Sort out the administratives

The process of purchasing a house from a developer is less tedious compared to building on your own. With the latter, first you have to have a land. Then engage an architect to come up with the design. For the design to be raised, you need a builder. No one is going to do that on your behalf unless you can afford to hire a full-time project manager. As if that's not enough to do, there are still a few more that you have to take care of in between. 

When you purchase a house (let's use this term to mean any dwelling unit) from the developer, it is very likely that part of its services is to help you get the finance facility that you can live with and to a certain extent, legal services to look at the sales and purchase agreement. This is made easier especially if you made the purchase at a home exposition or something like it where the banks and legal offices also set up shop. You have practically nothing else to worry about except to really scrutinize all the fine points in the agreement to make sure that they are in order. And when it's time to take over the house, you may want to consider some minor renovations like installing a kitchen cabinet and do up the living room but these do not happen until later so you can plan and let the construction takes its course.

It's a different ballgame when you are building on your own. After procuring the land, you need to make sure that all paperwork is intact. Conduct a land search (carian rasmi) to verify that the plot in question indeed exists. The bank would also require this piece of paper as part of the application form. Check that the land status is really what it is as claimed by the seller/developer. 

If there is more than a plot, you need to amalgamate the plots before you can erect a building. And speaking of building, if it says rumah persendirian (residential) on the land search printout, just make sure that you comply accordingly. Back to merging the lots, there was a real hitch in the progress for us because we didn't know beforehand about the amalgamation requirement. Amalgamating is a time-consuming process and the worse part is that there is no SLA governing its turnaround time. Sure, they will give you an indication but it's still at best an estimation. The potential downtime would eat up into your overall project completion chart because you are not sure whether or not to proceed with construction. Even though there is no reason why the relevant authority should reject your application, the good people at the council will choose not to approve the house plan until they have seen the lands amalgamated. If someone's telling you to bulldoze and commence building, that's not a brilliant idea because doing so might incur the wrath of the powers-that-be. More trouble might be in-store for you.  

To join the plots, an application will need to be submitted to the Pejabat Tanah dan Galian (Land and Mineral Office) of where your land is situated. In our case, although the lands are in the Kuang area, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Gombak PTG. But having said that, we did not have to go its main office in Rawang because there was a branch nearer to us located in Selayang. And to be specific, our land is not in Kuang or Tasik Biru or Paya Jaras: it is actually on the fringe of Bukit Rahman Putra in Sungai Buloh. Confused with the so many places? Yeah, they don't add up but that's how things work sometimes in the country. I'm sure you've heard of stories of people being redirected to a farther police station although the one that they went to in the first place was quite close to home. Same difference.

While the application is underway, you will be given a temporary ownership certificate (Apple iPhone 4s)

Remember, if you are constructing on more than one tract of land, two things need to happen: one is the amalgamation, and second is the approval of the plan. If you are not, then worry only about the approval. 

Plan and layout approval is bestowed upon you by the local authority. Guess who's the local authority in charge of our area? (Drum roll)... it's the Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (Selayang Municipal Council)! Judging by the location of the land, we thought it would fall either under the purview of Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam or Majlis Daerah Kuala Selangor but no. Of course, Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam is only responsible for the said city and Majlid Daerah Kuala Selangor is a rural-based authority. The words Bandaraya, Perbandaran and Daerah defines the size of the territory of which each council is supposed to look after, didn't you know?

The much sought after stamp of approval (Apple iPhone 4s)

Preparing for submission is no child's play so do work closely with your architect and a runner, if you are engaging one, to make sure that you tick all the boxes for required documents in order to process your application. Don't wait until the council ring you to collect the approved plan because this might not come at all. Instead, check on the progress every week or so. Ask if everything's alright. We were highlighted about the need to amalgamate only when the council asked about the single plot number. For me, the person at the front counter who checked in all applications should have flagged any irregularities at his or her level but I don't want to be too harsh on this issue. It might be his first day at work or even the council's first time dealing with an amalgamation case which is rather hard to believe.

The original two lot numbers... (Apple iPhone 4s)

In general, our dealings with the officers at the two government departments had been pleasant and and I must say here that they were most helpful and kind although I can't say that processes were WYSIWYG and easily available on the Internet. There is always that element of change when you come face-to-face with the officer-in-charge. Turnaround time is another lasting issue but it's really out of your reach to try and make a difference. Don't count on the SLA being revised soon either because they need to have one before it can be amended.

Before I forget, another important thing is to pay for your quit rent (cukai pintu). I was under the impression that for as long as there was no door, no tax should be levied. As usual, I was wrong. Nonetheless, sooner or later this would be picked up by the system before you are duly directed to the payment hall to take a number and pay your cukai pintu. Without the receipt, the folks on the other floor will not go ahead processing your application. You will not like that so do the right thing. 

After all your headaches are cured (hopefully, that is) by the frequent visits to the authorities, it is time to apply for finance. Some of you out there may be lucky enough to not be needing the facility but we needed it so much even to build a chicken coop. Start early. Don't wait until your headaches are gone. Get referrals. Go back to bankers you have dealt with before on some other matters. Financing to build is not a straight line thing like buying off-the-shelf. There's a long list of documents that you need to turn in, on top of the usual three months salary slip and EPF statement. Besides, you want to know about the BLR, payment schedule, the repayment amount monthly and insurance coverage, especially when you are advance in age. 

And the 'unified' PT number... (Apple iPhone 4s)

Speaking of payment, you are able to take a percentage off your EPF savings provided you meet minimum balance required in your account two. This should somewhat ease the burden of the monthly repayment that you have to service but it does not happen automatically. There are forms to be filled up so you need to make an appointment with EPF to talk things out. 

Now back to the banking affair, your banker should be able to tell you the advantages and disadvantages between conventional and Islamic banking. Ultimately, it's for you to decide but decide with a clear mind, having understood how each package would benefit you as the borrower. In our case, we had to go back to the same bank that financed our land purchase as no other banks would agree to bear the building project. This is simply because when complete, the house and land would be counted as one asset and in the event of a default and the ensuing judgement, heaven forbids, recovering the payments from the borrower and reselling the property at a price everyone can agree with could be messy.

Truth be told though, there are still two separate loan accounts with two monthly payments to make. The bank will not consolidate these for you. It's only easier for them that when the shit hits the fan, all discussions are in the family. 

Which reminds me, following the amalgamation of the lands, you need to affect the same on the S & P. The bank needs to be formally advised about this and consequently issue a revised document reflecting the land merger. 

Boy, the administratives seem endless don't they? I've not even touched on how to apply for power and water...