STATE CONSENT

The process of buying or selling of property usually takes 3 months for the sale to be finalized and completed as stated in the Sale and Purchase Agreement (“SPA”).

Why does it taking more than the stated 3 months to finalized and completed?

One of the reasons could be that the SPA is still subject to obtain the State Authority’s Consent (known as State Consent).

 If this is the case, the 3 months period to pay the balance of the purchase price will only start to run AFTER obtaining the State Consent, which can usually take up to a few more months.

What are some of the scenarios that cause this?

There are several situations where State Consent could be required. The most common ones are:-

The Title of the Property is subject to a restriction in interest; or The purchaser is a foreigner ( “foreigner Consent”)

For the first situation, in order to find out whether that property you’re selling/buying is subject to restriction in interest, you can look at the title itself, at the description for “Sekatan Kepentingan”.

i.e :

“Tanah ini tidak boleh diberi, dipindahmilik, dipajak atau digadai tanpa persetujuan pihak Berkuasa Negeri”

If you see that sentence, an application for State Consent must FIRST be made and obtained BEFORE the property can be transferred to the purchaser under the SPA.

This particular application is normally made after the signing of the SPA, and submitted at the relevant land offices.

Who is responsible to apply for the State Consent?

Unless the SPA state otherwise, it usually the OWNER/VENDOR’s responsibilities to apply for the State Consent’s to transfer.

After all, it’s the owner/vendor who wants to sell off their property.

**Please note though that the FAQs do not constitute legal advice and as the situation remains fluid, the legal position may change in the near future.