Malaysia property glossary
Every entry opens with one quotable sentence, then says what the term does to a transaction and what a buyer should check. These are the words that actually appear on the project pages of this site and actually decide whether a purchase can proceed. Every figure matches what is already verified here; where this site has no verified number, the entry says to apply the rules in force at the time rather than printing one.
Jump to a category
Six categories, 44 entries, one-sentence definition and then the practical consequence.
Titles and tenure
9 entries- Strata title
A strata title is the individual land title issued for one unit inside a subdivided building, giving you registered ownership of that parcel plus an undivided share of the common property.
It is issued by the state Land Office after the building is subdivided, which can be years after you move in. Until it is issued you hold the unit under the developer’s master title and your interest is contractual rather than registered, which is why some banks price that window differently.
Ask when strata titles are expected and whether the application has actually been lodged. A project on this site that turns on the distinction is Alamanda Heights, which is classified as a condominium on residential title.
- Individual title
An individual title is the land title issued for one parcel of land held on its own, which is what a landed house normally has.
If the house sits on its own lot with its own title, the transfer is a straight dealing between you and the seller at the Land Office. Strata-titled landed homes inside gated schemes look landed but transfer like a strata unit.
Ask which one you are buying, because it changes the paperwork, the running costs and, in Selangor, whether a foreigner may buy at all. Selangor opens strata and strata-landed to foreign buyers but not individually-titled landed homes at any price. See the Selangor guide.
- Master title
A master title is the single title covering the whole development site before it is subdivided into individual or strata titles.
Between vacant possession and the issue of strata titles, every unit in the block sits under the master title held by the developer or the landowner. In that window transfers are done by deed of assignment with the developer’s consent rather than by registered transfer.
It also means an encumbrance sitting on the master title can reach you. Ask who holds it and what is charged against it. A project on this site where title structure is set out explicitly is Akasia Business Park @ Ulu Tiram.
- Freehold (Pegangan Bebas)
Freehold means the land is held in perpetuity, with no expiry date on the title.
Freehold is not the same as unrestricted. A freehold title can still carry a restriction in interest, a Bumiputera quota endorsement or Malay Reserved status, and any one of those will stop the transfer you had in mind.
There is also one state where freehold is the thing a foreigner cannot have: in Perak, since September 2023, non-citizens and foreign companies may not acquire, own, hold or inherit freehold property, leaving leasehold as the only route. Background on tenure in Johor is at the freehold guide.
- Leasehold (Pegangan Pajakan)
Leasehold means the state grants the land for a fixed term, commonly 99 years, after which it reverts to the state unless the lease is extended.
What matters is the unexpired term, not the original one. Amberwood Resort Residences states Pajakan 99 Tahun expiring 3 June 2119 on its advertising permit, so about 93 years remain in 2026 — but a buyer 25 years from now is looking at a lease under 70 years, which is where Malaysian banks start shortening loan tenures.
Extension is discretionary and carries a premium set by the state. Do not treat a renewal as automatic when you model your exit.
- Sekatan Kepentingan (restriction in interest)
Sekatan Kepentingan is an endorsement printed on the land title restricting how the land may be dealt with, most often that it cannot be transferred, charged or leased without the written consent of the State Authority.
For a foreign buyer in Johor this is the ordinary condition of purchase. Consent is granted, the restriction then sits on your title, and your future buyer will need consent as well. It is not a defect and it is not negotiable, but it is a fact about your exit that belongs in your pricing.
Read the title, not the brochure. Astera @ Impian Hills sets it out alongside the arithmetic that rules foreign buyers out of that project entirely: Johor’s landed floor for non-citizens is RM2,000,000 and the published starting prices are RM721,000 and RM780,000.
- Bumi lot and the Bumiputera quota
A Bumi lot is a unit reserved by the state for Bumiputera buyers, sold with a mandatory discount and released to a non-Bumiputera buyer only with state consent.
The quota is set per project by the state and normally comes with a discount. South Hills @ Seri Alam discloses a 15 per cent Bumiputera discount on every run — RM125,000 off an RM836,000 house.
If you qualify, that is real money. If you do not, understand what it does at resale: a discounted Bumi lot usually needs a state release before it can go to a non-Bumi buyer, which narrows your future buyer pool. Ask which lot numbers carry the quota before you pick a unit.
- Malay Reserved Land (Tanah Rizab Melayu)
Malay Reserved Land is land gazetted under a state Malay Reservation enactment that may only be owned by, and transferred between, Malays as defined in that enactment.
This is not a Bumiputera quota and it is not lifted by consent, a discount or a company structure. The class of permitted owner is fixed by statute, so a non-Malay Malaysian cannot buy it either.
If a project sits on reserved land, or partly on it, that is a hard stop rather than a hurdle. A project on this site where the status is discussed is Erinaz Suites @ Kubang Kerian.
- Country Lease and Town Lease (Sabah)
Country Lease and Town Lease are the two main forms of leasehold title issued in Sabah under the Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap. 68) — Town Lease inside gazetted town boundaries, Country Lease outside them.
Sabah does not use the National Land Code, so peninsular vocabulary does not carry over. There is no section 433B application in Sabah, and the freehold-versus-leasehold pairing used on the peninsula is not how Sabah titles are described.
Ask which entity holds the title, whether it is CL or TL, what the unexpired term is, and whether any restriction in interest sits on it. The V by Jesselton and The Bedrock @ Jesselton Docklands are the pages on this site where those questions are put.
Statutory documents
10 entries- APDL — Advertising Permit and Developer’s Licence
The APDL is the pair of approvals a housing developer must hold before it may advertise or sell — the Developer’s Licence and the Advertising and Sale Permit, issued under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966.
The permit and licence numbers, the expiry dates, the approved unit count, the land tenure and the minimum and maximum selling prices must all be printed on the advertising. That block is the most reliable public document about a project, because the developer is legally answerable for it.
Two cautions taken from pages on this site. The block gives the licensed company’s address and its numbers but does not always name the company — on Aster Hill Sri Petaling the licensed entity is not named, and this site declined to supply one from agent listings. And the price ceiling on the permit is what decides foreign eligibility: Sanubari Phase 3 at Bandar Dato’ Onn tops out at RM1,935,000, RM65,000 short of Johor’s RM2,000,000 landed floor, so not one house in it qualifies.
- Developer’s Licence
The Developer’s Licence is the licence issued under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 permitting a company to carry on housing development, granted for a fixed term and renewable.
It is project-specific and it expires. A lapsed licence is a reason to stop, not a paperwork detail.
The entity named on the licence is the one that owes you the delivery obligation and the defect liability, and it is not always the brand on the hoarding. Check that the licensed company is the same company named in your sale and purchase agreement, and ask in writing who will carry those obligations if the developer is being sold — a question this site puts on the Aliff Harmoni page.
- Iklan dan Jualan (advertising and sale permit)
Iklan dan Jualan is the Malay name of the advertising and sale permit, the approval that lets a licensed developer market and sell units before the building is finished.
Approved advertising carries the line IKLAN INI TELAH DILULUSKAN OLEH JABATAN PERUMAHAN NEGARA — this advertisement has been approved by the National Housing Department.
Its presence tells you the sale sits inside the HDA regime, with a prescribed statutory contract, stakeholder payments and a liquidated damages formula. Its absence tells you it does not. Veridian Residence is the page on this site where that line is quoted from the developer’s own advertisement.
- SPA — Sale and Purchase Agreement
The SPA is the contract of sale, and for a licensed housing development it is a statutory form whose terms are prescribed by regulation rather than drafted by the developer.
The consequence people miss is that the price written into your SPA is the number every threshold, levy and duty is tested against — not the developer’s advertised from-price, and not the project average.
Read the vacant possession date in the SPA rather than the marketed quarter. This site lists those two as separate questions, for example on Aliva Mount Austin, where the vacant possession date written into the SPA is listed as distinct from the marketed Q4 2026.
- HDA 1966 — Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act
The HDA 1966 is the federal statute that licenses housing developers in Peninsular Malaysia and imposes the prescribed sale contract, the progressive payment schedule, the stakeholder sum, the delivery deadline and the defect liability period.
It applies to residential development. It does not apply to industrial property, and that is the single biggest structural difference between the two markets.
As the Akasia Business Park page puts it: a residential buyer is protected by a statutory sale and purchase agreement with prescribed progress payments, a defect liability period and a liquidated damages formula; an industrial buyer has none of that, and whatever the contract says is what you get. Budget for a solicitor who does industrial work rather than residential.
- Schedule G
Schedule G is the prescribed sale and purchase agreement used for a house sold with its own individual land title — the landed form of the statutory contract.
Its payment schedule follows physical construction stages certified by the developer’s architect, and money is released against those certificates rather than on demand.
Landed projects on this site that name it include Aster Hill Sri Petaling and Meadow Heights @ Bandar Tiram.
- Schedule H
Schedule H is the prescribed sale and purchase agreement used for a unit sold under a master title with a strata or subdivided building interest — the strata form of the statutory contract.
Same architecture as Schedule G, different stage percentages and a different delivery period.
The rule worth carrying away is the one on the Pine Legacy page: never pay before there is a Schedule H or G agreement. Malaysian residential sales run on prescribed statutory contracts with progressive payments tied to certified construction stages, paid into a stakeholder account, and a payment made outside that framework has none of that protection. Delivery periods, liquidated damages and defect liability all run from dates fixed in the schedule your SPA uses — read the schedule; do not assume a number.
- CCC — Certificate of Completion and Compliance
The CCC is the certificate confirming a building has been completed in accordance with the approved plans and is fit for occupation, issued by the principal submitting person — the project’s architect or engineer — rather than by the local council.
Without it the building cannot lawfully be occupied and utilities are not connected in the normal way.
It is worth asking about by name, because a marketed completion quarter, a vacant possession date and a CCC date are three different things. Alamanda Heights is a page on this site where a CCC milestone appears in the developer’s own track record.
- Vacant Possession (VP)
Vacant possession is the point at which the developer hands over the keys and the unit becomes yours to occupy, and it is the date the statutory delivery deadline and the liquidated damages clock are measured against.
The date that binds is the one in your SPA, not the quarter in the brochure. Where a developer markets a target, this site lists the marketed date and the SPA date as separate questions — Aliva Mount Austin is one such page.
Late delivery gives rise to liquidated damages at the rate the prescribed schedule sets. Read the rate in your own agreement rather than assuming a figure, because it is the schedule, not the sales team, that fixes it.
- Defect Liability Period (DLP)
The defect liability period is the window after vacant possession during which the developer must repair defects in the unit at its own cost, on written notice from you.
Its length and the rectification mechanism are set by the prescribed schedule governing your sale, so read the clause rather than relying on a rule of thumb.
Two practical points. Notify in writing and keep the record, because an oral complaint is not a notice. And ask before signing which entity carries the defect liability: if the developer sits inside a division its listed parent has resolved to sell, that entity may not be the one you assumed — the question this site puts on the Aliff Harmoni page.
Foreign buyer rules
6 entries- Section 433B and 433C, National Land Code
Section 433B of the National Land Code requires the prior written approval of the State Authority before land is acquired by a non-citizen or a foreign company, and section 433C makes any dealing in contravention null and void.
Because 433C voids the dealing rather than merely penalising it, consent is a condition of the transfer being registrable at all — not a formality you catch up on after signing.
The National Land Code applies to Peninsular Malaysia only. Sabah and Sarawak have their own land legislation and their own consent procedures, so a 433B application is simply not the route there. The full state-by-state position is on the foreign buyer FAQ.
- State consent (Kebenaran Pindah Milik)
State consent is the written approval of the State Authority that allows a transfer of land to a non-citizen or foreign company to be registered.
It is applied for in writing, it is discretionary, it is granted per transaction, and it takes months rather than weeks. Your consent does not travel with the property — the next foreign buyer applies again.
In Johor it normally comes together with a Sekatan Kepentingan endorsement on the title. Get your solicitor to file early: a completion date that assumes instant consent is a completion date that will move. State-by-state detail is on the Johor foreign buyer page.
- Land Working Committee (Kuala Lumpur)
In the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur the body that decides a section 433B consent application is the Federal Territory Land Working Committee — Jawatankuasa Kerja Tanah Wilayah Persekutuan.
It is the Land Working Committee. It is not an Executive Committee and it is not the Economic Planning Unit, and the distinction is not pedantry — filing with the wrong body costs months.
Kuala Lumpur charges no state levy and applies one threshold, RM1,000,000, to both strata and landed property. An office or shop unit in KL is expected to be held through a Malaysian-incorporated company with RM250,000 paid-up capital, per the Ministry of Economy guideline of 13 July 2022. See the Kuala Lumpur guide.
- MM2H — Malaysia My Second Home
MM2H is a long-stay visa programme, not a property programme, and holding an MM2H pass does not exempt you from any state minimum purchase price or from the state consent requirement.
This is the most expensive misunderstanding on this page. MM2H participants remain foreign interests for land purposes, and so do Malaysian permanent residents — holding PR does not move you to the citizen side of any threshold.
The programme’s financial and stay conditions have been revised more than once, so check the current terms with the administering ministry rather than a developer’s brochure. Projects on this site that discuss it include Forest City Golf Villa.
- Foreign buyer price threshold
The foreign buyer threshold is the minimum price per unit below which a non-citizen may not acquire property, set federally at RM1,000,000 and then raised — never lowered — by individual states.
It is tested per unit and against the price in your SPA. The verified figures used across this site: Johor RM1,000,000 strata and RM2,000,000 landed; Kuala Lumpur RM1,000,000 for both; Selangor RM2,000,000 in Zones 1 and 2 and RM1,000,000 in Zone 3, with RM3,000,000 for commercial and industrial statewide and only strata and strata-landed open to foreigners; Penang island RM1,000,000 strata and RM3,000,000 landed, Seberang Perai RM500,000 strata and RM1,000,000 landed; Perak bars non-citizens from freehold entirely and does not open its secondary residential market to them.
Sabah is printed with both published figures because they conflict. The Bar Council conveyancing circular gives RM1,000,000; a 2022 state circular is widely reported as RM600,000 strata and RM1,000,000 landed but could not be verified from a text-bearing source, so this site prints both rather than choosing. The full table is on the foreign buyer FAQ.
- State levy on a foreign purchase
A state levy is a one-off charge that some states impose on a purchase by a foreign interest, calculated on the purchase price and payable on top of stamp duty.
It is not national and the rates do not travel. Johor charges 3 per cent of the price or RM30,000, whichever is higher; a serviced apartment bought below RM1,000,000 carries a minimum of RM50,000 instead; industrial is charged at 4 per cent with no minimum; and agreements signed and lodged before 29 August 2025 fall under the earlier rate of 2 per cent or RM20,000.
Penang charges 3 per cent, in force since 1 February 2014. Kuala Lumpur and Selangor charge nothing equivalent. Never carry one state’s levy to another — the workings are on the Johor page.
Taxes, fees and charges
8 entries- Stamp duty
Stamp duty is the tax charged on the instrument of transfer and on the loan agreement, payable before the transfer can be registered.
One figure is fixed and verified across this site: from 1 January 2026 a flat 8 per cent applies to non-citizen buyers of residential property, and the legislation names serviced apartments and SOHO units explicitly. It does not apply to industrial property.
The graduated rates for citizens, the loan-agreement rate and any first-home exemption are set by budget legislation and move. Apply the rates in force at the time and have your solicitor confirm them in writing before you rely on a number — this page does not print a figure it cannot trace.
- RPGT — Real Property Gains Tax
RPGT is the tax on the gain made when you dispose of Malaysian real property or shares in a real property company, at a rate that depends on how long you held it and on who you are.
For non-citizens the position used across this site is 30 per cent on a disposal within five years and 10 per cent from the sixth year onward, with no zero band at any holding period. Unlike a citizen, a foreign owner never holds long enough to get out of RPGT altogether.
Rates for citizens and companies, and the exemptions and deductions available, are set by the Real Property Gains Tax Act and revised in budgets — apply the rates in force at the date of disposal rather than a figure read online. The verified non-citizen position is also on the FAQ.
- Legal fee
Legal fees on a Malaysian conveyance are not freely negotiated — they are calculated on a statutory scale set by the Solicitors’ Remuneration Order, on the purchase price, with a separate scale for the loan documentation.
Budget for two sets of fees, the transfer and the loan. Disbursements — searches, registration, stamping, adjudication — sit on top and are not part of the scale.
Where a developer absorbs legal fees as part of a package, ask which set is absorbed and whether disbursements and stamp duty are included. The scale and any prescribed discount are set by the order in force at the time, so ask your solicitor for the current scale rather than working from a figure you read online.
- Loan margin (margin of finance)
The loan margin is the percentage of the property price a bank is willing to lend, set by the bank’s own credit policy rather than by statute.
Two patterns this site has recorded from project documents. Where a residential-title apartment might attract 90 per cent, a serviced apartment on commercial title typically draws 80 to 85 per cent — the position set out on the Amberwood Resort Residences page. And foreign buyers are generally offered 60 to 70 per cent.
Both are market observations, not entitlements. The only number that matters is the one in your letter of offer. A short unexpired lease also shortens tenure, which raises the instalment even when the margin holds.
- Sinking fund
The sinking fund is a separate reserve account contributed to by parcel owners and used for major capital works — repainting, lift replacement, waterproofing — as distinct from the maintenance charge that pays for day-to-day running.
Two things to ask before handover, both taken from the questions this site puts to developers on pages such as Aliva Mount Austin: the sinking fund rate, and the opening balance at handover. A new scheme with an empty reserve will levy for its first major works.
The contribution rate is fixed by the strata management legislation in force and by the management body’s resolutions. Get the figure in writing for your specific scheme rather than assuming a percentage.
- Maintenance charge
The maintenance charge is the recurring fee parcel owners pay for the upkeep, insurance, security and services of the common property, normally quoted per square foot per month and levied in proportion to share units.
Quoted per square foot, a small-looking rate is a large annual number on a big unit, and a hotel-service format costs more to run than a plain block. Ask what is inside the charge and what is billed on use.
Where a scheme mixes homes and shop lots, ask for the share unit split as well — it decides both your bill and your vote. On several projects this site records the charge as not published anywhere by the developer, including Aliva Mount Austin; treat that as an open question rather than a small one.
- Quit rent (Cukai Tanah)
Quit rent is the annual land tax payable to the state land office by the registered proprietor, assessed on the land itself.
On a strata scheme it may be apportioned among parcels or billed through the management body, so a strata owner often never sees the original bill.
The point worth knowing is that the rate follows the land use category, not the marketing label: a serviced apartment on commercially zoned land is billed at commercial rates, as the Aricia Residences @ Sungai Besi page sets out. Rates are set by each state and change; ask for the current assessment on the specific title rather than borrowing a figure from another project.
- Assessment (Cukai Pintu)
Assessment is the local council rate charged on the annual value of a holding, billed half-yearly by the council in whose area the property sits.
Like quit rent it follows the land use category. The Amberwood Resort Residences page states it plainly: the building plan reference ends in KOM, komersial, and serviced apartments on commercial title pay commercial-rate assessment, water and electricity tariffs.
Budget for it before you sign rather than after. Councils revalue periodically and rates differ between councils, so ask for the actual bill on the actual unit rather than an estimate.
Product types
6 entries- Serviced apartment vs condominium
A condominium is a home on residential-titled land; a serviced apartment is a home built on commercially-titled land, and in Malaysia that difference is a cost difference, not a marketing one.
The consequences run the same way every time: commercial-rate assessment, commercial water and electricity tariffs, and a lower loan margin — this site records 80 to 85 per cent on commercial title against the 90 per cent available on residential title, on Amberwood Resort Residences.
It also changes which pool of stock you compete with at resale. Alamanda Heights is a condominium, and the 2,407 completed unsold units in Selangor in the quarter reported on that page were serviced apartments — a different sub-segment with a different buyer pool. Where a developer has not published the land use category this site says so instead of asserting it, as on Aricia Residences; get the answer in writing before you pay a deposit.
- SOHO, SOFO and SOVO
SOHO, SOFO and SOVO — small office home office, small office flexible office, small office versatile office — are marketing names for compact units built on commercially-titled land and sold for mixed live-and-work use.
There is no separate legal category behind the acronym. What governs is the land use and the title, so expect the commercial-title cost profile described above.
Check whether residential occupation is actually permitted by the approved plans and the building’s house rules before assuming you can live there. Note also that the 2026 non-citizen stamp duty legislation names SOHO units explicitly, so residential-style tax treatment can apply even where the title is commercial.
- Dual-key
A dual-key unit is one strata parcel with one title and one maintenance account, divided into two self-contained sections behind separate entrance doors.
The attraction is that you can live in one half and let the other. The constraint is that it remains a single parcel: it cannot be sold in halves, it carries one loan and one bill, and both halves share one share-unit allocation.
It also concentrates your exposure on price. A dual-key investor product sized at 499 to 712 square feet will not reach Johor’s RM1,000,000 foreign-buyer floor at any plausible price per square foot — the arithmetic set out on the Pine Legacy page. Full treatment on this site: the dual-key guide.
- Cluster, semi-detached and bungalow
These labels describe how many walls a landed house shares: a bungalow shares none, a semi-detached shares one, and a cluster home shares one wall on each side in pairs, giving four homes in a block.
A cluster home is often marketed as semi-detached living at terrace pricing, and the trade-off is a narrower side setback.
What matters more than the label is the title. Many gated landed schemes are strata-titled, which changes the transfer, adds a maintenance charge and — in Selangor — decides whether a foreigner may buy at all, because Selangor opens strata and strata-landed to foreign buyers but not individually-titled landed homes at any price.
- Built-up area vs land area
Built-up area is the floor area of the building measured within its walls; land area is the size of the lot the building sits on, and for a landed house the two are different numbers.
Advertised prices per square foot are usually calculated on built-up, which flatters a house on a small lot and penalises one on a large one.
For strata units, check whether the quoted area includes the balcony, the air-conditioner ledge and the yard, and whether a car park bay counts as an accessory parcel or sits in the share units. Compare like with like, or the per-square-foot number tells you nothing at all.
- Accessory parcel and common property
An accessory parcel is a space such as a car park bay or a store attached to a specific unit on the strata plan, while common property is everything not comprised in any parcel and is owned collectively.
The distinction decides whether your car park bay is yours to sell with the unit or merely allocated to you by the management body, and it can be reallocated in the second case.
It is a question this site puts to developers by name, for example on Aliva Mount Austin: car park allocation per unit type, and whether bays are accessory parcels or common property. Get the answer from the strata plan, not from the sales gallery.
Market terms
5 entries- Overhang (NAPIC definition)
In NAPIC’s statistics, overhang means residential units that have been completed and issued with a certificate of completion and compliance but have remained unsold for more than nine months after launch.
Two disciplines make the number usable. First, it counts completed stock only — units still under construction are reported separately and are not overhang. Second, serviced apartments are counted in their own category, separately from residential-title homes, so an overhang figure for one does not describe the other.
This site reports the figure for the state a project is in and never borrows a neighbouring state’s number. The verified 1Q2026 figures used across the site: Johor 9,972 serviced apartments and 3,852 residential; Kuala Lumpur 4,181 and 3,733; Selangor 2,407 and 3,745; Penang 3,165; Perak 4,063, the highest in the country; national residential overhang 32,801, a sixth consecutive quarterly rise. An example of the distinction doing real work is Alamanda Heights.
- Unsold completed vs unsold under construction
Unsold completed stock is finished and available now; unsold under construction is stock still being built that has not yet found a buyer.
Only the first is overhang. The second is the more useful series when you are judging what you will be competing against at your own handover or resale.
Units completing in the same quarter as yours show up in the under-construction figures long before they appear in the overhang figures. Read both, and read them for the right state and the right sub-segment.
- Take-up rate
The take-up rate is the proportion of units in a project or a market segment that have been sold, usually quoted at a point in time.
Treat a developer’s take-up claim as an assertion until it appears in a statutory disclosure or a listed company’s announcement. A number quoted only in agent material is either attributed as such on this site or left out.
The same discipline produces the phrase at least in front of project counts on this site: where a project publishes only a from-price, its ceiling cannot be tested from public sources, so it is not counted. Those counts are floors, not estimates.
- Bumi release
A Bumi release is the state’s written consent to sell a unit that carries a Bumiputera quota endorsement to a non-Bumiputera buyer.
It is discretionary, it is applied for per unit, and it is the step that decides whether a discounted Bumi lot can be resold outside the quota at all. Some states also require a levy or a claw-back of the original discount.
If you are buying a quota unit at a discount, price the release risk into your exit. If you are buying one on the secondary market, make the sale conditional on the release actually being obtained rather than on an assurance that it will be.
- Rebate and package deal
A rebate is a discount given by a route other than reducing the SPA price — absorbed legal fees, absorbed stamp duty, free furnishing, cash back on completion — and a package deal is a bundle of them.
Rebates matter for three reasons. The price written into the SPA is the number a bank values its margin against, and the number every foreign-buyer threshold, levy and duty is tested against — a rebate does not lower any of them.
Second, a large rebate can reduce what the bank is willing to lend. Third, ask exactly what is absorbed: which set of legal fees, whether disbursements are included, and whether stamp duty on the transfer or on the loan is covered. Get the list in writing and attach it to the agreement rather than relying on what was said in the gallery.
Louis Koh
11 years in Malaysian property · Johor Bahru & Kuala Lumpur new launches · English & 中文
This page is written for two readers: the buyer meeting these words for the first time and wondering whether any of them touch the deal in front of them, and the buyer who has already had one explained by a salesperson and wants to check it. If a term has a specific consequence on your project, ask, and I will tell you which document answers it.
Definitions and worked examples are drawn from the project pages and state guides already published on this site. State thresholds, levies and consent procedures come from the Bar Council Conveyancing Practice Committee circular, the Ministry of Economy guideline of 13 July 2022 and the National Land Code; supply figures from NAPIC 1Q2026. Stamp duty rates other than the verified non-citizen rate, RPGT rates other than the verified non-citizen position, the legal fee scale, the sinking fund contribution rate, and defect liability and delivery periods are not printed here as figures, because this site has no verified current number for them: apply the rules in force at the time and confirm with your solicitor. Sabah is printed with both published thresholds because they conflict. Sections 433B and 433C of the National Land Code apply to Peninsular Malaysia only and not to Sabah or Sarawak. Last reviewed 2026-08-19. This page is information, not legal, tax or financial advice.
Not sure which of these actually touches your purchase?
Send me three things: the project, your nationality and your budget. I will tell you which terms on this page land on you, and which document to ask the developer or your solicitor for so you can confirm it yourself. Where the published position conflicts, I will say so and tell you to get a written ruling before you pay anything, including when that costs me the deal.
Louis Koh · 11 years in Malaysian property · +60 10-906 6685 · replies 9am–10pm MYT