The landowner also has other options to choose from if he decides to bring the matter to court. The owner can even resort to the use of force so as long as it is reasonable to do so and he uses no more force than it is reasonably necessary. In the same case, Chief Justice Raja Azlan Shah noted that the landowners do not have an obligation to bring the matter to court for the owner to repossess their own land.

This was confirmed in Sidek bn Hj Muhammad & Ors v Government of Perak, where the federal court dismissed the claims of the squatters and held that a person can only obtain a state land by way of a formal application for land-based on the rules and regulations set down in the Code.Īny person who unlawfully occupies, cultivates or even removes produces from such land commits an offence under Section 425 of the Code and can be punished with a fine not exceeding RM5,000.00 or imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or both. Remedies for squattersĪs Malaysia no longer recognizes the concept of adverse possession, a squatter neither has legal nor equitable rights over the land that they are occupying illegally, however long it may be. registration of ownership, title and interest, named after Sir Robert Torrens who introduced the concept in South Australia in 1858. This concept was however abolished during the British occupation, coupled with the introduction of the National Land Code 1965 (‘the Code’), which codified the concept of Torrens system i.e. While the King or the state is still the rightful owner of all the lands, they nevertheless allowed the people to cultivate a wasteland into a living land as long as a tenth of the produce of the land is paid to the King/ state. Anyone who cultivates the land will adversely possessed the land.

land that has been cultivated into a rice field. As there are no sign of cultivation, no one can claim ownership of the land. land that has no indication of it being cultivated by anyone. Generally, the law recognizes 2 kinds of lands :

Before the formation of Malaysia, each state has its own comprehensive set of rules, traditions and customs governing the occupation of land. The concept of adverse possession is not unheard of in Malaysia. Existence of adverse possession – a brief history Adverse possession is a legal term commonly used to describe a person, also known as an illegal squatter, who occupies a piece of land without the knowledge of the rightful landowner and eventually acquire legal ownership of the land through their continuous use and occupation of the land.Īs such, anyone who has access to your property can literally squat in your backyard, with or without your knowledge, build an abode for himself, extensively renovate it, and claim that your backyard now belongs to him after a fixed amount of years, if you do not chase him away before his rights kick in.

National land code