Property Hunter Magazine Property Hunter Magazine - Issue 56 | Page 48

/// Contributor Chris Tan Lawyer Specialising in Real Estate Chris Tan is the founder and now Managing Partner of Chur Associates, a boutique legal practice that thrives in delivering business friendly solutions for its clients and having a niche positioning of ‘Everything Real Estate’ serving the entire value chain from the upstream to the downstream. Chur Associates is a boutique legal firm founded in 2004, specialising in designing legal solutions catered to our clients’ needs. Chur Associates’s brand promise is “We Deliver!” To that end, they offer clientsthe necessary means and methods to ensure their requirements are met. You can get in touch with him at Facebook: Chur Associates Email: [email protected] Trending Up Legally in view of the Property Boom in Malaysia (Part 3) T wenty years back, we have familiarized ourselves with options for residences such as flat, apartment, condominium, terrace, semi-detached house and bungalow. With the evolution in the real estate world, our previous concepts of residence have now further developed into new variety of jargons whereby the commonly identifiable examples nowadays are SoHo, serviced residences and serviced apartments. Most of the time, the idea behind these jargons are because these “residences” are built upon commercial development land. While the author makes reasonable efforts to present information which he believes to be reliable, the author makes no representation that the information or opinions contained in this article is accurate and complete. Readers are advised to seek specific professional advice before acting on the views. 48 www.PropertyHunter.com.my Many may have realized that residential land is strictly for residential purpose only; on the other hand, commercial land is not restricted for commercial purpose per se and can be used for residential development as well. Prior to HDA Amendment Act 2007 coming into operation on 12 April 2007, the residential properties built on commercial development land did not come within the purview of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 (“HDA”). Thus, Developers are keen into building the latter as the sales and purchase agreement does not need to adhere with the prescribed sale and purchase agreement under the HDA which is view to offer more protection and/or advantages to the homebuyers rather than the Developers. This explains the birth of these creative jargons in the real estate sector. Nonetheless, the legislation has acknowledged such loopholes and made amendments to the HDA in 2007 in view to tighten the floodgates by amending the definition of “housing accommodation” to cover such residential properties.