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Reflections and recriminations
07/01/2006 NST-PROP
It has become customary that at
the end of each year, we take
stock of what we have done over
the past 12 months to see where we
have gone, what we have done, the
mistakes we committed, what
services we rendered, and so on.
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A season of hope ...
14/01/2006
NST-PROP
High on my wish list
for 2006 is an end to the perennial
problem of abandoned housing.
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Beyond Boonsom Boonyanit
21/01/2006
NST-PROP
In an earlier column titled “How
safe are your titles?” (PropertyTimes
Nov 26, 2005) I noted that
according to the United Nations
Guidelines on Land Administration,
a good system should, among other
things, provide State guarantee of
land ownership and security of
tenure.
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In urgent need of reform
04/02/2006 NST-PROP
It is only lately that residents
of Peninsular Malaysia have been
compelled to grapple with the
problem of a registered
proprietor’s indefeasibility of
title, for there had been no
urgent need to address the issue
before the Boonsom Boonyanit case
(PropertyTimes, Jan 14, 2006).
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Handling rogue developers
25/03/2006
NST-PROP
EARLIER on in this column, I said that
high on my wish list for 2006 is an
end to abandoned housing. But going by
news reports, not just in the dailies
but also over prime time TV news since
January this year, stories of such
banes still continue to haunt us.
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All’s not well on the sea front
01/04/2006
NST-PROP
A couple of weeks ago,
while attending a conference in Port
Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, my good friend
Chang Kim Loong of the National House
Buyers Association handed me a brochure
of a beachfront project in the area.
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Landlocked landlords
08/04/2006
NST-PROP
Let’s say several years ago you
purchased, after a cursory visual
inspection, a four-acre plot of land
some 20km away from your city centre
residence.
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Throw environmental offenders in
jail 15/04/2006
NST-PROP
I have on several occasions in the
past expressed in this column my
feelings of regret and dismay at
what seems to be an inexplicable
reluctance of part of the judiciary
to punish environmental offenders
with custodial sentences, even when
the facts of a particular case
warrant it.
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Hardware and heart-ware needed in
Land Offices
22/04/2006
NST-PROP
There has been much “official good
news” publicised about the
computerisation of the Land Offices
throughout the country. However, on
the quiet, friends in-the-know tell
me that the situation is not really
as bright as it ought to be.
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Making BTS Work
22/07/2006
NST-PROP
THE commentary I made
early this month on the Government's
decision to introduce the 10:90 variant
of the Build-Then-Sell (BTS) mode of
housing delivery (NST-Property July 1,
2006) has received quite a bit of
feedback.
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An unending wait for Ipoh couple
14/10/2006 NST-PROP
MY story this week is a familiar one,
often told about simple village folk
who are at the mercy of Government
servants. Because of its familiarity,
it could be a boring story, if not for
the sense of despair - and anger - it
can evoke, due to the indifferent
attitude of those whose code of
conduct demands that they serve the
public.
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Elusive housing policy
04/11/2006 NST-PROP
THOUGH reluctant to travel during the
month of Ramadan, I did make a short
trip to the Selangor capital of Shah
Alam recently. THE occasion? A short,
but urgent, meeting on gated-and-guarded
communities with some colleagues and
good friends. And, as expected, our
discussions gravitated from million
ringgit condos and exclusive gated
communities to other aspects of
development as well.
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Tighter housing law
30/12/2006 NST-PROP
SEVERAL new Bills affecting house
purchasers were tabled in the Dewan
Rakyat earlier this month. Two of these
were to amend the Housing Development
(Control and Licensing) Act and the
Strata Titles Act, while the third was
to enact the much talked-about Building
and Common Property (Maintenance and
Management) Act 2006. However, my
attention here is on the amendment to
the housing law. Although it contains
only 29 sections, these provisions have
a considerable impact on the existing
relationship between a developer and the
purchasers.
