KOTA KINABALU, Aug 23 —The owners of 5,978 country lease titles will benefit from a recent Sabah government decision to restore the 999-year lease on land titles, the State Land and Survey Department said.
The practice to reduce the lease period by 900 years was started during the 1990s but the High court ruled in March 2020 that it was unlawful, department director Bernard Liew said.
He said the Sabah cabinet made the decision on June 20202 to rectify the mistake as well as to comply with the court ruling.
“We are rectifying it and will restore the lease period to its original term,” he said in a statement here today.
“Our dept records showed that 5,878 CL land titles were affected,” Liew said, adding that the cabinet decision applies only for those land titles with original 999 years but was reduced to 99 years after conversion/subdivision.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal announced in Nabawan yesterday the plan to restore the 999-year lease.
Mohd Shafie said the Sabah cabinet decision was in line with a March 8 High Court decision that ruled that the conditions set by the Land and Survey Department to reduce leasehold tenure from 999 years to 99 years for approval of development and subdivision was unlawful. — Bernama
