SUB DIVISION, PARTITION

AND AMALGAMATION

pecah sempadan,

perpaduan
 OVERVIEW
• Subdivision, partition and amalgamation of
any alienated land could only be made in
respect of any lands held under final title.
• Any lands which are held under qualified
title are not capable of being subdivided,
partitioned or amalgamated since the
lands have not yet been surveyed.
 A. SUB - DIVISION
• A process whereby land held under a single title is
subdivided into two or more portions to be held under
separate title
• Section 135 to 139 of NLC
• Sec 135(1): The proprietor may apply to subdivide his
land into 2 / more portions to be held under separate
titles.
• Approval must be obtained from:
– Registry Title – Director of Lands & Mines
– Land Office Title – Land Administrator-(section 77)
LEE CHUAN TUAN V

COMMISIONER OF LANDS AND MINES, JOHOR

BAHRU [1973] 2 MLJ 188

• Issue: whether a lessee in the

circumstances of this case is a registered
proprietor within the meaning of the NLC ?
• Held that the lessee is not the registered
proprietor within the meaning of the NLC.
Only the registered proprietor of the land
has a right to subdivide the land.
SUB DIVISION – 135 NLC 1965
• SOLE OWNERSHIP

Owner : A Owner : A Owner : A

Lot No: 123 Lot No: 125 Lot No: 125
Area : 4 acre Area: 2 acre Area: 2 acre
SUB DIVISION – CO-OWNERSHIP
 EFFECT
• 1) One proprietor holding one title and
name of proprietor or co-proprietor will
appear in all the titles.
• 2) Easy for purposes of future land
dealings ie transfers, charge etc.
• 3). Title will be issued for new portion. The
existing title is no longer effective.
• 4).There is no termination of co-
ownership.
 SUB DIVISION
• Section 136 of the NLC has made it clear
that sub division approval is given only
when the application of sub division meets
all requirements and conditions imposed.
• Thus, it is the responsibility of the
applicant to ensure that the requirements
of this section are complied with.
 CONDITIONS FOR
SUBDIVISION
• Conditions for approval – sec 136:
• The applicant has to consider the followings:
1. It does not contravene any restriction in interest;
2. It is not contrary to any other written law;
3. The applicant has obtained the approval of the
relevant planning authority;
4. Land dues have been paid;
5. Consent from interested parties (e.g. chargees,
lesssee) have been obtained;
 CONDITIONS FOR
SUBDIVISION
6. Land cannot be less than minimal size;
i. Agricultural land: not less than 2/5 of a hectare;
ii. Other cases as determined by the planning
authority – 136(1)(f)
7. There is road access for each subdivided lot.
• The application shall be made in writing to the LA
by using Form 9A and must be accompanied by
stipulated fees and certain documents as stated in
sec 137.
 SUB DIVISION APPROVAL
APPLICATION
• After all the requirements and conditions provided for by
sec 136 and 137 NLC are observed then the application
of sub division will be processed.
• The power to approve the sub division application is
provided in sub section (2) of section 135.
• In respect of the application of sub division of land held
under Registry title, the approval is determined by the
State Director while the approval is determined by the
Land Administrator in the case of land under the Land
Office.
• Both of them are responsible for
processing applications of this sub division
and shall approve the application if the
application meets the requirements of sub
section (1) of sec 136.
• If not then the State Director and Land
Administrator have the right to reject the
application.
Ng Kheng Yong V Seng Hup Realty Co Sdn
Bhd & Anor [2004] 2 CLJ 857
• COA held that:
• “ section 136 of the Code provides the
conditions that have to be satisfied before
approval for subdivision can be given. It is
for the State Authority or Director of Lands
& Mines or the Land Administrator, as the
case may be, to approve or reject any
such application. The approval is not as of
right and is discretionary.”
 SURRENDER AND RE-
ALIENATION
195. (1) The proprietor of any alienated land held under Registry title,

• Section 195
Land Office title or qualified title may, with the approval of the State
Director or Land Administrator, as provided by subsection (2),
surrender to the State Authority the whole or part thereof.

• Effect: the land will, upon surrender, revert

back and vest in the State Authority as
State Land- section 199
• Thereafter, the land is once again
alienated to the registered proprietor in
subdivided form
• Section 204B & 204D
 DATO TOH KIAN CHUAN V SWEE
CONSTRUCTION & TRANSPORT COMPANY (M)
SDN. BHD. [1996] 1 AMR 604
Mohd Ghazali Yusof J
“I would think that whatever method a
landowner adopts in making his
application to the relevant authority i.e.
whether under sections 124 and 135 or
under section 204B…the end result would
be the same, namely, it would amount to
what has been referred to by the parties
as conversion and subdivision”
 Golden Approach Sdn Bhd v Pengarah
Tanah dan Galian Perak [2001] 1 AMR 711
• GASB, a developer, acting under a Power of Attorney,
given by Ulu Behrang (the registered owner) applied for
a development approval under section 204D i.e.
surrender and re-alienation, in respect of two parcels of
land.
• As the land was then under qualified title, the State
Director of Lands and Mines suggested that the land be
surrender to the State Authority under section 197 , after
which the State Authority will, under section 42 alienate
the land to Ulu Behrang.
• Pursuant to the Director’s proposal, the land was
surrendered and in due course, the State
Authority issued subdivided lots in Ulu Behrang’s
name - the Diamond Creeks Country Retreat.
• Issue: Whether the PA granted by Ulu Behrang
to the developer is still effective.
Held: the subdivided lots must be regarded as
titles in continuation of the two parcels of land
surrendered to the State Authority, and
therefore, the PA is still effective.
 B. PARTITION

• Section 140
–Any alienated land held by two or
more persons as co-proprietors
may be partitioned so as to vest in
each of them, under a separate
title, a portion of the land
proportionate to his undivided
share of the whole land
 EFFECT

–1. To create a separate document of

titles are issued for each portion of
land owned.
–2. Termination of co-proprietorship
–3. Land will be divided into more than
one portion.
–4. Existing title is no longer effective
Title
• Similar conditions as in the
application for subdivision.
–Additional requirements in section
141
• Effect – section 144- when the
application has been approved,
separate titles will be issued to
each co-owner.
• Approval is by:
1. Land Administrator for Land Office titles;
2. Director of Lands & Mines for Registry titles.
– Sec 140(2) of NLC.
• Conditions for approval – sec 141:
1. each co-owner has consented to the application;
2. the area to be vested in each co-owner is in the
opinion of the relevant authority as nearly as
possible to the co-owner’s undivided share in the
land.
 WAYS FOR PARTITION OF
LAND
(a) Agreement of the co-proprietors –
section 141(1)(a) minor ap[plicant boleh apply walaupun
bukan major

–Section 141A – No consent of co-

proprietor
(b) Assistance of the court- section
145
 (a) Agreement of the co-
proprietors
• Section 141A :-By virtue of sec 141A, any co-
owner holding a majority share can apply for
approval to partition the land i.e. no need of
consent for every co-owner as provided by sec
141.
• If an applicant wants to apply the partition is the
majority shareholder in the land, the provision
under sec 141A NLC can be used and consent
of the co proprietors of the land is not needed.
• Prior to this, if the applicant or
applicants who is a minority
shareholder of the land failed to
obtained consent from the co-
proprietors, the provision of section
145 of the NLC on the court
intervention may be used.
• However, section 141A of the new NLC
2007 has been amended to allow the
owner of the minority shares to make an
application for the partition of land without
the consent of the co proprietor or co
proprietors.
• This amendment is made to facilitate the
application of partition of land.
• The application shall be made in writing to the
LA by using Form 9B and must be accompanied
by stipulated fees and certain documents as
stated in sec 142.
• Upon receiving the application, the Land
Administrator shall notify the other co-proprietor
of the proposed partition, requiring them to
clause 3
submit in writing within a period of 28 days from
the date of service of the notice, any objection
setting out fully the grounds on which objection
is based.
• Upon the expiry of the period, the land
administrator where there are objections
shall notify the applicant and the remaining
co-proprietor and hold enquiry and if
satisfied that good grounds exist shall
reject the application.
• In the case, where there are no objections
after due consideration may approve the
application.
 (b) Assistance from court
• Section 145 – assistance from court may be resorted to
if the partition will result in-
– Co-proprietors will neither join or consent to the
making of application for partition.
– By reason of the operation of paragraph (f) of sub sec
(1) of sec 136 (as applied by sec 141), partition of the
land between all of the co proprietors is incapable of
being approved.
– The court makes such order as he thinks just for the
purpose of enabling the co proprietorship to be
terminated.
• Thus, section 145 may be applied in the
situation of application for partition by the
majority co-proprietor who has neither obtained
the consent of other co-proprietors nor received
approval from the Director of Lands or the LA (in
practice, the Director of Lands or the LA
sometimes will not make application for approval
of partition of land without the consent of all the
other co proprietors even though they are
minority shareholders.)
 Ku Yan bte Ku Abdullah v Ku Idris bin Ku
Ahmad & Ors [1991] 3 MLJ 439

• P is a co-proprietor of a piece of land to

the extent of 5/7th undivided share. The 4
Ds are co-proprietors of the remaining
2/7th share. P who was the holder the
majority share in the land had applied to
the LA for the land to be partitioned under
section 141A of the NLC. The application
was neither joined by Ds nor consented by
them.
• The application was rejected by the State Director of
Land and Mines, but no reason was stated but advised
the P to make the application before the High Court.
• The P thus applied to the HC for partition of the land
under section 145 (1) of the NLC, with a proposed plan
and for the issuance of two title deeds, one for P and
another for Ds. The Ds (the co-proprietors) opposed the
application on the grounds that the court has no
jurisdiction to hear the application.
Held that: dismissing the Ds objection on the
ground that:KC Vohrah J (High Court) held
that:
1. section 141A does not compel a co-
proprietor holding the majority share in a
piece of land to apply to Land
Administrator for approval to partition the
land, it is a mere permissive section.
• 2. A co-proprietor having the majority
share in a piece of land thus is not barred
from applying to the High Court under
section 145(1) to have the co-
proprietorship terminated and the land
partitioned under section 145 on the
general ground that co-proprietor will not
join in or consent to the making of an
application for partition.
• Cases
• AISHAH BTE MOHD SAMAN AND ORS V
KALSOM BTE HAJI MOHAMAD NOR
• SAAD BIN DIN, RASHID BIN ALI AND 6
OTHERS V EMBUN DAHAMAN
(UNREPORTED)
• OOI ENG CHONG YOK V KAM CHEONG
(UNREPORTED)
• The rationale for court intervention in the
application of the partition of the land as decided
in the case of Ku Yan, Aishah, Din bin Saad and
Ooi is to safeguard the principle of justice.
• This is because the rights of each proprietor of
the land must always be complied with. This
effort is intended to help the co proprietors of the
land to develop small land become a more
competitive land.
 Issue: Purchaser of undivided
share
• Principle: a purchaser who buys an
undivided share of a co-proprietor on
the basis of the existing division of the
land as agreed to by each of the co-
proprietors themselves, is bound by
such a division in equity.
 GP De Silva v Chua Yam
Thong [1962] MLJ 236
• The first and second plaintiffs and the defendant were
registered proprietors of an undivided one-third share
each in a piece of land.
• In 1953 and 1954 the defendant cut down the coconut
and rubber trees on a portion of the land and erected a
number of temporary houses.
• In 1955 the second plaintiff sold one-third of his
undivided share in the land to the 3rd plaintiff and in
1956 sold another one-third to the 4th plaintiff.
•
• In an action by the plaintiffs for an account of
profits derived from the houses, payment of their
shares and for damages on the basis that
defendant had carried through the whole
operation of erecting the houses without their
consent and knowledge, the defendant alleged
that his building operations were confined to a
portion of the land which had been allotted to
him as his share under an oral agreement made
with the first and second plaintiffs in 1951 and
that the plaintiffs were consequently estopped.
• Held: it was established by the evidence adduced by the
defendant that there was an agreement in 1951 between
the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs and himself under which a
division of the land was made.
• As the defendant had erected the houses only on that
portion of the land which had been allotted to him under
the agreement, the claims of the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs
must fail.
• The 3rd and 4th plaintiffs were successors in title of
portions of the share of the 2nd plaintiff and were bound
by the agreement. Their claims must also therefore fail.
• D contended that when he first bought the
land, there was an oral agreements
between him and the then co-proprietors
to divide among themselves the land into
three portions, and that all activities that
he did was on his portion which was
agreed upon.
• Thus, Ps are estopped and not entitled to
the claims sought for.
Suffian J (High Court)
• D has discharged the onus of proving that
there was an agreement between him and
the then co-proprietors that the land was
to be subdivided between them in the
manner alleged by D; accordingly Ps are
precluded from claiming a share in the
fruits of the developments effected by D
on his portion of the land.
 C. AMALGAMATION
• Section 146 (1)- any person having two or more
contiguous ( adjacent) pieces of land can apply
to them amalgamated (joined up together into
one), so that they become a single title.
• Applies to : Registry Title, Land Office Title,
Qualified Title, Final Title
• Condition: located in the same mukim, town or
village
– Proviso to section 146(1)
EFFECT OF AMALGAMATION

• 1. single title will issued

• 2. existing titles have no effect.
• 3. separate lots are now
combined.
 SEC 147 OF NLC
• Section 147, however, no amalgamation shall be proved
in the following circumstances:
– a) Lots are held under Land Office title but the
combined area (when amalgamated) exceeds four
hectares
– b) The lots are held partly under Land Office title and
partly Registry title
– c ) Dissimilarities between lots
• Eg Period of lease, rates payable, categories of
land use, and restriction in interest
• The application shall be made in writing to
the LA by using Form 9C and must be
accompanied by stipulated fees and
certain documents as stated in sec 142.
• Upon approval of the application, a new
title of combined area will be issued to the
proprietor – sec 150.
 CONVERSION
• Conversion occurs when the proprietor applies
to SA to alter the existing category of his land
use to another category such as from agriculture
to building etc.
• Sec 124(1): The proprietor can apply to the SA
for:
i. alteration of any category of land use;
ii. the imposition of any category.
 CONVERSION
• The application for conversion is subject to the following
conditions:
1. Consent of interested parties have been obtained –
first proviso of sec 124(1);
2. All dues have been paid to SA – second proviso of
sec 124(1);
3. Payment of further premium – sec 124(5)(a);
4. Payment of any other charges – sec 124(5)(aa);
5. Payment of newly-determined quit rent – sec
124(5)(b).
 CONVERSION
6. Compliance with other conditions imposed by SA –
sec 124(5)(c).
• Alternatively, a land may also apply for simultaneous
conversion and subdivision to the SA under sec 124A.
• This is aimed at speeding up the development of
housing projects as upon land being converted for eg
from agriculture to building, it needs to be subdivided
into individual smaller separate title suitable for hosing
and for purpose of selling it to purchaser.