Land Prices

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Where I am in Perak, land prices range from RM5 psf to RM20. The higher prices tending to be in, or close, to towns. The Star newspaper classified ads are a really good place to scout out for property purchases and rentals, but with "land for sale" the ads are meagre.

If you're looking to buy land then build (as I am) then obviously you need to decide on the region, and home-in locally. I'm going to be looking at the 3 east coast states around Mersing, Kuantan, Terenganau, and maybe Kota Baru (this is probably too close to the Thai border).

I'm going for the east coast because it's still environmentally more pleasant than the west coast. The sea is bluish rather than teh-tarik, it's still pretty, and still pretty empty. The east coast highway is progressing, and there's the east-west links. Of course there's the monsoons and the floods (build higher). But the yearly smog doesn't spread up as much eastwards, as it goes more towards the west coast and central peninsula.

I'm going to use my RM240,000 (from FD) plus RM10,000 to bring up to the minimum amount. This would split into about 1,000 built-up @ RM120 psf (high end building costs) and a land parcel of 10,000 sf (at, say RM10 psf) with the rest taken up for legal fees and stamp duty, state fees, architects (RM3,000), planning application (RM1,500).

Well, these are the provisional figures that I'm using at the moment.

regards, Scott

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I've noticed that there are a lot more "land for sale" adds in the Central Edition classified section of the Star Newspaper, and these ads are nationwide.

One thing about buying land that's worrying is the security of title once it's bought. Over the past few years there's been several newspaper reports of land being sold without the owner's knowledge.

One suggestion that I heard was to take out a loan on the land (even if not needed) so that the lender (a bank) would hold a charge over the land, and hence make underhand selling difficult. I think that a better alternative would be to make a caveat on the land title.

When I get around to buying some land, I'll be asking my solicitor about the above.

regards, Scott

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Scott

I have also read a lot about land being sold without the owners knowledge when I was back in KL. Is this not up to the solicitor to ensure that everything is above board? If I am not mistaken, when I bought my condo about 3 years ago, the solicitor wanted to charge me about MYR$600 for some caveat that covered this. Memory failing due to.......

Phil

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Hi, Philip,

It seems to be a gray area. Certainly these are critical points to raise with a solicitor.

My recall is also failing but some time ago it was reported (the Star Newspaper as usual) that land belonging to A had been sold by B to C. The case went to court, and the judgement was in favour of C. What an amazing decision. Don't recall what happened to B.

Maybe someone can fill-in all the obvious blanks.

But I did remember this, and resolved that if I ever buy any property or land in Malaysia, then I'll raise these points during the purchase.

regards, Scott

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Scott,

This is another reason I prefer condos.  The developer is going to make pretty sure he has title to the land, and if for any reason the situation arises that you refer to there are going to be many unhappy owners chasing rather than a single entity when a parcel of land has been bought by the MM2H buyer, or anyone else. I have heard of this sort of thing happening in the Philippines (problems with title) but didn't realise it happened in Malaysia.  Not the sort of thing you want to be landed with when you have just built your dream retirement home. That would cause the stress levels to rise and as a retiree could be heart attack material !!  Incidentally I'm off to the Philippines for two week's holiday tomorrow, so I expect that whilst I will enjoy my time in the sun, I may come back disillusioned regarding the property scene.

I was interested to hear that you are thinking of buying land and building on the east coast.  Your reasons and fully understood.  For me the downside is the lack of development (I suppose that could be an advantage), lack of westernisation, and the fact that attitudes towards alcohol, dress etc are not as relaxed as the west coast.  But then I haven't been to the areas you refer to so I am open to consideration of the possibilities.  Paul

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hi, Paul,

There's been fewer cases in the newspapers this year. Maybe more transparency and speed have arrived in the state land offices. Anyway, these are items to know about and then double-check with the solicitor.

I think Kelantan is too close to the Thai border. I like the "no discos" bit though. Also Kelantan and Trengganu really take the brunt of the monsoon.

So I'm thinking of looking south of Kuala Trengganu, near Quantan. Then between Quantan and Mersing. I'll post some information after I've visited - probably September time.

regards, Scott

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Here's a bit more info about my post 21st June 2007.

The Sunday Star, 15th July 2007, has an article headlined, "Landowners need protection." The article states that the Malaysian Bar Council wants the government to amend the National Land code to protect landowners and bona fide purchasers from losing or buying property through others' fraudulent actions.

It seems that the case that I partially remembered was a controversial Federal Court judgement made in  2000 (Adorna Properties vs Boonsom Boonyanit).

The Sunday Star articles says, "Among the Bar Council's reasons for amending the National Land code was the fact that ownership of land was at risk because a landowner is legally not entitled to lodge a private caveat against any dealings on his land and that it was against the principles of fairness and justice that a landowner is without remedy or compensation for loss of land following the Adorna Properties decision."

If I ever get around to buying some land, I'll be asking the solicitor what I can do to prevent it from being fraudulently sold-out from under me.

regards, Scott

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Scott,

Another reason that reinforces my leaning towards living/purchasing a condo unit.

Paul M

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Hello,
Actually, I have seen several offers quite interesting for me, but what bothers me are the local regulations, I know nothing of.
For example, here in Russia an owner can legally fence one's own property, save for forest, lake or riverside. I.e., if a private owner has legally bought part of a forest, a lake or a riverside (that is quite difficult, but not altogether impossible here), he cannot legally fence it, as the local people must be granted free access to these natural objects.
What is the situation in Malaysia? If, for example, I would have bought an acre of land with a stream crossing it, would I be able to fence it around, or it would be illegal?
And, what is the situation with water and wastes? Here in Russia on our country property I have my water pumped up from my own well 40 meters deep. Is it the same way in Malaysia, or one have to get water from some communal pipe or other? And - on our country property here in Russia I have installed a sewage tank with ventilation equipment, which allows for wastes to decay without odours, so only almost clear water constantly flows out, and once a year the sediment must be removed, and could be used as fertiliser afterwards.
Do they have something like that in Malaysia?

BR,
Sergey.

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hi,

As I travel around Malaysia I see many plots of land, with and without buildings, that are fenced-up.

I haven't seen any streams of the "babbling brook" variety. Maybe other members can help here. Malaysia has several fairly large rivers in various stages of pollution caused by a variety of industrial, domestic and animal wastes (usually chicken farms as the pig farms were almost all closed a few years back). This is a problem recognised by the government.

Mains water and sewerage (waste) are generally available but a suprising number of villages, and individual properties, exist with well-drainage and septic tanks. Indah Water is in charge of sewerage and they will pump the septic tanks for a fee.

You need to make sure that any land that you're interested in is not Malay Reserve Land as you can't buy this. You also need to ensure that you employ a solicitor to thoroughly check the title deeds.

regards, Scott

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Hm... Do you mean that they do not have tanks with aerobic bacteria in Malaysia? Wow... That could be a very interesting business to supply aerobe tanks... Septic tanks that are needed to be pumped out is quite backward technology nowadays, with all the odor and the need to call these nice Indah Water people several times a year... Aerobe tanks are very much popular here, as they are practically odorless, easy to install and look after, and not too expensive... and in hot climate I think the difference between aerobe and septic tanks should be even more obvious...

The stream I've seen on a picture seemed to be quite clean. It is somewhere near Merbok river. I have tried to find it on the satellite map and failed, but noticed some fish farms in the vicinity, so the water there mustn't be absolutely foul.

BR,
Sergey.

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hi, Serge,

Aerobic bacteria, now that's interesting. There was an article in the Star Newspaper quite some time back, and I can't locate it. However, it reported the concerns of Indah Water that many septic tank owners refused to call them in to pump out the tanks. Seems that folks didn't want to pay the service charge. Indah Water was worried about overflowing tanks affecting rivers and water supply.

Aerobic tanks could be the answer.

regards, Scott

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Aerobic tanks - have some thing similar in Canada. Used by some mobile home communities.
We also use septic fields in the rural areas in Canada especially on acreages.

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I belive the tanks we use in Russia are built to the patent of some Czech engineer. Technology is not all that weird, the most complex parts are air pump, control unit and unit that divides air into several pipes. It needs about as much electricity as 10W lamp, and they say the water that flows out is 98% clean. If it comes through a simple sand filter (or septic aeration field), it could be considered 100% clean. Our Certification Agency issued a Quality Certificate for these tanks, and they are considered to be quite environment-friendly.
I imagine it would have been not too difficult to arrange making of such tanks in Malaysia, under the original Czech patent...

We are trying to buy tickets for 8 - 10 of January, but it seems everything below business class is already booked...