KL Bar helps with online migration of land titles

KUALA LUMPUR: The implementation of the new “e-Tanah” system to improve land administrative processes in Kuala Lumpur has caused some application delays.

But the Kuala Lumpur Bar has teamed up with the Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur Land and Mines director’s office to expedite the migration of land titles online to resolve the issue.

The director’s office said as of Aug 18, they had migrated about 68% of 500,000 titles registered in Kuala Lumpur.

The KL Bar’s Corporate and Conveyancing Committee chairman Jacky Loi said the KL Bar and Lands and Mines office have worked out a system whereby the titles for urgent cases will be migrated online first.

“On our end, we help by vetting our members’ applications before sending them to the director’s office on a daily basis. The land office has given us a limit of 100 title applications per day for urgent cases,” said Loi.

Initially, there were two conditions for urgent cases – if the KL Bar’s members wer advising the banks to release the balance purchase price and if the completion date of the sale and purchase agreement was less than three weeks away.

“With this process, we have been receiving an average of 60 applications a day,” said Loi.

He added that more categories have been opened for members to expedite the conversion of titles.

Loi said the Bar Council of Malaysia and the Selangor Bar Committee were also compiling requests from lawyers practising outside of Kuala Lumpur and in Selangor.

“The Selangor Bar is also compiling its own title requests, while the Bar Council’s Conveyancing Practice Committee will be handling all other states,” he said.

The “e-Tanah” system allowed the public to apply for land searches, submit applications for consent or approvals, land subdivision and to check the status of applications online.

Other facilities include online payment for quit rent.

The system will also reduce the overall processing time for strata titles by the end of this year.

Recently, several readers of The Star had complained that they found it difficult to perform online title searches at the land office.

Some, who were in the midst of completing their sale and purchase agreement, said the migration had delayed the process

Prior to the migration process, the director’s office stated, it had met with the Kuala Lumpur Bar and Selangor Bar committees to inform them about the new system and the conversion process.

Even so, there have been road bumps, especially with problematic titles such as those with incomplete plans or those which had legal issues over ownership.

For the latter, they would not be migrated until the legal issues were resolved.

“Officers physically inspect all titles, so the process needs time,” it said.