Importance of having a copy of the land title

If you recently bought a land or is considering to buy a piece of land or a landed property. Its always a good idea to request for the latest copy of the Land title to get details about the property.

WHY ?

Firstly, this will give you a great insight about the property;

1. Freehold or leasehold ?

2. Final title or Qualified title ?

3. What will be the yearly tax cost of maintaining the land ?

4. What is the actual area of the land ?

5. What is the usage limitations of the land ?

6. What is the express conditions & restrictions of the land by the land office ?

7. Historic records of the land in question. e.g Is it free of encumbrance ? charged to bank ?

8. Owner or owners of the land/property. Individuals or company

1. Freehold or Leasehold ?

This is a important factor when purchasing a land or property. It determines how long it would take to transfer ownership and if leasehold the number of years before you need to renew the leasehold property. Freehold is generally the better choice but its depends what is your intended purpose for the land purchase.

2. Final Title (GERAN) or Qualified title (Hakmilik Sementara) ?

Final title basically means the area stated in the title is final and chances are less to have your land disputed by your neighbor and its area reduced when submitting for any subdivision or amalgamation (joining). When purchasing, Its a good idea to find out what will the final title area will look like because that will the determine how much land you might lose and if you intend to do development on the area this will be upmost important.

Qualified title has a larger chance of losing land in the process of development. If you are considering developing that piece of land with a qualified title. A check with the local council and land office along with search for the survey plans will help you to determine the outcome after the final title been applied. E.g If there is a road/drain or river reserve that has been planned by the relevant government department. It will not be written on your title. So if you're thinking of developing this land. Make relevant checks before deciding to go ahead.

3. What will be the yearly tax cost of maintaining the land ?

Each piece of land will be subjected to a yearly land tax. Agriculture land category has the lowest tax and it goes higher starting from residential, mixed development, commercial to industrial. If you're planning to convert the land use. E.g from agriculture to residential. be aware any upgrade will increase your land tax and that will increase your yearly maintenance expenditure.

4. What is the actual area of the land ?

The land title states the area of the land and along with it comes copy of the sketch of how it looks like i.e shape and length dimensions. This will give you a picture of how it looks like from above. When you go to the land there might be boundaries to show where its located but its best practice to get a land surveyor to determine and verify your boundary to make sure.

5. What is the usage limitations of the land ?

The land title usually states what is the land use. E.g agriculture, plantation, residential, commercial, industrial etc. This will give you conditions presently restricting the land use and how the current land use can be converted to a different land use. Please be advised to convert the land use will take time and is usually around a year and above.

6. What is the express conditions & restrictions of the land by the land office ?

Express conditions will restrict the the land use even further to a more specific detail. For e.g It might say land use is plantation, and the express condition says rubber trees. Therefore it's current express conditions limits the land usage to rubber plantation.

7. Historic records of the land in question.e.g Is it free of encumbrance ? charged to bank?

This information allows you to determine what is the status of the ownership of the land. Any dealings have to be cleared before transferring ownership of the land. Therefore will present a timeframe of how long it will take before you can get it transferred to you or your company. There might be interested parties to the land and its usually in the form of a caveat.

8. Owner or owners of the land/property. Individuals or company

This list presents the actual owner of the land and who can make the decision about the land. Company maybe the best as some land are bought by a company that's been formed for the sole purpose of holding the land. And you can just buy the company and its a more straightforward process. Individuals may be sometimes more tricky, as it might be shared by many individuals and if one of them can't decide or not contactable or have died. The process will take much longer and best solution for this is a power of attorney among the individuals so the decision can be made by the one appointed the power of attorney.