Hi all, my condo unit just received strata title recently. I'm also planning to sell my unit if there's an offer.

My question is would it be cheaper to do all this when I sell my unit or I shall do my strata title transfer first since I'm not sure if I managed to sell my unit soon.

Is the cost same if I do now vs when I do it together when I sell my unit within a year (the strata title transfer deadline is within a year)?

Thanks in advance.

Note: The prop is free of loan



This post has been edited by 1282009: Jun 30 2015, 10:17 PM

You have to ask your developer whether they allow to do direct transfer to your new purchaser. Some developer refuse to do direct transfer as is not follow the guideline.

If you do transfer the title to your name first. You need to folk out the stamp duty and legal fees to transfer.

The strata title transfer do not have a dateline, but you will bear the risk if the developer would wind up, you will have difficulty to transfer to your name in future.

Thanks for the input.

Very true. Just rang up the developer and ask for their admin fee they charge if allow direct transfer. Then calculate the cost and weight it..

Normally developer not allow to do direct transfer to 3rd party, guideline is there and there will facing a risk when developer not follow.

There will be an added process for the new purchaser when buying your unit when they need to transfer the title directly to them anyway, so you might as well do it now.

Also speaking from a mortgage consultant's perspective, banks always prefer units with a strata title, of which without it the banks will have to look into the finances of the developer. If it isn't good, eg. it has a negative balance; then your purchaser would have to apply through a different set of banks, effectively making their choices limited and perhaps lengthening the buying process anyway. Some banks will accept "letter from developer asking for title transfer costs" as proof that the property has already been given separate strata title, but for some other banks, they actually want to see the strata title itselt.

You would do your purchaser a lot of favor by getting the strata title.

My recommendation is to get it over and done with.

This post has been edited by wild_card_my: Jul 3 2015, 02:09 AM

In relation to "which is cheaper", the main costs in perfecting the transfer, i.e. having the strata title transferred into your name will be the ad-valorem stamp duty (calculated based on your purchase price).

Whether you have paid this ad-valorem stamp duty will depend on whether you bought direct from the developer or sub-sale.

Normally when you buy direct from the developer, the ad valorem stamp duty will not be paid yet and will only be paid on the MOT once the title is issued. If you purchased sub-sale, it will have been paid on the deed of assignment.

If you have not paid the ad-valorem stamp duty yet, check with your developer if they are agreeable to a direct transfer. If they are agreeable, check how much admin fee they are charging and compare it to the stamp duty payable.

However, there are many other factors that you might want to consider. For e.g. the hassle and nightmare should the developer wounds up before title is transferred. I personally would want to get it done and get the developer out of the picture as soon as possible especially if you are not able to confirm whether you will be/be able to sell the property in the near future.

Thanks for the valuable feedback. I'm pretty much decided

Thanks for the useful info

By the way, I will just include the costs for getting the transfer perfected in the selling price. So no issue lah..

"You want to buy, you pay. Don't want, go somewhere else. This property has strata title ok?"

I have recently sold a property and am happy that the developer is willing to do a direct transfer. Not all developers are willing to do direct transfer especially those involve state consent.

Would it be cheaper? Just calculate the stamp duty you need to pay vs the admin charges imposed by the developer.

Note : in the event the developer does not allow direct transfer, you may need more time to do double transfer, when you eventually found a buyer, ie, developer transfer to you and subsequently you transfer to your purchaser. Time is of the essence and it means money, too. So, you may want to check it out with the developer.

Just m2c.

It is always cheaper for you if the developer is agreeable to a direct transfer from the developer to your buyer, provided that you manage to sell your property within 12 months after the developer's notice of issuance of strata title. For properties under HDA, admin fee from developer is 0.5% of the selling price or RM500, whichever is lower.

However, if you do not sell your property soon or you could not get a buyer within 12 months after the developer's notice, you can be imposed with a fine of up to RM10,000 for not completing the strata title transfer to your name within the stipulated period.

Conclusion: If you could sell your property within a year after the developer's notice, ask for a direct transfer (only if the developer agrees to do so). If not, pay the stamp duty on MOT to excute strata title transfer from the developer to your name to ease the transaction process and avoid penalty.

Hi all, thanks for all the replies. I've already hired my solicitor to do the transfer last week

According to her, this whole process might take up to 5-6 months. I will need to pay the total sum to my solicitor when developer agrees for my solicitor to handle the transfer, probably be 2-3 weeks time. Is it normal or payment should be made only the work is fully completed, ie. ~6 months from now?

can we use the loan lawyer to do the transfer and save some costs there?

or we have to use the SPA lawyer..?

It is advisable to use your original SPA lawyer to execute the MOT, as the original lawyer can only charge 25% of the lawyer fee for the transfer. If you use other lawyer to do it, the lawyer fee is 50%.

True... Original SPA lawyer can only charge 25%. In reality, non-SPA lawyer also charge 25%.

You mentioned no loan, why need 5-6 months?

If no state consent is not required, can be done within 1- 2 months, (registered and collect the title in your name).

If state consent required, depends whether developer has obtained consent to transfer. For developer to obtain state consent, some very straight forward, ie. already obtained or take 1 month or so. For some complicated cases, take ages.
Once state consent obtained, will need another 1-2 month or so to transfer to your name, like stated above.

Payment, the biggest sum, stamp duty, you may wait until the lawyer inform you that they have received notice to pay, or to avoid delay in payment, you may pay after lawyer sent it for adjudication.

Yes, no loan. According to my solicitor, will take longer for Selangor. If KL will be faster. 5-6 months is the longest, she said could be earlier but don't put hope. Anyway, let's see.

Yes, non-SPA lawyer also charged 25% only of the fees which is same for my case.