Buying
Buying direct from the owner in Malaysia
You never pay the agent here, so the money that matters is the RM 36,000 of legal fees and stamp duty nobody quotes you upfront.
Where private sellers actually list in Malaysia
Each of these is a separate pool. A saved search on one tells you nothing about the others, so set up alerts on every one you intend to use.
- Anyone.com Listed by the owner
Homes listed by the owners themselves, which means the vendor keeps the 3 percent and you have something concrete to negotiate with. You message the owner and make your offer in one place. Your solicitor handles the agreement and the transfer as they would on any subsale.
More than 31 million active listings across 31 markets, agent-represented and owner-listed together. Mudah.my carries agent and owner listings, with owner ones a small share.
Search owner-listed homes ↗ - Mudah.my Owners can list
Buyer filter The By Owner tab above the results, which sets adsby=false in the address
The only working owner filter in the country. It showed 15,767 owner listings against 173,294 from agents when we counted, so a shade over 8 percent of what is for sale. Sellers are badged Private advertiser rather than Property agent, and you can bookmark the filtered search.
- iProperty.com.my Owner listings removed
Buyer filter None, because there is no owner stock left to filter
Owner listings were discontinued on 30 September 2025 and the existing ones were taken down. Anything you find here now comes from an agency or a developer.
- PropertyGuru.com.my Agents only
Buyer filter None
Accounts are for registered agents, agencies and developers. Worth searching for the market picture and the asking prices in a given block, not for finding an owner to deal with.
- EdgeProp.my Owners can list
Buyer filter None, and the section is not what its name suggests
The Homeowner Listings section takes owner submissions and routes them to registered agents rather than publishing them to buyers. An owner who posts there gets called by agents. You will not see the listing.
- Facebook groups and Marketplace Owners can list
Buyer filter Search by taman or condominium name in local property groups
Where a lot of owner-direct units surface first, especially in Klang Valley condominiums. Nothing is verified. The listing token to search for is direct owner, which Malaysians write in English even in otherwise Malay posts.
How many homes this really covers
Owner listings are about 8 percent of what is advertised for sale on Mudah, and under 6 percent of the houses specifically. With iProperty out and PropertyGuru closed to owners, the searchable owner-direct market is genuinely small. Treat it as a supplement to the ordinary agent listings rather than a replacement for them.
Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers Rules 1986, Seventh Schedule
The scale fee for a sale is capped at 3 percent of the price with a minimum of RM 1,000, and 8 percent SST has applied on top since 1 March 2024. Two things follow for a buyer. Any agent quoting you a fee is quoting something the vendor owes, not you. And anyone taking a commission without being registered with the Board is committing an offence under Act 242, which carries fines up to RM 300,000, so ask to see a registration number before you deal with an intermediary at all.
In force since 1986, with the SST change from 1 March 2024. Read the legislation
Buying one, step by step
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Work out your real budget first, including the RM 36,000
Stamp duty, legal fees on both the agreement and the loan, and disbursements land within weeks of signing and cannot be financed. First-time Malaysian buyers pay no stamp duty at all up to RM 500,000 until 31 December 2027, which changes the arithmetic completely if you qualify.
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Search Mudah with the By Owner tab on
Then check the Facebook group for the specific taman or condominium you want. Owner listings often appear there days before they reach any portal.
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Confirm the title type before you fall for the unit
Ask whether it is freehold or leasehold, and whether the lot is a Bumi lot. A non-Bumi buyer of an unreleased Bumi lot can find the transfer refused, and the release process is not something you fix after signing.
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Appoint your own solicitor and get a title search done
The search shows the registered owner, any charge to a bank, caveats and restrictions in interest. Do it before you pay a booking fee, not after.
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Sign the letter of offer, then the agreement within 14 to 21 days
Booking fee is normally 2 to 3 percent, topped up to a 10 percent deposit at the agreement. The deposit is held by the solicitor as stakeholder, never handed to the seller.
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Allow for state consent if the title is leasehold or restricted
Consent to transfer routinely adds one to three months, and it varies by state. Build it into your completion date rather than discovering it late.
Check before any money moves
- A land search showing the registered owner, any bank charge, caveats and restrictions in interest
- Whether the lot is a Bumi lot and, if so, whether it has been released for sale to a non-Bumi buyer
- Freehold or leasehold, and the years remaining on a leasehold title
- Outstanding quit rent, assessment, maintenance charges and sinking fund contributions on a strata unit
- Whether the seller has an existing bank loan to redeem, and how long their bank takes to release the title
- For strata property, the management corporation accounts and any special levy already agreed
Selling one instead? See where to list a home yourself in Malaysia , or the full guide to selling without an agent in Malaysia .
Common questions
Do I pay the agent's commission when I buy in Malaysia?
No. The fee is capped at 3 percent plus SST and the vendor pays it. A co-broking arrangement splits that same fee between two agents rather than adding a second one for you.
Where can I find property sold directly by owners?
Mudah's By Owner tab, and local Facebook groups for the taman or condominium you want. iProperty removed owner listings in September 2025 and PropertyGuru has never accepted them, so those two are agency stock only.
Is EdgeProp's homeowner section a place to find owner listings?
No, despite the name. Owners submit there to be contacted by registered agents. The listings are not published for buyers to browse.
What does a buyer actually pay on a RM 700,000 home?
About RM 36,000 in total: RM 15,000 stamp duty on the transfer, roughly RM 8,910 in agreement legal fees, RM 3,150 loan stamp duty, about RM 8,154 in loan legal fees, and RM 1,000 to RM 1,500 in disbursements. A first-time Malaysian buyer under RM 500,000 pays no stamp duty on either instrument until the end of 2027.
Does buying without an agent make the purchase riskier?
Not in the way people assume. The solicitor does the title search, holds the deposit as stakeholder and lodges the transfer, and their fees are fixed by law regardless of who introduced you to the property. What you take on yourself is the negotiation and the chasing.
Sources
Every legal, tax, and process claim on this page traces to one of these. We re-check them on a schedule and date the page when anything changes.
- Scale of fees for estate agency practiceBoard of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers · lpeph.gov.my
- Solicitors' Remuneration Order 2023, circular 258/2023Malaysian Bar · malaysianbar.org.my
- Owner listings and property wanted discontinuediProperty.com.my · agentofferings.iproperty.com.my
- Properties for sale, by owner filterMudah.my · mudah.my
- Homeowner listingsEdgeProp.my · edgeprop.my