Strata Titles Act to be amended to address issues on dilapidated buildings

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Bernama) -- Amendments to the Strata Titles Act 1985 (Act 318) are being drafted to address the issue of dilapidated buildings in the country, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

He said the amendment involved consent by unit owners,  as well as procedure for the termination of strata scheme, to allow reconstruction of the building.

"Although there is no law on it yet, many urban renewal programmes have been implemented since 2000. It involves the implementation by the private sector for urban renewal areas to generate appropriate economic returns.

"For dilapidated buildingsd or areas  that do not bring economic returns to the private sector, then the government can consider a form or method of urban renewal to prevent the area or building from further deteriorating and raising the issue of 'urban decay'," he told the Dewan Rakyat during the Ministers’ Question Time today.

He was responding to a question from Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera) on the ministry’s strategy in introducing programmes and laws on urban renewal to address the issue of obsolescence of old flats in the city.

Reezal also said a regulatory impact assessment' would also be introduced as a start towards the formulation of new conclusive and comprehensive laws  to ensure the right to property could be preserved, as well as urban renewal development could be done.

"When we want to formulate a law that involves urban development and renewal, it will be related to almost seven or eight (existing) law,” he said, adding that the laws include the National Land Code, Strata Titles Act, Strata Management Act, Land Acquisition Act and Town Planning Act.

-- BERNAMA