Transfer ownership or be fined
31/12/07 NST-PROP

Are you the sort who tends to procrastinate or take your own sweet time to do things? Well, if you are the owner of a stratified property, you had better change your ways, or else you could find yourself poorer by up to RM10,000!

With changes to the Strata Titles Act 1985 that took effect on April 1 this year, parcel owners are given a time-frame to transfer ownership of their stratified unit from the vendor to their names, failing which they will be committing an offence.

In Section 40A of the Act which concerns transfer of ownership of strata titles, the following points should be noted:

1. The developer, or a person or a body appointed by a court of law, must execute the transfer of strata titles to the parcel owners within 12 months of the issue of the titles by the Land Administrator;

2. The buyer must execute the complete documents of transfer within 12 months of the date of notice of transfer of strata titles issued by the developer, or from the date of purchase of the unit; and

3. Those who fail to comply with this regulation, whether developer, his appointee or a body appointed by the court, or the buyer, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be fined not less than RM1,000 or not more than RM10,000 per parcel.

This Section is reason enough for unit owners to quickly execute the transfer once they have received the notice of the issuance of strata titles from the developer.

But how can they know when strata titles have been issued? For primary properties, the titles are first issued to the developer or the landowner. Once done, the developer will inform the purchasers, the purchasers' lawyer and the end financiers.

Normally, the notice will include instructions on the sums to be paid or utility deposits to be made, as well as copies of the title and accessory parcel (if any).

Once the notice is obtained, owners have to assemble the following documents for handing over to their lawyers so the transfer process can begin:

1. Copies of all present and previous Sale & Purchase Agreements. This is because, if an owner is not the first purchaser, proof must be shown that he or she is the last buyer in the chain;

2. Copies of present and previous Loan Agreements, Deed of Assignment, Deed of Receipt and Re-assignment, if any;

3. Copy of the strata title from the developer;

4. Current year's quit rent receipt; and

5. Current year's assessment receipt.

Normally, the two main cost factors in the transfer of ownership of a stratified unit are the stamp duty and the legal fees.

After the strata title has been transferred, the owner then becomes the property�s legal owner.

When at least one-fourth of the buyers have transferred ownership to their names, the developer will have to call for the First Annual General Meeting of the strata development owners.

In this important meeting, the MC (represented by individual parcel owners elected to a Management Council) will take over from the developer ownership of the common property and land within the development, the management and maintenance role.

The National House Buyers Association (HBA) is a voluntary, non-governmental organisation manned by unpaid volunteers. For more information, surf to http:// www.hba.org.my