The True Cost of Buying Property in Malaysia as a Foreigner: 8% Stamp Duty, State Consent Fees and Every Other Charge

Who counts as a foreign buyer — and do Malaysian PRs pay the 8%?

Everything in this article branches off this question, so settle it first. The 8% sits in a new Item 32(ab) of the First Schedule to the Stamp Act 1949 [Act 378], which points at the persons described in Item 32(aa): foreign companies, and individuals who are neither Malaysian citizens nor Malaysian permanent residents. It was inserted by the Finance Act 2025, gazetted 31 December 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026.

• Foreign citizens who are not PRs — 8% on a residential MOT, state consent required, a state approval fee to pay, and the state’s minimum price to clear.
• Malaysian permanent residents — not caught. PRs pay the ordinary citizen scale of 1% / 2% / 3% / 4% by price band. KPMG’s Finance Act commentary and Malaysian law firms writing in 2026 both state the exclusion expressly.
• MM2H pass holders — still non-citizens. A visa changes nothing about the duty, the consent process or the minimum price. See MM2H 2026 and property.
• Malaysians living in Singapore, or holding Singapore PR — still Malaysian citizens, so citizen rates and no state consent. The test is citizenship, not where you live. See overseas Malaysians buying back home.
• Malaysian-incorporated companies with foreign shareholders — one law firm describes the trigger as a non-citizen or foreign company holding 50% or more of the voting shares, directly or indirectly. That is the firm’s wording rather than quoted statute, so if you are buying through a company, have your solicitor confirm it in writing.

State consent fees and levies: what does each state charge?

This is the line foreign buyers most often leave out of the budget. Under section 433B of the National Land Code, a non-citizen or foreign company may acquire alienated land only with the prior written approval of the State Authority; a transaction in breach is void. The Malaysian Bar’s December 2024 circular puts it plainly: consent “must be applied and obtained by each foreigner purchaser in all States”.

But consent and levy are two different things. Some states charge a small processing fee to apply. Others charge a percentage of the price. The gap between them is RM200 versus RM30,000.

• The effective date is disputed. LandCo, SpeedHome and Crestbrick all give 1 July 2025. IQI Global’s body text says 1 September 2025, although its own summary says 1 July. IQI discusses the levy and the MOT registration fee together, so the September date may belong to the registration fee schedule. Both are recorded here.
• The transitional window has closed. SPAs signed and stamped before 1 July 2025 kept the old 2% / RM20,000 rate if complete documents reached the Johor land office by Friday 29 August 2025.
• I will not print a circular number. Only one source cites “PTG Johor Circular No. 1/2025”; another, updated 21 September 2026, states there is no confirmed gazette reference. The PTG Johor circulars page still returned HTTP 403 on 23 September 2026. Take the number from the land office or your solicitor, not from a blog.
• Consent is applied for per transaction, not a status you acquire once. Johor typically takes one to three months.

Other states: only three publish a citable figure

Legal fees, valuation, disbursements and SST

Legal fees under SRO 2023

In Peninsular Malaysia, including Johor and Penang, legal fees follow the Solicitors’ Remuneration Order 2023, in force from 15 July 2023. The sale and purchase documents and the loan documents are charged separately, each on its own scale.

• Table A allows a discount of up to 25%. Table B is already the statutory discounted scale and cannot be discounted further. The Bar Council warned in February 2024 that discounts outside the SRO amount to misconduct.
• Subsidiary documents, such as the papers supporting a state consent application, are charged at 10% of the principal fee, minimum RM500 and maximum RM2,000.
• SST of 8% is added to professional fees — solicitors, valuers and agents.
• Disbursements — searches, stamping, land office registration, courier, notarisation — are charged at cost and sit outside the scale. Ask for them itemised in writing before you sign.

Valuation fees

A subsale consent application in Johor is assessed on the JPPH valuation, and a bank will want its own valuation report before it lends. Valuers charge on the Seventh Schedule (Rule 48) scale under the Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers Act 1981:

On RM1,000,000: RM100,000 × 0.25% + RM900,000 × 0.20% = RM2,050, or RM2,214 with 8% SST.

Johor's land-transfer registration fee: two schedules that do not agree

• The Star (18 June 2025) reports an additional RM500 per RM100,000 of value for registrations above RM500,000 — RM2,500 on a RM1m transfer, RM7,500 on RM2m.
• IQI Global publishes a stepped schedule instead: RM2,500 (RM500k–600k), RM3,000 (600–700k), RM3,500 (700–800k), RM4,000 (800–900k), RM4,500 (900k–1m), then RM4,500 plus RM250 for each additional RM50,000 above RM1m — RM9,500 on a RM2m transfer.
• The slopes match above RM1m but the base figures do not, and the two cannot be reconciled. Neither is printed here as the answer. Budget the higher one and take the land office receipt as final.

The rest

• Agent commission is capped at 3% of the price by the board’s scale and is usually paid by the seller in a subsale. See property agents and commission.
• Fire insurance is required by the bank if you borrow.
• Bank account and remittance — funds normally go through the solicitor’s client account. See opening an account and transferring funds.
• Holding costs — assessment tax (cukai taksiran), quit rent (cukai tanah), maintenance charges and the sinking fund — are separate and ongoing.

When does each cost fall due? Timeline and common mistakes

1. Booking and signing the SPAEarnest deposit (typically 2%–3% in a subsale, topped up to 10% at signing). At this point ask your solicitor two things: does this unit clear the state minimum price, and does the title carry a restriction in interest (Sekatan Kepentingan)?
2. Apply for state consentYour solicitor files at the land office. Johor typically takes one to three months. On restricted titles the subsale completion clock usually starts only once consent is obtained, so do not assume the standard 3+1 months applies.
3. Pay the state approval feeIn Johor, 3% with a RM30,000 floor, paid as part of the consent process. The land office’s own computation is the one that counts.
4. Stamp duty adjudication and paymentLHDN assesses the MOT on the higher of price or market value — 8% for a foreign buyer of residential property — and the loan agreement at 0.5%. Your solicitor collects it before stamping.
5. Present Form 14A and register the transferPay the land office registration fee and register the transfer. If you have borrowed, the charge (Form 16A) is registered at the same time.

• Get your solicitor to confirm in writing whether your transaction is 8% or 4%, especially for a serviced apartment on a commercial title.
• If the SPA was signed in 2025 and the MOT is executed in 2026, get the applicable rate and the reasoning in writing.
• Get the consent-fee computation for this state, today from the land office or your solicitor, not from an agent’s old table.
• Confirm the unit clears the state’s minimum price and is not in a Bumiputera quota or on Malay Reserve land.
• Ask for an itemised quotation separating legal fees, SST, disbursements, valuation and land office registration.
• If you are borrowing, settle the margin the bank will actually give you before you fix the deposit. See home loans for foreigners.

Three claims not to budget around

• “Forest City gives a 50% stamp duty remission.” This traces to a single developer press release dated 31 July 2026, republished verbatim across wire services. Syndication is not corroboration. Unless you have the gazette order or LHDN’s written confirmation, budget the full 8%.
• “The JS-SEZ gives foreigners special treatment on homes.” I could not find any special foreign-ownership rule for residential property in the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. Johor’s thresholds, approval fee and consent process apply as normal; the JS-SEZ incentives are corporate and personal income tax measures.
• “Buying property gets you a visa.” It does not. Buying gives you no residence status, and residence status is not a condition of buying. See MM2H 2026 and property.