News by Hafiz Yatim

The High Court has allowed Distinctive Acres Sdn Bhd, an investment unit of property developer UOA Development Bhd (KL:UOADEV), to challenge a RM165.66 million tax bill and penalty linked to the sale of an asset to a REIT in 2020.

The High Court still wants the federal government and the liquidator of Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd to explore the possibility of mediation before the court delivers its decision on mesne profit (trespass compensation) to the company following the occupation of the now prime "Duta enclave" land it had deemed to have trespassed on since it was acquired in December 1956.

The High Court has fixed Dec 16 to deliver its decision on the amount of compensation the Malaysian government must pay to Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd. The compensation will be assessed based on 1956 market rates, following a long-running dispute over the government’s acquisition of the prime “Duta enclave” land along Jalan Duta here.

The High Court on Wednesday has dismissed two separate discovery applications made by Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd on the federal government with regards to compensation for the 263.27 acres of prime ‘Duta enclave’ land that was acquired pre-Merdeka in 1956.

Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd has filed a discovery application to obtain survey and acquisition plans from before Merdeka for its compensation hearing over the “Duta Enclave” land, which the court ruled the government had trespassed on. The survey and acquisition plans date from 1956 to 1960.

In a landmark judgement last week involving a property development project in Penang, the Court of Appeal (COA) ruled that for mixed developments, a single joint management body (JMB) should operate, and there should not be different managements for commercial and residential properties in the running of maintenance and management of the development.

The Court of Appeal last week dismissed an appeal by a landowner-cum-developer for loss of profit/business disturbance following the acquisition of almost two acres of its 4.53 land in Klang for the construction the West Coast Expressway (WCE).

The Seremban High Court has fixed May 19 to deliver its decision on mesne profit sought by Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd in its legal battle against the Malaysian government over the acquisition of the 'Duta Enclave'.

The High Court has maintained the April 3 and April 10 hearing dates for the court to determine the rightful compensation to be paid to Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd based on the 1956 land acquisition of the prime “Duta enclave” which the court had deemed the government as having trespassed.

The Kuching High Court, in a landmark decision, ruled that the Sarawak Strata Management Ordinance 2019 (SMO), which came into force on March 1, 2022, cannot be applied retrospectively.