PENANG ANNUAL CORPORATE AND CONVEYANCING CONFERENCE (PACCC) 2026

Date    :  24^th September 2026 (Thursday)

Time    :  8.30 a.m to 5.30 p.m

Venue  :  Ascott Gurney Hotel, Penang

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Assalamualaikum and a very good morning.

• Madam Gowry Subbaiyah, Chairman of Penang Bar Committee

• Sazuree Shuib, State Director, Companies Commission of Malaysia

• Members of the Penang Bar Committee

• Members of the Penang Annual Corporate and Conveyancing Conference 2026 Organising Committee

• Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. It is a real pleasure to be back here again at this Corporate and Conveyancing Conference 2026. I would like to thank the organizing committee, particularly Madam Yeap Siew Cheng, the Chairperson for Corporate and Conveyancing Practice Sub-committee of Penang Bar for the opportunity given to deliver a keynote address at this conference.

2. Let me start by giving you the overview of the current economic and development scenario for the State of Penang. In the first half of this year, Penang Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounted to RM12.8 billion which makes Penang the top contributor of manufacturing FDI for Malaysia, representing 39% of the National Manufacturing FDI. Among the top investors are from Hong Kong, Singapore, China and the United States.

3. Even on the domestic sector front, Penang recorded RM4.5 billion in approved manufacturing Domestic Direct Investment (DDI) marking a 125% increase than the previous year, reflecting continued growth and investment by the local companies.

4. Meanwhile, major infrastructure projects such as the Mutiara LRT Line Segment 1, expansion of Penang International Airport, Penang Silicon Island and Juru-Sungai Dua Elevated Highway are making good progress on site. These major infrastructure projects are expected to enhance connectivity and support for new development area in selected locations.

5. According to Knight Frank Malaysia Real Estate Highlights 2026, Penang established manufacturing base, continued investment, infrastructure development and tourism activity provided support to the property sector while affordability, location and product quality remained important considerations. Residential property market was softer in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the previous year with demand remained concentrated in the affordable and mid-priced segments particularly properties priced between RM200,000 – RM400,000 (known in Penang as RMM or Rumah Mutiaraku).

6. Despite the lower transaction activity, Penang High Rise Residential Price Index rose 3.4% and high-rise residential supply also continued to expand at 6.9% growth. Serviced apartments accounted for most of the new launches, alongside premium low-density condominiums.

7. While investment data particularly in manufacturing for this year are encouraging, the property market remained stable and cautious, most probably due to the impact on the continuing conflicts in the Middle East. The slower trend in the property market is consistent with the number of dealings recorded in PTG and land offices in Penang this year which also reflects unfortunately in lower state revenue. As at 22 September 2026, the number of dealings submitted to PTG and Land Offices accounted for 49,645 applications compared to 69,991 applications for in 2025. While we have three more months to go, we are at the moment 20,000 dealings short of last year’s performance.

8. Property acquisition by non-citizen and foreign companies are also lower this year compared to last year. As at 22 September 2026, a total number of 683 transactions have been recorded with accumulated property value of RM1.4 billion compared to 968 transactions in 2025 with accumulated property value of RM2.1 billion. Three top purchasers recorded from the transactions were from China, Taiwan and Singapore.

ETHICS IN CONVEYANCING

Ladies and gentlemen,

9. Now, I would like to touch on the core of my speech today. From my experience working in the land administration and dealing with conveyancing documents presented by lawyers to the Registry, I came to a conclusion that conveyancing is more than a series of documents and registration. The whole process is built on trust, transparency and accountability. Honesty would be the best policy to start with. Your client, many of them are ordinary citizens navigating significant life events such as buying their first house, selling a family property or managing a deceased estate. They wouldn’t have the knowledge and information on the whole process on their own compared to maybe your clients from among the business sectors.

10. Thus, it is imperative for lawyers to provide them with clear and accurate information about the process, costs, timelines and potential obstacles. If a client is fully informed about the whole process and potential issues that would arise, I believed there will be less issues in lawyer-client relationships. In PTG, we have on many occasions, clients came to our office or called us to enquire about their process because their lawyers asked them to. I believe that should not be the case since the professional and ethical rules that govern the role and obligations of solicitors operating in this space have been clear and consistent.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

11. For conveyancing lawyers, attention to detail, diligence and consistency are essential. Lawyers especially conveyancers must ensure documents are fully checked before submission and deadlines are strictly met. While these may seem like simple administrative tasks, they are in fact fundamental to the process because delay due to administrative negligence or oversight can cost clients time, money and other related issues.

12. From my observation based on the monthly transaction reports, many issues that arose when presentation submitted to PTG or the land offices were due to administrative mistakes, negligence, lack of knowledge on current rules and procedures and most probably some lawyers did not take charge of the process.

13. I remember previously PTG and Land Offices had numerous discussions with the Corporate and Conveyancing Sub Committee on rejections due to technical mistakes that cannot be rectified by suspension. Finally PTG had come up with a list of 25 situations where a presentation must be rejected due to technical issues such as attestation made by persons not listed in Fifth Schedule of NLC, omission of transferor or transferee signature or the transferor name has yet to be registered as owner in the title, to name a few examples.

14. For PTG and land offices, the list provide opportunity for consistency and reduced discretionary powers of the Registrar. For lawyers, the list was intended to be a guide in order to avoid technical mistakes in the presentation which led to rejection causing delay and additional costs. Unfortunately, the number of documents rejected due to technical mistakes were still high. In 2025, a total of 1913 presentations were rejected and in 2026 up until September 22^nd, a total of 1140 presentations were rejected by the Registrar.

15. I remember after coming up with the list, Penang Bar Committee wrote to PTG asking for the fee to refile documents rejected due to technical error to be reduced from RM300 to RM50. The State Authority agreed to reduce it to RM100 per receipt.

Ladies and gentlemen,

16. I know that one of the main concerns for lawyers when it comes to issue with PTG is the State Consent and the consent for non-citizen and foreign companies to acquire property. For your information, we have made significant improvements in terms of policy and rules for example;

1. The introduction of nominal fee and nominal levy to Personal Representatives and Beneficiaries or Foreign Company (RM300 for Personal Rep and RM1000 for Beneficiaries from the original RM10,000 for beneficiaries. (15 May 2025)
2. Acceptance of Certified True Copy of State Authority Approval Letter (State Consent and Blanket Consent) by a lawyer or Consent Unit with fee of RM50. Previously, only CTC by lawyers were accepted. (3 July 2025)

• Acceptance of Stamp Certificate from LHDN as valid supporting document for consent applications in charge transactions instead of amended LO from banks which can cause delays. (23 April 2026)

1. Consent letter will be emailed to lawyers instead of collecting hardcopy from PTG counter. (8 July 2026)

17. I am also aware that speed is everyone’s main concern. Today I would like to inform that we have made few changes internally to improve the speed of the process and I will personally monitor the result of the changes. However, I would also wish to take this opportunity speaking here in front of you to highlight some improvements on lawyers’ side in the application for consent.

18. From my observation and reports, I found that there are some issues that need serious attention from lawyers in order to achieve process efficiency and avoid delays. For example, we noted that some law firms still do not understand the fee structure in the Penang Land Rules for consent, submission of incomplete documents, copies of document not certified by lawyers, property agents making enquiries on the status of process instead of law firms and many lawyers are not aware of changes made to the procedures despite official announcement made to lawyers through Penang Bar Committee.

Ladies and gentlemen,

19. I believe that all these issues highlighted can be resolved through continuous discussion with lawyers and the Penang Bar Committee. Perhaps, workshops can be organized by the PTG with the support from the Penang Bar Committee in the future the address all issues pertaining to process and procedures for consent application.

20. To conclude, the way forward for us is to continue engaging, to explore opportunities for improvements and strengthen the good relations we already have, I wish you a great conference.

Thank you.