How fraudulent land transfers
take place
23/12/2007 Sunday Star By Rashvinjeet
S. Bedi
PUTTING himself in the shoes of a fraudster, National House Buyers
Association (HBA) honorary secretary-general Chang Kim Loong reckons there
are many parties involved in fraudulent land transfers.
“There is a lot of work to be done, but it is not something that is
impossible,” said Chang, adding that there was a lot of monetary gain for
the fraudsters.
Very likely, involved parties would include the related parties (vendor and
buyers) and their respective lawyers, the land office, the land valuation
department and the stamping office. And usually these transfers take a very
short time.
“When the transaction takes two to three weeks, there is something fishy,”
he said adding that a “conservative” transaction would take anything from
six to nine months.
Chang says that usually idle land owned by foreigners or senior citizens is
targeted. The fraudsters would find out details of a plot of land from the
land office and survey department.
The fraudsters then either forge the title deed or get a replacement by
pretending to be the owner of the land.
They would conveniently lodge a police report. The land office would then
need the police report sworn with a statutory declaration and pay a
requisite fee (about RM300) for the replacement title deed, which usually
takes four to six months to obtain after the requisite gazetting.
Once the deed is obtained, the land is ready to be sold.
“You should be suspicious if it is a cash only deal or the land is being
sold below value,” said Chang. If a bank loan is taken to finance the
purchase, the bank's lawyers will also conduct relevant searches to
determine the vendor is not a bankrupt as well as a valuation report on that
landed property.
“When it is time to present to the land office registration, the lawyers do
another search to ensure that no documents prohibiting the dealings such as
a caveat or a prohibitory order,” said Chang.
When it comes to selling the land, all that is needed is the seller's and
buyer's identity cards, the original copy of the Grant/ title deed,
up-to-date quit rent bills and assessment receipts, which have to be
provided by the seller.
Certified true quit rent receipts can be obtained from the land office for a
fee of RM10. Before the final purchase, the stamping office sends the
Memorandum of Transfer (MOT) to the nearest valuation department which
adjudicates the value of the property and imposes the stamp duty, which is
to be paid to the stamping office.
The last item is paying the requisite registration fee to the land office
after the buyer shows proof of a paid stamping fee.
“With so many cases being lodged, the prosecution and investigators should
be able to work out the modus operandi of the fraudsters,” said Chang adding
that he was disappointed with the number of arrests made pertaining to the
cases. |