I was taken aback when I came across the news about some Singaporean buyers entangled in a legal tussle with a Malaysian developer over property ownership in Johor. It seems these Singaporeans invested in condos under a “Private Lease Scheme (PLS)”—a setup that’s commonplace in Malaysia but quite foreign in the Singaporean real estate landscape. Essentially, it’s like holding a tenancy where the usual ownership rights are absent. You’re really just securing the right to live in the condo for 99 years, and if you want to sublease or resale the unit, you need the developer’s nod.
### Understanding PLS
So, what exactly is PLS? It’s a scheme where the Malaysian developer holds onto ownership of the property, while you’re essentially under a long-term lease rather than owning it outright. This arrangement means missing out on rights typical of ownership, like having a say in condo management or being able to sell the property at will.
