SUBDIVISION, PARTITION &

AMALGAMATION

LLS 4173 LAND LAW I

SEMESTER I, 2016/2017
 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. SUBDIVISION

• 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
• 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)
 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 Area: 2
acre acre
 SUB DIVISION

• CO-OWNERSHP

Owner : A & B Owner : A & B Owner : A & B

Lot No: 123 Lot No: 125 Lot No: 125
Area : 4 acre Area: 2 acre Area: 2 acre
REASONS FOR SUBDIVISION OF LAND

• 1) One proprietor holding one title

• 2) Easy for purposes of future land
dealings ie transfers, charge etc.
 CONDITIONS FOR SUBDIVISION

• Section 136
• Section 137
• 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)
have been obtained;
 6. Land cannot be less than minimal size;
61. Agricultural land: not less than 2/5 of a
hectare;
62. 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.
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.”
THE LAND THAT CAN BE SUBDIVIDED-

• Types of land – section 135(1) & 176(2)(b)

a) Final title (Registry Title/Land Office
Title)
b) Qualified title in continuation of final
title – in the situation whereby an
application is made to further
subdivide a subdivided portion the
boundaries of which has yet to be
surveyed and in respect of which a
qualified title has been issued
SURRENDER AND RE-ALIENATION-

• Section 195
• 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.
Clement Skinner J
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
• Separate titles are issued to individual
portions in question
• Termination of co-proprietorship
 PARTITION

Owner :
A: ¼ portion
Owner : A Owner : C
B: ¼ portion Owner : B
Lot No: 612 Lot No: 614
C: ½ portion Lot No: 613
Area: 1 Area: 2
Area: 1 acre
acre acre
Lot No: 564
Area: 4 acre
 PARTITION

• Similar conditions as in the application for

subdivision
• Additional requirements in section 141
• Final title or qualified title in continuation
of final title – section 140 (1)
• Effect – section 144- when the
application has been approved,
separate titles will be issued to each co-
owner.
 PARTITION

• 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)
• 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 for every co-owner as
provided by sec 141.
• 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.
 (B) ASSISTANCE FROM COURT

• Section 145 – assistance from court may

be resorted to if the partition will result in-
• Each partitioned portion being less that
2/5 of a hectare
• Co-proprietors will neither join or
consent to the making of application
for partition
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
applied to LA for the land to be partitioned.
The application was neither joined by Ds nor
consented by them. The application was
rejected, but no reason was stated. P
applied to the court for partition of the land,
with a proposed plan and for the issuance
of two title deeds, one for P and another for
Ds.
KU YAN BTE KU ABDULLAH V KU IDRIS
BIN KU AHMAD & ORS [1991] 3 MLJ 439
KC Vohrah J (High Court)
“…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
…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 that the land
partitioned under section 145(2) on the general
ground that co-proprietor will not join in or
consent to the making of an application for
partition”
 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.
GP DE SILVA V CHUA YAM THONG [1962]
MLJ 236
• 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.
GP DE SILVA V CHUA YAM THONG [1962]
MLJ 236
• 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.
GP DE SILVA V CHUA YAM THONG [1962]
MLJ 236

• 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.
GP DE SILVA V CHUA YAM THONG [1962]
MLJ 236

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)
AMALGAMATION (SEC 146 NLC)

Owner : A Owner : A Owner : A

Lot No: Lot No: 1235 Lot No:
1234 Area: 0.8 1236 Owner : A
Area: 1.2 acre Area: 1 Lot No: 1313
acre Mukim: Nerus acre Area: 3 acre
Mukim: Mukim: Mukim: Nerus
Nerus Nerus
 AMALGAMATION THAT REQUIRES
SANCTION OF STATE AUTHORITY
• 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
 AMALGAMATION

• 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.