Currently, housing projects that come with the new Development Order (DO) are prohibited from offering DIBS. Projects that are still offering DIBS are those that have obtained their DOs before DIBS was prohibited. Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) is now raised to 30% for any property owner who disposes the property after holding it for less than three years; 20% for disposal between three and four years, and 15% for disposal between four to five years. Upon reaching the sixth year, RPGT will not be imposed on locals. Foreigners and companies will still have to pay 5% of the RPGT. It is a bit more than the tiered system of RPGT that was imposed before April 2007. Foreigners are not allowed to purchase properties below RM1mil.
There are rumours that this imposition is deferred until April 2014. However, there are states in Malaysia such as Penang which has imposed its own measures in restricting sales of properties to foreigners to above RM1mil. The amount imposed before this measure was implemented in Budget 2014 was RM500,000. Each state in Malaysia has its own threshold of sale to foreigners depending on the areas the houses are being built.
Other than the measures in Budget 2014, people should be aware of the highly awaited Strata Management Act 2013 which will supersede the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007. Gazetted last year but still awaiting all states in Malaysia to endorse it in order for it to be implemented, this will streamline the issuance of strata title by making it faster for an owner to obtain it from the housing developer. Besides this, it will impose higher penalties for non-compliance, put more responsibilities on the housing developer for the strata buildings and make sure the management of strata properties is more responsible.
>> Khairul Anuar is a practising lawyer who is also an author of books related to property law.


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