KUCHING: The Housing Ministry has been called upon to look into the undue delay in issuance of strata land title for public low-cost flats and housing schemes in the state.
PKR women national vice-chief Voon Shiak Ni, who made the call on behalf of the house owners, said the delay has been a statewide problem in Sarawak that caused much inconvenience to house owners.
“We call on the Housing Ministry to heed the calls of the house buyers pertaining to the long wait for issuance of individual and strata titles and check the progress of application for the said land titles from Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
“HDC also has to explain the reason behind the delay in the issuance of land titles to house buyers, especially for the low-cost flats in Batu Kawah and Taman Flora Indah at Jalan Arang,” she said in a press statement yesterday.
Voon, who is PKR Stampin branch vice chairperson, said the house owners had brought this issue to her attention last week during her visit to the low-cost flats in Taman Flora Indah.
“They wanted to know the status of strata land title application. Is there any progress of their application at all? And what is the factor that is withholding the issuance of strata title for the said flats?”
They claimed that strata land titles were not issued to them even though they had been residing there for over 10 years.
“We were also informed that the delay in the issuance of land titles for low-cost housing projects under HDC also affected a number of other areas such as Jalan Jambusan, Bau and Mile 13 Kuching-Serian Road.”
Voon said the public was very well aware that the application for individual land titles or strata titles could proceed straight away after the issuance of the occupation permit (OP).
As the house owners informed her that appeals on the issue had been brought a few times to HDC, she felt that it was the duty of HDC to update them on the status of their application and pursuance of the strata titles for the flats.
As a way to safeguard the interest of house buyers, Voon suggested some form of mechanism to be incorporated in the Housing (Control and Licensing) Ordinance to ensure that strata title must be issued within a time frame after the project is completed and OP is issued.
Failing to do would result in the developers being imposed with heavy penalty.
“The undue delay in the issuance of land title for house buyers reflects badly on the inefficiency of HDC and lack of monitoring and scrutiny by the Housing Ministry on HDC management.We would seek clarification on the long wait for strata titles, especially for flats under the housing corporation, to start with Taman Flora Indah which houses more than 500 families.”