News by Datuk Chang Kim Loong

The proposed Urban Renewal Act (URA) Bill 2025, recently tabled in Parliament, could fundamentally reshape Malaysia’s property landscape. While initially perceived as targeting old strata developments, the URA’s language is actually wide enough to include landed residences, business premises, and commercial properties, especially those more than 30 years old.

Back in April, the Minister of Housing and Local Government (KPKT), Nga Kor Ming, said that a proposed Property Management Bill was in the works—to address what he perceived as current gaps, and to “ensure the maintenance of buildings nationwide”. However, this has raised serious concern within Malaysia’s professional property management community, and many have voiced their objections.

In the heart of our capital, Kuala Lumpur, amidst gleaming skyscrapers and bustling streets, lie the forgotten shadows of dilapidated buildings: unsafe, unhygienic, and silently breeding distress.

The enactment of Section 33A of the Insolvency Act 1967 via the Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2023 marked a noteworthy transformation in Malaysia’s insolvency regime.

DBKL’s new framework seems to centralise decision-making and sideline public voices, effectively shutting the public out of decisions that directly affect the liveability, heritage, and sustainability of their neighbourhoods.

Physical development in Kuala Lumpur must be balanced with social needs to ensure the city remains conducive and liveable for all generations, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa.  

The National House Buyers Association (HBA) is deeply concerned that the idea of a Housing Completion Guarantee Corporation (HCGS) should even be mooted at all, because it effectively means the loss from abandonments caused by runaway developers is to be incurred by the government from the coffers aka tax payers’ monies.

Rehda Institute has proposed a few solutions to addressing the distressing issue of abandoned housing projects. In our opinion, Rehda Institute is missing the forest for the trees.

After four years of uncertainty, 207 non-bumiputera homeowners in USJ One Park, Subang Jaya, Selangor, can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the Selangor government has agreed to waive a staggering RM15.32 million in penalty fees early this year.

It was recently reported that the Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) has blacklisted 109 “errant developers” and their boards of directors.