SHAH ALAM: Legal firms have been asked to check with the land office in their respective states whether the titles of their client’s properties were ready for collection, said Pemudah focus group on registering property chairman Datuk Dr Ir Andy Seo Kian Haw.

There were piles of registered land or property titles in the land office and most of them were from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor where the bulk of land and property transaction took place, he told a press conference yesterday.

He said the surge in completed registered land titles was due to the initiatives taken by the Office of the Director-General of Land and Mines to improve the service delivery of land administration in all states and district land offices.

Director-General of Land and Mines Datuk Abdul Halim Ain said there was a backlog of four million title applications in 2004 but now it was almost 100% cleared.

The registration of land or property transfer could now be done in one day instead of 41 days previously.

“Despite the successful improvements made by the land office, they are facing another critical problem - delays in collecting registered title by lawyers from the land office,” he said.

Deputy Director (Registration) of Selangor Land and Mines Department Kamarulzaman Jamil said 15,620 registered land titles, some dated back to 2001, were not collected up to 2008. — Bernama