Saturday, February 04, 2017

A friend's Chinese New Year marred by an overzealous DBKL enforcement officer

He received this 14-day notice to stop using a residential house as a motor workshop:

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But the house had conversion approval for which a total conversion fee of Rm78,000 was paid in 1997!

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I wish to know if such an approval is temporary because an officer in DBKL asked to see the Development Order (which cannot be found) and added that the owner can get refund of the fee paid but has to reapply for conversion for which the fee will be much higher based on current rate! If this is the case, then DBKL can go round looking for properties with similar approvals and demand new conversions and higher fees! Assessment rate was based on commercial use and he has business licence since he bought the property in 2004.

The other point is the trend to go paperless. When asked, the architect firm said they keep record up to 7 years only. So the onus is on owners to keep documents indefinitely?

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