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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Follow up with the lawyer or land office itself.

After one month of application for consent, my lawyer told me the consent has yet to be obtained. My husband went to land office to check it out, the consent was ready for collection 3 weeks ago.

Registration of title and collection of registered title from land office - after submission for registration, the lawyer supposed to collect it within 30 days (If I am not mistaken, anyway it is written and your lawyer should know.) So, make sure your lawyer collect it within 30 days, otherwise, you have to pay penalty for late collection. And yes, I am talking about Selangor.