Errant landowners owe RM20mil in quit rent, says FT Lands and Mines chief

 

The Federal Territories Lands and Mines portal allows landowners to make their quit rent payment online. (File pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The arrears in quit rent by landowners in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur as at Dec 31, 2020, amounted to RM19,584,478 and involved 5,727 titles, the Federal Territories Lands and Mines director Muhammad Yasir Yahya said.

He said based on records, there were 165,371 registered land titles in Kuala Lumpur in early 2020, with 16% of them (26,551 land titles) having quit rent arrears amounting to RM28,809,508.30.

He said various efforts were made by the Federal Territories Lands and Mines office to reduce the amount of the arrears.

“Among them were conducting Op Ketuk, serving notices by hand to errant landowners, holding engagement sessions with landowners, opening of payment counters after office hours, data clearing and enforcing the law,” he said in a statement today.

Apart from that, he said, various initiatives were made by the office to facilitate landowners to pay their quit rent, including introducing online payment (FPX) through the land office portal at ptgwp.gov.my and internet banking portals (M2U, CimbClicks and RHB Online), as well as cash payment at the post office and DBKL counters.

Meanwhile, Yasir said failure by the landowners to settle their quit rent arrears could impede any transactions involving the property.

These include to sub-divide and develop the land, as well as to merge the land and change the land category, transfer of ownership, to lease or mortgage the land, he added.

The greater risk, he said, is that the landowners face forfeiture of the property by the government as provided for under Section 97 and Section 100 of the National Land Code.

For the record, since the establishment of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur in 1974, the quit rent has been revised four times, in 1975, 1984, 1994 and 2006. - FMT