WHEN Shahrin Albakri Mustafa Albakri, 51, received news that 156 homeowners in Taman Melewar had obtained a Kuala Lumpur High Court order dated Nov 26, 2024, to reinstate their leasehold tenures to freehold titles, he was elated.
Shahrin, who owns a semi- detached double-storey corner lot in the residential area, said he was not surprised with the court’s decision as he always had faith in the justice system.
“A freehold title is not a small matter. One of the first advantages is the positive effect it will have on property values,” he said.
Following the court order which was obtained with the help of his lawyer, Shahrin said the Federal Territories Director of Land and Mines Office (PPTGWP) had yet to issue the freehold titles to residents but he was told that the administrative process for this was already in place, with a fee required for the issuance.
Inspired by the examples of Taman Melewar and other areas such as Taman Maluri and Seri Petaling, residents of Taman Connaught took their case to Kuala Lumpur High Court in May 2024.
By September, they had won the court’s approval to reinstate their land titles to freehold.
Among those celebrating this victory are Taman Connaught Phase 3 Residents Association (TCP3RA) chairman Peter Foo, 83, and secretary Yap Chi Keong, 73.
“The development is now 44 years old, and our phase alone has 281 houses that will benefit from this reinstatement,” said Foo.
In total, there are four phases in Taman Connaught, with each of them represented by their own residents associations (RA).
Like Phase 3 residents, the other RAs are also pursuing the reinstatement of their freehold titles through various legal firms.
Formerly the owner of a timber company, Foo now owns two plots of land in Taman Connaught where he built his dream home in 1996.
“I was still in my 40s when I bought the plots.
“My first thought was that by the time the lease expired, I would no longer be around anyway,” he said.
However, Foo, now a father of four and grandfather of six, is looking at the matter in a different light.
“I started to think of the implications the tenure will have on the value of my property, especially when the lease is close to its expiration date.
“I wanted to secure the property for my family’s future,” he added.
Finding proof
“In order to prove that our property was originally freehold land, we knew that ‘talk’ was not enough. We needed evidence,” said Yap.
The first meeting to address the issue took place at the office of an architect eight years ago.
From the meeting, Yap discovered that it was necessary to speak to buyers who had bought directly from the developer, as their sale and purchase agreements might have recitations of the old master title which would reveal where the subdivided titles in the housing development had originated from.
However, looking for details of the master title proved to be difficult as so many years had already passed.
In May 2023, however, Yap managed to get hold of a major clue from Taman Connaught Phase 1 Residents Association chairman Edward Kee, whose father was a property owner in Phase 1.
Kee’s father had meticulously kept a whole file of documents pertaining to the house for the sake of record keeping.
This entire file was handed over to Yap.
When Yap went through the file, he found a receipt from January 1980 for the alteration and extension of the two-storey link house.
In that receipt, the lot numbers of the master title were mentioned.
“Taman Connaught resident Sim Kay Huan then did a search at PPTGWP, confirming the original land title status was actually freehold,” said Yap.
At that juncture, the residents associations, including Phase 3 RA, decided to seek help from Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai who advised that they engage legal help.
Faith in justice system
“To pay for the legal fees, association treasurer Tan Ke Song together with two other committee members, Chin Lok Fen and Goh Yoke Meng, went round explaining to residents in Phase 3 on the conversion from leasehold to freehold.
“Some residents were willing to contribute RM500 for the legal fees.
“The committee finally decided to use Taman Connaught Phase 3 Residents Association honorary chairman Kennedy Tan’s house as a test case,” said Yap.
During a ceremony to hand over newly issued freehold titles to residents, Kok Wai announced that to date, there were 336 cases in Taman Connaught alone with some having obtained their court orders, receiving freehold titles while others were still in progress.
Lawyer Aaron Lee, who is from one of the legal firms assisting Taman Connaught residents in the title reinstatement process, said they found proof that a substantial part of the housing development was subdivided from and continued from a freehold master title.
“The land was originally a rubber estate. When the developer acquired it for residential development, they had to apply to have it subdivided.
“Since the master title was freehold, all subdivided lots should have remained freehold,” he explained.
“However, after the subdivision process, the tenure of the subdivided individual titles were reduced to leasehold.
“Though the subdivision process for development may involve additional applications including but not limited to changes in land use, these applications can only allow the imposing of specific conditions relevant to the permitted development, not to downgrade the land’s tenure.”
Cases in the past
Lee also cited past legal cases in Taman Desa Seputeh (TDS).
It was reported that 20 TDS residents had their properties reinstated to freehold status through legal action in December last year.
The issue mirrors a similar case involving 7,000 landowners in Sri Petaling, who, with the help of Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, successfully petitioned the PPTGWP director to convert their leasehold titles to freehold in 2022.
The titles were still written by hand stating that the master title was in continuity of a “Lease of State Land”.
Under the FMS Enactment Chapter 138, Lease of State Land does not necessarily mean leasehold, Wafiyuddin said.
“In the subsequent title of our case, the tenure of the land did not state if it was freehold or leasehold but as there was no mention of tenureship and with the annual rent being stated as nil, we submitted this as evidence that the land was originally freehold. However, the court wanted stronger evidence.
“We went to the National Archives and Survey and Mapping Department (Jupem) where we spent weeks searching for any shred of evidence that might indicate that Taman Melewar was originally freehold land.
“Upon further research in the case law database, we finally found a 2022 case law where the property in dispute was in the same area as Taman Melewar.
“In it, there was no mention of the master title; however, we found one that was neighbouring the subsequent title but coming from the same master title where the words ‘in perpetuity’ were written.
“In FMS Enactment Chapter 138, Lease of State Land in perpetuity means the title is freehold.
“When this was submitted, only then was the court convinced,” said Wafiyuddin.
As to why the status of land titles was changed from freehold to leasehold in spite of the law, Wafiyuddin said the reason was unclear but based on his research this had happened at a time when Kuala Lumpur had just been declared a Federal Territory in 1974.
Authority answers
When contacted on the matter, Land and Mines Federal Territories director Datin Paduka Rahilah Rahmat reminded property owners that leasehold titles could not be arbitrarily converted to freehold titles.
At present, only property owners in Batu and Petaling constituencies can check their land title status at the PPTGWP website.
For other areas, property owners are required to get a court order.
Legal fees incurred for such proceedings will depend on the firm engaged.
Property owners who claim that their title can be converted from leasehold to freehold are advised to check all necessary information with the original owner of the area in question.
Owners may then obtain a certified copy of the title via an official search from PPTGWP for further verification.
Based on PPTGWP’s review, there are currently 102,834 freehold lots under its purview at present.
