Hi Lowyat,

Thank you for stumbling upon my post. I'm posting because I need some help and perspective from the knowledgeable people in here.

Basically I live in a town in JB very very near to the new RTS station about to be built. I love this neighborhood even though it isn't exactly safe or pristine.
My late father left this house for us and we grew up here. It is a nice Semi-D house with around 6000 Sqft of land. I grew up here and I seen it transform from
a beautiful neighborhood to a neighborhood ruined by the people working across the causeway illegally parking in my neighborhood and literring away.

But with that said I still love this little home of mine, it is convenient and spacious and my family feels a deep bond with this house.

You can imagine my devastation when I saw an article on edgeprop that says that there is a high chance my neighborhood will be acquired by developers to be transformed
into a commercial zone. The young naive Malaysian in me died when I researched and found out that in Malaysia there is little chance to fight forced land acquisitions or ask
for fair compensations. Nothing is set in stone yet but I have already predicted that the acquisition will one day come and probably not too far into the future.

I am also sick with worry about a few major points:

1. We love the spaciousness of our home and we are worried we wouldn't be able to get another home that is somewhat still convenient location-wise and as spacious in the overinflated property market of JB.

2. My mother is 67 years old, should I start house hunting now before the prices go up further so my mum in her old age wouldn;t have to deal with the whole relocation down the line.

3. My father left us some assets and we have income from the business but I am too young and my income is not high enough to get bank loans, my mother gets aid from the shares of the business we are left behind but she is old and the banks wouldn't approve any loans for her. (Family business stuff, so it's complicated)

But mainly I want to know how you folks who have been through something like this navigated the situation and what I need to look out for.

Thank you for reading

Let's put it this way.

1. LAA is based on how the state/the gov etc acquire your land, not developers. Tons of reasons such as public policy etc etc.

2. Unless something big is at least drafted/set in stone like "proposed MRT; proposed city plan etc etc" - at least a draft plan is needed before any assumption / prediction is even made.

Thank you for the reply,

I guess I am just spooked by all the horror stories about how the government likes to act as proxies for companies to grab lands from people who might be unwilling to sell.
For example a neighborhood near to mine which encountered a similar problem.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/11/...t-kim-teng-folk

The RTS project which is very near to my place is starting construction, I am just stuck in a limbo. Is it a mater of time before they come for my land, will I get fair compensation knowing how corrupted the system can be and my house is old and I can't do any renovation not knowing if my place will be grabbed.

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate any help I can get. Any information is helpful .

Well if you notice properly, that is involving the RTS etc. Hence, the reason will always be like public policy/"for greater good". Similarly, you can go and obtain the plans for the RTS project (not too sure on how JB works). Example, the KL plan has plans for purchase so you will know if you are affected from there.

Also, they will inform you, write to you, send you notices etc. Similarly, government gazettes. That one you'd have to look out for too. Will take some time to go for a few meetings with the land office/admin etc.

Fair compensation can happen. If you are not too happy with what the state is giving, under the LAA, you can object to it and they will move the matter to the Court.

You will have your own valuer, the government will have their own so you valuer when you file anything in court. Then, the judge will be assisted by 2 independent valuers (one from gov, one private) before the court makes any decision. So if you have enough data (such as recent sale & purchase prices to compare)/affected routes etc, you'd probably get more compensation than what was awarded by the land office.

2 words

Public interest vs personal interest

Full stop

Not really your place to call a fullstop. If you read properly I mentioned the RTS acquisition is complete but I am talking about corporations acquiring land using government as proxy which has happened to another neighborhood here which is kim teng park, the land is not for RTS but for profit and commercial use by Mahabuilder. I attached the news article above.

Also it is easy to play the moral highground when it is not your home. If that is all you have to say then I kindly request you do not bother replying to this thread and we can both go about our day. I just wanted to ask for some advice and help and your reply was not that.

I appreciate your detailed reply. Thank you very much for taking the time to educate and help me out. Sometimes we just need someone to give us a serious informed answer to help us unnerve a little.

No prob. Still compensation might vary even if you bring it up to the court. The independent valuers would probably agree with the original valuation on certain claims so its a hit or miss depending on situation.

Oh ya, don't miss the meetings (if any) even if your taman representative/JMB "on behalf" of everyone. Their views might not be yours so its better to go yourself to all these meetings.

But to change it to commercial without the "greater good" policy it will be tough. Especially if the land is further away from the projects (MRT/LRT/flyover etc).

This post has been edited by digitalz: Dec 29 2020, 08:56 PM

Thank you so much. Does LAA account for the building in the land or any recent renovation costs incurred of the landowner? Or is the valuation purely on the land size according to the area market price?

What kind of dialogue will typically go down in the meetings?

My area doesn't seem to be drafted into the RTS plan but to be honest it is a prime land, 10 minutes to RTS station. Most likely will be acquired for commercial use instead of public if someone ever comes to acquire our area. To be honest, I'd love to stay here forever if I could but I still want to learn more about LAA just in case the government with the developers force their way which isn't uncommon for Malaysia.

Do you think I should start house hunting?

Again, thank you for being so detailed with your answers. It's what I really needed.

When the gomen enact LAA, it is fruitless and a waste of resource to stop it. the most practical solution is to engage a experienced and licensed valuer (NOT lawyer) to present your case at the land Administrator/hearing; it will be money well spent.

the time to engage the valuer is when you received the notice.

Thank you iceman,

Yea, I understand how it works in Malaysia, challenging it would be fruitless most times and sometimes you only happen to win temporarily only if politicians need to look good and they happen to pick your case as presentation.

May I ask if you've been through LAA yourself?

I happen to know a valuer who also lives in the neighbourhood, I reckon I'll have a sit down with him if the thing happens.

LAA is a scary thing and I'm glad you're here to teach me. Really appreciate your help.

yes, the gomen acquired a portion of my land for mrt.

a experienced valuer should be familiar with the process. with the right guidance, laa is not scary but great opportunity.

ManutdGiggs

I agree that an experienced valuer will help a lot. The valuer will do a lot of the reports and his valuation will matter a lot. The valuer I met had a lot of experience in going to court even for his clients on LAA matters.

I fully emphathise with your situation especially if the house brings sentimental value to you. Unfortunately the laws in Malaysia are such that when the governement wants to trigger LAA, there is very little you can do to keep the land (even if its freehold). What you can do is to fight for a higher valuation for the house. And yes, do be on a lookout for a new house.

Based on my experience working with valuers, renovations (such as extensions done to the house) will be factored into the value of the house PROVIDED those extension plans are approved by the local authority -- and you will need to provide the documentary evidence. If the extension is done without approvals, then the area done via the extension will not be part of the valuation, and anything built on top of the extended area (e.g built in cabinets etc) will not be factored into the house value.

Thank you both very much.

Yes the land is extremely sentimental to my family. Something difficult to put a price on. I've spent 3 decades here and it is unlikely I'd find a property with such good location and landsize.

May I ask how does one tell if a valuer is actually good? What do I look out for?

The house was built a long time ago, can I obtain a plan from mbjb to see if all my extensions are legal and recorded? If so how do I go about doing this?

Sentiment is priceless, best not to place any monetary value to it.

you can ask valuer for his past records and how ze intend to value your property. zis valuation need to be justified and realistic else is syok sendiri.

I'll suggest you go for prestigious Valuation firms such as Henry Butcher, Rahim & Co, C H Williams Talhar, etc. They will have qualified Valuers (Property Surveyors who carry the Sr titile) who will be very familiar with the LAA, to prepare the necessary reports, and to present info to the court (if it reaches that stage due to any dispute). Perhaps you can try to contacts those firms to provide you a quotation and then to proceed with the next steps.

For the renovation plans approval -- you can check with your town council (mbjb in your case), but since you mentioned it is an old house (I assume over 30 years old house since you stayed there 30 years already), the town council may not have those records anymore -- even if they do keep all records, for them to find the file for your specific house will be a challenge. You can get an architect / registered draughtsman to redraw and resubmit those drawing plans (which can be quite expensive) -- and u will need to weigh that with how much more in terms of compensation you can get assuming everything is approved.. and so this will boil down to how much extension work was done to your house. If the extended area is very large, then by all means do it. But if it is small, it may not be worthwhile to spend that money and time to get plans approved when the land is going to be acquired soon. Hope that makes sense.

These big firms will almost certain assign junior valuer to the job.

Personally, there is no need to go for a big firm. An experienced valuer would do. One that knows his stuff and way around the LAA. Some valuers just overpromise certain stuff and when it reached the referral part to the court... the independent valuers don't take even take the "claims" into consideration.

For doing the groundwork to survey the building, they'll assign some junior. But the person signing reports will be a senior qualified guy. And if the matter escalates and goes to court, the senior qualified guy will be the one presenting the case.