Hi all,

I'm in the midst of purchasing a house but there are two concerns:

1. I was told by the lawyer that in order to purchase the house I intend to buy, the lawyer needs to get approval from the government before the purchase can proceed. This process will take about 2 months.

The house is a freehold house but he said there are certain areas/places where the land the house is on was previously a private land or government acquired land (he said something along these lines, but I didn't understand well) hence before any purchase can be done they will first need to obtain approval from the government (exco or something). Once they have obtained the approval, then only the purchase can take place.

Has anyone heard of this before or has any information about it?

I'd really appreciate if anyone can shed some light on this.


2. My lawyer also told me that we can do trustee (pemegang amanah) if we would like to purchase a property for example for our child but can't use their name due to bumi/non bumi issue hence we use our child in laws name to purchase the property but create this trustee thing hence if anything happens the property won't go to the in laws family member.

I'd really appreciate if anyone knows about this and can share it with me.


Thank you.

1) For your 1st concern, you need to read the land search/Title to confirm. Freehold/Leasehold is the tenure while restriction-in-interest is another thing you need to concern. The land can be freehold but at the same time can have restriction-in-interest. Restriction-in-interest is known as "sekatan kepentingan".

2) Why do you want to create trust? Normally trust is created for the purpose of holding the property for religion, children or ppl who contemplate they may be bankrupt (normally businessmen who has high volatility in income).

Is the property under Malay owner and you are non-Malay and there is a restriction-in-interest in the property?

Thank you for the explanation. I really appreciate it.

1. To be honest, I never knew that there is such restriction-in-interest before. This is the first time I've come across this. How do I find out if restriction-in-interest applies to this land/house? It it written it the geran or something?

What else do I need to know regarding this restriction-in-interest?

Is it normal for the approval to take about 2 months? Can't make it any faster?

2. To be honest, I've also never heard of this trust thing before. It's just that based on the family situation right now, the lawyer suggested to create this trust.

The situation is such that the father wants to buy the house for the son but the house can't be placed under the son's name. It can only be placed under the wife's name (wife of the son) but the father doesn't want the property to fall to the wife's family if anything happens to the son.

There is this famous saying ...

Want the grandchild but not the daughter in law.

Just rent a house for them. Why all the legal complication.

It's too complicated. I don't know why this is even needed in the first place. In fact, I was surprised that the lawyer suggested this thing because the family didn't mention anything about this.

If the father dont tell the lawyer, he just cannot proposed something out from nowhere.

What happen to the son's status? Bankrupt? Paying cash for the purchase?

Just say what you know all so we can offer some solution. After all we are all masked in this forum.

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Oct 31 2019, 02:46 PM

Thinking about it again, yeah the father might have told the lawyer something that made him came up with that plan.

Son is non bumi. House is bumi lot. Yes the father is paying cash for the son.

Why that house?

So many properties in the market now.

If buy non bumi lot can he register in your name?

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Oct 31 2019, 07:16 PM

Seemed like you may not know the whole picture. Better get the father and son to seek a second opinion from another lawyer.

Bro, I've one very important question that I desperately need to know.

Let's say the purchase has took place, how do I find out whose name the house is really under and if they really had created the trust thingy?

Thank you so much.

From your land search. If it's trust, the trustee will be "Pemegang Amanah" in your search.

As this is the first time, I'm really really noob at this and I've to apologize for my stupid questions.

1. Where should I go to do this "land search"? Pejabat Tanah? Need to bring or pay anything?

2. Does the gran (or is it "geran") have the owners name on it? Like vehicles geran where the owners name is written on it or is it different from vehicles geran?

Thank you so much.

1) Yes. Pejabat Tanah is the one govern all the property ownership, transfer issue. Just minimal fee a few ten Rm.

2) It will print out the all the property details and you can know whether the property is caveat or not as well as any restriction of transfer.

Engage with a Snp lawyer, your lawyer should be doing this for you, it is SOP.
Every property may be different with each other as it is under respective state PTG. Some need to get consent, some have certain restriction etc.

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it.

There's already a lawyer who's handling the purchase but he is on the different side of things.

The reason I asked the questions is because once the purchase is done, I'd personally like to check what the lawyer actually did to the purchase. By this I mean whose name is the property under and if he really created the trust thingy.

Hi bro. Finally everything is done now. The "geran" is ready.

Going back to the question, yes, you're right. The property was under Malay owner (bumiputera) and the new owner is non-Malay hence the house is put under new owner's wife who is a Malay.

But the lawyer said that he will create a trust. He said, the property will be under the wife's name (Malay) but he will create trust and the wife is just like holding the property using her name for her husband who is non-Malay.

I believe Restriction-in-interest is same as "sekatan kepentingan"?

If yes, then yeah the property has restriction-in-interest.

So how to check whether the trust thing is really there?

By land search, do you mean the "geran" or the title?

The "geran" is already ready but in the "geran" there's only the wife's name under REKOD KETUANPUNYAAN. Only her name under that, nothing else.

So how to know whether she's the only owner or she is holding the trust/trustee?

Dear Mr Faiz @wild_card_my

I'm in need of some advice here hence is it possible if you shed some light on this issue?

Thanks!

This post has been edited by JamesBotak: Feb 8 2020, 05:07 PM

James, sorry but conveyancing at this level is a little beyond me. You definitely need to get advice from your own lawyer on this matter.

Btw, which lawyer are you talking about here? The SPA lawyer? Who chose the lawyer? Was it the agent? Try not to use any agent-recommended lawyer

The agent was commissioned/appointed by the vendor, and if you use the lawyer recommended by the agent, there may be some conflict of interests there

Since you are paying for the SPA lawyer, try to get your own. I have no fish in this game, you can ask me for recommendations

To be honest, I'm really lost in this as this is my first time. I've no idea what has been done and what's not. As far as I know, the lawyer is the SPA lawyer. Only one lawyer involved in this.

I've received new information hence I believe I should rephrase my statement. Maybe it would be easier to understand.

I'll try to make it short. Here it goes:

1. I'm buying a house cash. I was told the house is a bumi lot. However, the lawyer actually told me the previous owner was a non bumi. The lawyer said the house previously belonged to a Chinese lady. The lawyer bought the house from the Chinese lady as the lady desperately needed money. The lawyer bought the house and changed the house name to his son's name who is a Malay. Thereafter, the house was sold to me. I've no idea how the house is a bumi but was owned by the Chinese lady.Could it be that the house was a non bumi lot and converted to a bumi lot? Is this possible?

2. I'm not a bumi (Indian Muslim) but my wife is a bumi (Malay). The lawyer told me since the house is a bumi lot, he can't put the house under my name. He can only put the house under my wife's name. I agreed without any clause but somehow the lawyer suggested to create this trust thingy where the house will be under my wife's name but she will only be holding it under her name while the actual owner is myself. My wife will be the "pemegang amanah" of the house for me. This is what I understood but my understanding may not be correct as I've no idea about this trust thingy. I didn't want to do this but the lawyer insisted. He convinced me that this is the best way.

3. Now the house purchase is completed. I've just received the geran. In the geran, under "rekod ketuanpunyaan", I can only see my wife's name. I'm fine with this. I've no issues with this. It's just that I want to know whether did the lawyer really did the trust thingy. How do I check if the trust is valid? Should it show in the geran? Or there should be another seperate document that highlights about this trust?

I believe you are aware about the trust/trustee (pemegang amanah) thingy? If yes, I just need to know how do I check this trust thingy.

I don't mean for any racism in this topic. The reason I highlighted the race is just to make it easier to understand hence I apologize for any misunderstanding.

Thank you!

Wait, I cant give any advice on th econvayencing. But you are dealing with that lawyer who is the father of the vendor (the son is the vendor), and this lawyer is your SPA lawyer too?

Get out of this deal or get your own lawyer man. This reeks of conflict of interests at the highest levels

The SPA lawyer should be representing you, the purchaser, in an agreement between the PURCHASER (you) vs the VENDOR (the lawyer's son)

If you need recommendation of other lawyers, let me know, if not, I'd say drop this or you are taking a huge risks

Noted with thanks Mr Faiz.

I've two questions:

1. Regarding SPA documents, will we get a copy of the document once the purchase is completed?

2. Do you know of any lawyers in Seremban who I can check with? I'm planning to get a different lawyer.

Thanks!