8th September 2026 - 3 min read
Landowners and people handling property transfers could eventually have less physical paperwork to deal with as the government expands the use of digital signatures in the e-Tanah system.
Digital signatures are currently used by land administrators for transactions through the system, and the government plans to extend their use to transactions carried out by members of the public.
Land, Survey and Geospatial Division Secretary at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES), Datuk Muhammad Yasir Yahya, said the move would make land transactions easier to handle online while strengthening the security and reliability of land records.
If you’re transferring land ownership, the registration can already be completed within a day as long as all the required documents and conditions are met.
Federal Land and Mines Director-General Datuk Mohd Fauzi Mohd Yatim said the land must be free from caveats, while stamp duty and other related payments must have been settled. All required documents must also be complete.
Once the documents have been checked and found to be in order, the transaction can be registered immediately.
The one-day period starts at 8am on the day the documents are submitted and ends at 8am the following day. Mohd Fauzi said the process has already been implemented in many states.
Mohd Fauzi also advised heirs to start the process of distributing a deceased person’s small estate as soon as possible.
Delaying the process can make things more complicated if other heirs pass away before the estate is distributed. This can increase the number of heirs involved and potentially lead to family disputes.
Applications can be made at 33 estate distribution offices nationwide or online through the MyLand portal.
You’ll need to submit documents such as the death certificate, copies of the heirs’ identity cards and the relevant land title.
Mohd Fauzi also urged private landowners to keep track of where their properties are located and check their condition.
He said some owners may go 20 or 50 years without knowing the exact location of their land. By the time they check, buildings, factories or crops may already have been placed on the property.
Landowners can install fences or signboards to reduce the risk of other people encroaching on their land. Any encroachment should be dealt with carefully and according to the law.
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Christina writes about personal finance with an eye for making the complicated feel straightforward. She is drawn to the everyday money decisions people face and genuinely enjoys finding the clearest way to explain them. Between articles, she is probably napping, on a hiking trail, or terrorising her sister’s cats.
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