“Excision is the right of the indigenous land owners” How true is this?

So many potential land investors often ask me how true is this above sentence and my response has always been yes, excision is the right of the communities as the 1979 land ACT recognizes ancestral ownership of land but also it is the right of the government to regulate how excision is been granted to the villages applying for excision.

I presume the question that may be popping up in your head right now is what is excision?

Excision is the process of taking a part from a whole and that part that has been EXCISED will be recorded and documented in the official government record of the state called GAZETTE.

From the above definition, then an excision in process land is land that is still undergoing the process called Excision.

Highlighted below are some basic facts you need to know about excision in process land that most real estate developers will never want you to know.

FACT #1: Excision in Process is not a Land Title

Often times I see in some real estate companies advert that a land title is Excision in process. Well before Excision title can be granted to a land, it must undergo the process but it is not a criteria to give such land the title of an excision.

It is in the power of the government to decide if excision will be granted or not to a particular excision application.

FACT #2: Excision Application is 50/50 Chances

Most real estate companies selling excision in process land will never tell you this even though it’s a risk too on the companies selling. It is not all excision application submitted to the land bureau that is granted even when the land in question current status is not committed for any government purpose.

The fact that a KL file number has been given at the Land ministry does not guarantee that excision will be granted.

FACT #3: You Can’t Get a Red Copy Survey on Awaiting Excision Land

Do not be deceived, survey drawn for land awaiting excision cannot be lodge at the surveyor general office because the land does not have an approved land title.

FACT #4:  You Can’t Build on Land Awaiting Excision

Buildings erected on an excision in process land stand at a risk of being pull down by the government of the state.

As I have said earlier, the government recognizes the indigences have a right to existence, a right to the land of their birth and by default is expected to cede a portion of land to them. The natives are expected to do whatever they wish with the portion that have being ceded to them, any actions outside this can result to the government taking actions that may not be favorable to the natives and investors alike.

FACT #5:  In an Excision Application, the Total Area of Land Applied For is NOT Always Granted.

What this simply means is that if a community applied for 50 hectares of land to be excised, the government may decides to grant 30 hectares.

Now the implication of this actions for real estate companies that bought land from this community is that the 20 hectares that was not granted will lose their lands.

Some real estate company may compensate its subscribers by relocating them to another location different from the ones they initially subscribed for.

One sweet thing about land awaiting excision is that it comes cheap and capital appreciation is certain if excision is fully given. Therefore real estate subscribers should understand the risks involved

When excision is given then the land is no longer under government acquisition and processing of CofO (Certificate of Occupancy) is possible.

so real estate dealers can refund to subscribers if the excision request is declined?

The chances of a refund are low. If at all, charges would have been deducted and it may take a while. A prudent company that manages its inflow well and that has spelt out these risk from the beginning will be able to weather such a storm when and if it happens.