Awang Tengah (seated) and Land and Survey Department Sarawak director Zaidi Mahdi go through the Strata (Subsidiary Titles) Bill 2019.
KUCHING: The Strata (Subsidiary Titles) Bill 2019 was passed unanimously at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) yesterday to replace the Strata Titles Ordinance 1995 (Chapter 18).
Four members of the august House participated in the debate – Lo Khere Chiang (GPS-Batu Kitang) Dato Sri Huang Tiong Sii (GPS-Repok), Fazzruddin Abdul Rahman (GPS-Tupong) and Violet Yong (PH-Pending).
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, in tabling the Bill, said the objectives of the Strata (Subsidiary Titles) Bill 2019 would be to provide protection for all stakeholders in strata development.
He said it was also to formulate more dynamic and relevant provisions in tandem with the current and expected future of real estate and building industry trends, and to compel greater professional responsibilities among developers, architects, engineers, surveyors and other professionals involved in strata development.
The Bill, he added, was also aimed at improving and streamlining the processes for speedy issuance of parent and subsidiary titles, and at having better provisions for enforcement and investigation powers of the Ordinance.
Awang Tengah, who is Bukit Sari assemblyman, said due to rapid changes in land development including strata, the current Strata Titles Ordinance 1995 (Chapter 18) was inadequate to cater for the current and future demands of the industry and as such, the Sarawak government had decided that the law governing strata development should be improved.
He noted that like other major cities in the world, the strata living concept had become the trend in Sarawak and it was timely and crucial for the current law to be enhanced.
“Repealing the current Strata Titles Ordinance 1995 and replacing it with this new Ordinance, would enable enhancement, among other (things), the issuance of subsidiary titles, establishment of management corporations, and the overall improvement of protections to all stakeholders involved in strata title development.
“This new law has been benchmarked against best practices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, as well as engagement with our counterparts in Johor and Selangor,” he said.
In a press conference later, Awang Tengah reiterated that the Bill emphasised that developers must have professional responsibilities.
The Bill, he noted, was very comprehensive and that once gazetted and enforced, it would be mandatory for developers to apply for the issuance of strata titles.
He lamented about several cases where buyers had to wait for strata titles due to problems with the developers, who either failed to pay the land premium with the Land and Survey Department, or failed to comply with the provision of affordable houses.
“How could we issue strata titles when the developers did not pay the land premium or did not comply with the terms and conditions of the project?” he said.