengiran Saifuddin Pengiran Tahir from Sabah Urban Development Sdn Bhd and Quek Siew Hau from Velda Development Sdn Bhd emerged the joint top winners in the polls with 80 votes, followed by Chua Soon Ping from Remajaya Sdn Bhd (79 votes), Reggie Sua from Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (78 votes) and Chew Fei Sean from Pembangunan Teluk Likas Sdn Bhd (75 votes).

The others were incumbent Wong Chik Hing from Gunung Ramai Sdn Bhd (74 votes), Ang Guo Wei from RA Concept Development Sdn Bhd (74 votes), incumbent Koh Yong Siang from Waterfront Urban Development Sdn Bhd (69 votes), Lawrence Wong Gine Kong from Wong Ka Tong & Sons Construction Sdn Bhd (68 votes) and Melvin Gregory Disimond from KKIP Sdn Bhd (33 votes).

Source: http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/67162

Dept apologises to Shareda

Published on: Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Kota Kinabalu: The Lands & Surveys Department Tuesday extended an apology to Shareda which has been waiting almost two years for the outcome of its application for reversal to the 999-year leasehold land titles.

"We wish to apologise to Shareda which brought the matter to our attention, and requested us to bring this issue to the higher-ups.

But we really need time because this is not an easy matter as it involves titles and properties.

"We had to carry out studies on the issue, including practices in Semenanjung and Sarawak, as well as current practices in the Sabah Lands & Surveys Department. We could only come up with the Official Paper last year," its Director, Datuk Hj Osman Hj Jamal, told a Shareda delegation that called on him.

He said prior to that, the department's Technical Committee met three times to discuss the proposed Paper. "We had to get the views of all officials in the Lands & Surveys Department."

The Sabah Housing And Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) had applied seeking to maintain the original 999-year lease term after subdivision and conversion of the master title for landowners, developers and house owners, instead of the 99-year leasehold tenure.

Osman described Shareda as a most patient association, saying it is patient enough to wait until 2013. "I believe the State Government will give serious

attention to this outstanding matter which has been highlighted in the media since 2011," he said.

Following the application in September 2011, its President Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen and her Committee had met up with the Director twice, apart from several letters of appeal in 2012.

Osman said his Department has prepared a technical paper on the issue of Country Lease (CL) 999-year leasehold land titles based on its practices before and after 2000 for the Government's deliberation and approval.

"The next step is to seek the legal opinions of the Sabah Law Association (SLA) relating to three important sections in the Sabah Land Ordinance 1930 (Cap 68)," he said.

These are Section 3 (Saving Clause), Section 40 (Subdivision of Land Title) and Section 54 (Conversion of Land Usage from Agriculture to Residential, Commercial or Industrial Development) that needed to be studied indepth. "As far as the Department is concerned, we have studied the sections before coming up with the paper. We are going to incorporate their opinions into our paper which will be submitted to the State Attorney-General for study. At the same time, we are seeking the AG's legal views on our paper.

"If all the legal opinions are positive on the matter, we will then submit our paper to the Pejabat Hasil Bumi (Natural Resources Office).

Hopefully, Hasil Bumi will also agree. As usual, Hasil Bumi will come up with a Draft Cabinet Paper to be submitted to the Chief Minister as the Minister concerned with land matters under the Sabah Land Ordinance."

If agreed upon, it would be tabled in the Cabinet for deliberation for a resolution or decision on Shareda's application, he told a press conference at its headquarters after briefing the delegation led by Wong.

Others were Deputy President Datuk Robin Loh and Council Members Datuk Ir Chong Hon Len and Johnson Koh Yong Siang. Also present was Deputy Director (Land Development), Mohd Yusrie Abdullah.

Osman, however, he could not decide on when the Draft Cabinet Paper would be tabled "as it is the prerogative of the State Government when to have the Cabinet Meeting."

On why it was necessary to obtain SLA's views, the Director said it would be good for NGOs to present their opinions in the interest of the public.

"It is an ongoing practice to refer to the SLA on anything that touches the Sabah Land Ordinance. If we want to amend the Ordinance, the AG's advice is to include SLA's views. This is exactly what we did when we wanted to amend the Land Acquisition Act."

Asked on the department's stand vis-ˆ-vis Shareda's application, Osman said: "The department would have rejected it if we had not agreed in principle but there is a case and we have to provide the Government with all the information. This includes Court decisions in the Peninsula pertaining to land matters."

He cited a case in Selangor where the landowner or developer asked for a judicial review by the Court against the Director of Minerals (Selangor).

"Based on the judgement, the developer won the case on the grounds that the Selangor Government cannot convert existing freehold titles (in perpetuity) to a 99-year lease term. That is the outcome of the judicial review. This information is also included in the department's paper for submission to the AG and subsequently Hasil Bumi."

Osman was commenting on Shareda's opposing camp's intention to seek a judicial review if the Government could not resolve the Country Lease (CL) 999-year leasehold issue.

In addition, he said there was also a case before Year 2000 whereby the department had approved and issued land titles with a 999-year leasehold tenure after the conversion of land use from agriculture to residential development.

"Ada title begitu, pernah berlaku (There is such a title, it has happened before). However, the matter was later referred to the AG's Office for interpretation of Section 54 of the Sabah Land Ordinance.

"Following the AG's views, we (department) stopped issuing subdivided titles with a 999-year lease for subdivision and conversion of original master titles.

"Then Shareda came in with its application for the 999-year lease to be retained," he said. According to Osman, the Sarawak Land Ordinance does not have a "Saving Clause" unlike the Sabah Land Ordinance.

"Which means titles issued in the past with a 999-year lease before the 1930 Land Ordinance cannot be batal (terminated), and must be continued.

Therefore, we have incorporated all those aspects into our comprehensive paper and it's up to the AG's Office to study it, he said.

Thanking Osman and his team for taking up the case, Wong expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved in due course, to which the Director replied, Insya-Allah (God Willing).

Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=84743