Botanika @ Tebrau Bay
A completed waterfront development in Permas Jaya, reported finished around 2018. It is on this site as a subsale, not a new launch — and its official website is still describing it in the future tense.
- Foreign buyers
- Only above RM1,000,000The Johor strata floor for non-citizens applies to subsales exactly as it does to new launches, and it is enforced at the consent and registration stage.
- Status
- Completed, reported around 2018Roughly 8 years old. This is a resale purchase, not a launch.
- Development
- BotanikaHigh-rise strata and town villas · part of Iskandar Waterfront City
- Area
- Permas Jaya, Plentong, Johor BahruThe developer’s own wording. Portals and agency lists use three other names — see below.
- Site area
- 12 acresDeveloper’s own figure. A portal gives 12.12 acres.
- Density cap
- Maximum 70 units per acreThe developer’s own statement. It matches the third-party unit count — see the arithmetic below.
- Composition
- 3 towers of 23 storeys, 792 units, plus 3 town villa blocks, 54 unitsProperty portals, not the developer. The developer’s site gives no unit count at all.
- Distance claims
- 5 km to JB CBD and CIQ · 8 km to Woodlands CheckpointDeveloper’s own figures
- Green space
- 6 acresDeveloper’s own figure — half the site
- Car parks
- 2 to 3 per unitDeveloper’s own figure. Unusually generous for a Johor high-rise.
- Price
- Not published hereThis is a resale market. Price is set by comparable transactions in the same blocks, not by a developer price list.
- Tenure
- Not published by the developer
- Advertising permit (APDL)
- Not applicableThe scheme is complete. What matters now is the strata title status, not a sale permit.
There is a second, newly permitted “Botanika” in Johor. It is not this one.
Searching the National Housing Department register for “Botanika” returns a live Johor scheme. It is a different development from the one on this page, and because both will surface in the same search, it is worth setting the two side by side before somebody shows you the wrong permit.
| This page | The register entry | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Botanika | Apartmen Botanika, phases 2 & 3 |
| Licensed to | Part of Iskandar Waterfront City | MLK Teguh Sdn Bhd, code 31223 |
| Permit | None — completed, resale | 31223-1/03-2029/0199(A)-(S) 11 Mar 2026 – 10 Mar 2029 |
| Units | 792 strata + 54 town villas Portals, not the developer | 304 |
| Layout | 3 towers of 23 storeys | 5 bedrooms, 6–7 bathrooms |
| Age | Completed around 2018 | First SPA 20 March 2026 Schedule H, 36 months |
| Plotted at | Permas Jaya, Plentong | 1.5013, 103.7866 |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
Right-hand column read from teduh.kpkt.gov.my on 3 September 2026, developer licence 31223/11-2030/0279(A), licensee status Aktif with one registered project.
Nothing connects the two — different licensee, different unit count, different unit type, different position, and eight years between them. I am not suggesting anyone is passing one off as the other. I am saying that if you type “Botanika Johor” into a search box you will get both, and the two carry opposite kinds of risk.
For this development, being finished is the whole point. There is no permit to check because there is nothing left to build; what you are buying is a block with eight years of maintenance history, a sinking fund with a real balance, and neighbours you can go and talk to. None of those exist yet at the other Botanika, which in exchange offers a statutory 36-month delivery obligation that a resale purchase does not give you. Neither is better. They are different purchases, and a permit number quoted at you should be checked against which one you are actually being sold.
It appeared on a gap list as a new launch. It is eight years old.
An agency list carried this development among projects I did not have. Checking the developer’s own site and the property portals produced a straightforward answer: Botanika was launched in 2014 and reported completed around 2018.
That is not a new launch. It is a resale, and the difference has real consequences: there is no developer discount package, real property gains tax enters the negotiation, and a bank will lend against comparable transactions in the same blocks rather than against a price list.
It is on this site under Subsales for that reason, in the same place as Parc Regency, which turned out the same way in the same exercise.
botanika.com.my still reads in the future and present tense: the development “will incorporate” 24-hour security, the dual-key concept is “expected to be the next trend”, homebuyers “will be delighted” by the fittings.
That is launch marketing from around 2014, left in place. Everything on that site describes an intention, not the building as it stands today. If you are buying here in 2026, the site is a historical document — useful for knowing what was promised, useless for knowing what was delivered. The gap between those two is exactly what a resale inspection is for.
One figure that checks out, and one that changes your exit
The density cap and the unit count agree
The developer states a maximum of 70 units per acre. The portals report 792 apartments plus 54 town villas — 846 units — on 12.12 acres.
846 ÷ 12.12 = about 69.8 units per acre. That is my arithmetic on two independent figures, and they corroborate each other. It is worth saying when sources agree, not only when they fight: the developer’s stated cap and the portal’s unit count are consistent, which makes both a little more trustworthy.
It also tells you the scheme was built to its cap, not below it. “Maximum 70 per acre” sounds like restraint; 69.8 achieved means the restraint was the limit, not a choice.
846 units is the number that decides your exit
If you buy here, you have roughly 845 near-identical neighbours. When you want to sell or to let, your first competition is inside your own development — the same layouts, the same views, the same facilities, marketed by the same agents.
There is one search that tells you more about this building than any brochure: look up how many Botanika units are currently listed for sale, and how many for rent. Do it before you make an offer. A large standing inventory does not mean the building is bad; it means you should know what you will be competing against on the way out, and price your entry accordingly.
Two to three car parks per unit is genuinely unusual
Most Johor high-rise apartments give one bay, sometimes two on the larger layouts. Two to three is generous, and for a household with two working adults crossing to Singapore it is a practical advantage that survives the marketing. Confirm the bay allocation on the specific unit’s strata title or its share unit schedule — the number in a 2014 brochure is not a guarantee about the unit you are buying.
What the developer published, and what you should ask a resale seller for instead
Apartments — 3 towers, 23 storeys, 792 units
Ask for transacted pricesTown villas — 3 blocks, 54 units
Ask about the villa fee rateThe dual-key layout
Ask if it can be let separatelyThe developer describes dual key as a way to let one half out for extra income. Whether you may actually do that is decided by the building’s by-laws and the management’s rules, not by the wall between the two doors. Some schemes restrict separate tenancies, separate access cards, or the number of occupants. Ask the management office directly — before you price the second half into your yield.
For a completed building, go and look
No images from the developer’s site are reproduced here, and for this development that matters less than usual. The building exists. You can stand in it.
That is the single biggest advantage a completed scheme has over everything else on this site: instead of a render of a pool, you can see the actual pool, on a Tuesday, and count how many of the lights work. Walk the car park. Look at the lift lobby ceilings for water staining. Read the notice board — it will tell you more about how the building is run than any photograph.
Four names for one place
This development is described under four different area names.
These are not necessarily contradictory — a riverside site can sit inside Permas Jaya, front the Tebrau waterway and carry a Bayu Puteri street address all at once. I have not reconciled them and I am not going to pick one silently.
This page is filed under Permas Jaya, which is the developer’s own naming. The practical point for you is about searching: a comparable-price search under one of these names will miss transactions recorded under another. Run the search under all four before you decide what the market rate is.
The developer’s connectivity claims are specific: 5 km to the Johor Bahru CBD and the CIQ, 8 km to the Woodlands Checkpoint, with direct access to the Eastern Dispersal Link and the North-South Expressway.
Those are straight-line-ish distances from a 2014 brochure. Distance is not travel time, and on this corridor at 7am the difference is the whole point. Drive it yourself on a weekday morning before you treat 8 km as a commute.
Three “Botanika” schemes in the register, and none of them is this one
Searching the National Housing Department register for Botanika returns three developments. All three are checkable against what this page already establishes, and all three fail.
| Project code | Registered name | Where | Units | Bed | Why it is not this development |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31223-1 | Apartmen Botanika | district not stated | 304 | 5 | This page records 846 units. Permit issued 2029-dated; this development launched 2014. |
| 30907-1 / -2 | Bukit Botanika | Hulu Selangor | 140 / 91 | 4 | Wrong state, wrong scale, landed rather than strata. |
| 12111-4 | Taman Botanika Residen | Manjung, Perak | — | — | Wrong state. |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
Read from teduh.kpkt.gov.my on 27 August 2026.
Why I am printing rejections rather than a match
The easy thing would have been to take the closest-looking record and put its numbers on this page. A reader would then work out a price per square foot for a building that is not this one.
The check that stopped it was arithmetic, not judgement: this page records 846 units on 12.12 acres, launched around 2014 and completed around 2018. None of the three register entries is compatible with that. Two independent fields have to agree before I will assert a match, and here not even one does.
What that does not prove
Not finding this development is not evidence that it was unlicensed. This is a completed 2018 building — its permit did its job and lapsed years ago, and it would be filed under a statutory name that may bear no resemblance to “Botanika”. Absence of a search hit is a missing key, not a finding.
For a completed resale, the register is not the document you need anyway
What moves the price here is not on any government register: the strata title status, the maintenance charge and sinking fund per square foot, the latest audited management account, the occupancy rate, and the defect history of the building. Ask the management office for the last audited accounts and the current arrears rate — on a 2018 building those two documents tell you more than any permit ever could.
Iskandar Waterfront City, and why this matters less than usual
The official site presents Botanika as a product of Iskandar Waterfront City (IWCity), alongside Danga Sutera and a joint venture with Greenland called Helios Cove, and states that Iskandar Waterfront Holdings owns 37.32% of IWCity. A property portal names the developing entity as Bayou Bay Development Sdn Bhd, described as a subsidiary of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings.
Both descriptions are recorded here; I have not reconciled them.
For a new launch, the developer’s balance sheet is the single biggest risk you carry, because you are paying for something that does not exist yet.
Here you are buying from an owner, not from a developer. The defect liability period expired years ago. The developer’s financial strength no longer determines whether your unit gets built. What determines your experience now is the management corporation — and that is a completely different set of questions.
What to ask instead
These are the things a completed building can answer and a new launch cannot. Ask for all of them in writing before you make an offer.
- The actual monthly maintenance charge and sinking fund contribution, from a recent owner’s bill — not the launch estimate.
- The collection rate. A building where a third of owners are in arrears is a building whose services will degrade regardless of what the fee says on paper.
- The sinking fund balance, and what major works are due. A 2018 building is approaching the age where lifts, pumps and waterproofing start to need money.
- The last two annual general meeting minutes. This is the single most useful document about any completed strata building, and almost nobody asks for it. It tells you what the owners are actually arguing about.
- Whether the strata titles have been issued and transferred. On a 2018 building they should have been; if they have not, find out why before anything else.
- Actual transacted rents in the building, not asking rents on listing sites.
Questions worth asking about this one
Can a foreigner buy a resale unit here?
Only if the price clears the Johor floor for non-citizens buying residential strata property, which this site records as RM1,000,000. The rules page sets out the sourcing for that figure.
The floor applies to subsales exactly as it does to new launches. It is not a developer policy; it is enforced when consent is sought and when the transfer is registered. A seller who tells you it does not apply to resales is mistaken.
Why is it filed under Subsales rather than as a project?
Because it was completed around 2018 and there is no developer inventory being sold. Everything about the transaction differs: pricing comes from comparable transactions, real property gains tax applies to the seller and enters your negotiation, there are no developer rebates or stamp duty packages, and the bank values it against recent sales in the same blocks.
Is the official website reliable?
It is reliable as a record of what was promised in about 2014, and that has genuine value — you can hold the delivered building up against it. It is not reliable as a description of the building today, because it has not been updated: it still says the development “will incorporate” security features that either exist by now or do not.
Use it as a checklist for your viewing, not as a description.
Is 6 acres of green space on a 12-acre site real?
That is the developer’s figure and it is a striking one — half the site. On a completed building you can verify it by walking round, which is exactly why a resale is easier to check than a launch.
Worth knowing: extensive landscaping is a recurring cost carried by owners through the maintenance account. When you ask for the fee, ask what proportion goes to landscaping and whether it has risen.
The register holds three Botanika schemes and none of them is this one. Does that matter on a resale?
Less than it would on a launch. The housing register governs developers selling new stock — permit, approved price band, construction progress. On a completed building bought from a private seller, none of those are the live questions.
What replaces the register is better, not worse: the strata title itself, the management corporation accounts, and a building you can walk. Order a land search on the parcel and ask the management corporation for its accounts. Between them you learn more than any permit would have told you.
Completed around 2018. What condition cycle should I expect at this age?
Around eight years is when the first real bills arrive: lift servicing or replacement parts, water pumps, external repainting, and waterproofing to roofs and bathrooms. Whether the building can pay for them is written in the sinking fund balance, not in the lobby finishes.
Inside a unit, look hardest at wet areas and at ceiling staining below upper-floor bathrooms. Outside, look at the car park deck and the drainage. And go at the hour you would actually be living there, which is never the hour a viewing gets scheduled.
Real property gains tax is the seller’s tax. Why does it end up in my negotiation?
Because it changes what the seller can accept. A seller disposing within the taxable window is looking at a net figure after RPGT, so their floor price is higher than it looks — and a seller past that window has room a recent buyer does not.
It is worth knowing which situation you are negotiating against. It also matters for your own exit: as a non-citizen, RPGT is 30% on a disposal within five years and 10% from the sixth, with no zero band at any holding period. That is a cost of leaving, and it belongs in the arithmetic on the way in.
If the price does clear RM1,000,000, what still stands between me and completion?
Three things. Written state consent from the Johor authority before the transfer can be registered, which is a separate application and takes time your agreement must allow for. The Johor levy, 3% of the price or RM30,000 whichever is higher. And the flat 8% stamp duty on non-citizens buying residential property, in force since 1 January 2026.
Then the part that outlasts the purchase: the title carries a restriction in interest afterwards, so when you sell, your buyer faces the same floor and the same consent. On a building of 846 units, that narrows your exit to Malaysian buyers or to foreign buyers above the floor.
How many units are for sale in the building right now?
I have deliberately not put a number here, because it changes weekly and a stale figure is worse than none. But it is the single most informative search you can run about this development, and it takes two minutes on any portal.
Run it for sale listings and rental listings separately. Then compare that against 846 total units. That ratio is your competition on the way out.
What I would ask for first
The last two AGM minutes, a recent maintenance bill, and the sinking fund balance. On a completed building those three documents tell you more than any brochure, any render, and any agent — and they are the three that almost nobody asks for.
Then confirm the strata title has been issued, and run the listing count.
Ask me for the building documentsLouis Koh · 11 years in Malaysian property
Figures attributed to the developer come from botanika.com.my, read on 26 August 2026. Unit counts, the completion year and the developing entity are from property portals and are labelled as such throughout. Read how these pages are checked.
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