Licensed Land Surveyors 1

LAWS OF MALAYSIA
REPRINT

Act 458

LICENSED LAND SURVEYORS

ACT 1958
Incorporating all amendments up to 1 January 2006

PUBLISHED BY
THE COMMISSIONER OF LAW REVISION, MALAYSIA
UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVISION OF LAWS ACT 1968
IN COLLABORATION WITH
PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BHD
2006
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LICENSED LAND SURVEYORS ACT 1958

First enacted … ... ... ... … … … 1958 (Ord. No. 11 of

1958)

Revised … … … … … … … 1991 (Act 458 w.e.f

13 April 1991)

PREVIOUS REPRINT

First Reprint ... ... ... ... ... 2001

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LAWS OF MALAYSIA

Act 458

LICENSED LAND SURVEYORS ACT 1958

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1. Short title
2. Interpretation
3. Establishment of the Board
4. Constitution of the Board
5. Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board
6. Meetings of the Board, and quorum
7. Power to appoint Secretary, examiners and other officers
8. Register
9. Persons entitled to be registered
10. Licence to practise and renewal of licence
11. General funds of the Board, accounts and expenses
12. Arrangements with reciprocating territories
13. Powers of a licensed land surveyor
14. Deposit of plans
15. Approval of title surveys
16. Correction of errors
17. Disciplinary powers of the Board
18. Appeal to the High Court
19. Illegal practice
20. Existing licensed surveyors
21. Regulations
22. Repeal
SCHEDULE
4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458
 Licensed Land Surveyors 5
LAWS OF MALAYSIA

Act 458

LICENSED LAND SURVEYORS ACT 1958

An Act relating to the licensing and control of land surveyors and

for matters connected therewith.

[1 May 1958, L.N. 131/1958]

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Licensed Land Surveyors Act

1958.

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Board” means the Land Surveyors Board established under

section 3;

“boundary mark” means any mark authorized by law for the

purpose of marking boundaries;

“Director General of Survey” means the officer performing the

duties of the head of the Survey Department of the States of
Peninsular Malaysia;

“Government surveyor” means any public officer of Malaysia

who is authorized by the Director General of Survey to undertake
any title survey;

“licence to practise” means a licence to practise as a licensed

land surveyor issued under section 10;

“licensed land surveyor” means a person whose name has been

placed upon the Register and to whom a licence to practise has
been issued by the Board;
6 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458

“member” means a member of the Board;

“Minister” means the Minister charged with the responsibility

for lands;

“reciprocating territory” means any country or territory within

the Commonwealth with which arrangements may have been made
by the Board with the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for
the recognition of the status of land surveyors;

“Register”means the register of licensed land surveyors kept in

accordance with section 8;

“Secretary”means the person appointed as such under section 7;

“survey plan” means a plan signed by a licensed land surveyor

recording the work carried out by him on a title survey, or a plan
signed by an officer authorized by the Director General of Survey
to do so and recording the work of a Government surveyor;

“title survey” means any survey which by any written law is

required for the purpose of or in connection with the registration
of any title to land or any assurance or instrument affecting or
purporting to affect title to land, and includes in connection
therewith—
(a) the delimitation of the boundaries of any land whether
privately owned or not;
(b) the emplacement, replacement and removal of boundary
marks;
(c) surveys required for the correct inter-relation of boundaries
or of boundary marks; and
(d) the making and recording of all measurements and
calculations relevant thereto and the drawing and
reproduction of plans therefrom.

Establishment of the Board

3. (1) There shall be established a board to be called the Land

Surveyors Board which shall have an office in Peninsular Malaysia.

(2) The Board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession

and shall have a common seal.
 Licensed Land Surveyors 7
Constitution of the Board

4. (1) The Board shall consist of—

(a) the Director General of Survey;
(b) the Deputy Director General of Survey;
(c) a Director of Survey, appointed by the Minister; and
(d) three licensed land surveyors who are registered under
section 9 and resident and practising in the States of
Peninsular Malaysia, appointed by the Minister.

(2) The members appointed under paragraphs (1)(c) and (d)

shall hold office for three years or for such shorter period as the
Minister may specify and shall be eligible for reappointment.

Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board

5. (1) The Director General of Survey shall be Chairman of the

Board and the Deputy Director General of Survey shall be the
Deputy Chairman thereof.

(2) The Chairman, if present, or in his absence the Deputy

Chairman, shall preside at meetings of the Board. In the absence
of both the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman the members
present at the meeting of the Board shall elect one of themselves
to act as Chairman of the meeting.

Meetings of the Board, and quorum

6. (1) The Board shall meet at such times and such places as the
Chairman may appoint.

(2) The quorum at all meetings of the Board shall be four

members present.

(3) The member presiding at any meeting of the Board shall

have an original vote and also, if upon any question the votes shall
be evenly divided, a casting vote.

(4) The Board may make rules for the conduct of its business.
8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458

Power to appoint Secretary, examiners and other officers

7. (1) The Board may appoint a Secretary, examiners and such

other officers as from time to time shall appear to be necessary
for the discharge of the functions of the Board.

(2) The Secretary shall not be a member of the Board and shall
not have any vote in its deliberations.

Register

8. (1) The Board shall cause a Register to be kept which shall

contain the names, addresses and qualifications of all licensed land
surveyors, and all such other matters as may be prescribed.In the
event of the cancellation or suspension of any licence to practise,
the Board shall cause an entry thereof to be made in the Register.

(2) The Register shall be maintained and kept by the Secretary

at the office of the Board and shall be open to inspection by any
person on payment of the prescribed fee.

(3) The Board shall, before the thirty-first March in each year,
publish in the Gazette a list of the names of all licensed land
surveyors and shall within six weeks of the issue, cancellation or
suspension of any licence to practise publish a notice thereof in
the Gazette.

(4) A copy of any entry in the Register purporting to be certified

by the Chairman or Secretary as a true copy, shall in all proceedings
whatsoever be prima facie evidence that the person named therein
is a licensed land surveyor and possesses the qualifications mentioned
therein or that his licence has been cancelled or suspended.

(5) The Board shall remove or amend any entry in the Register
which is proved to its satisfaction to have been fraudulently procured
or made, or to be incorrect.

(6) The Secretary shall remove from the Register the name of
any person, not being a Government surveyor, whose licence to
practise has not been renewed before the first day of February in
any year.
 Licensed Land Surveyors 9
(7) The Board may, if it thinks fit, restore to the Register any
name removed therefrom with or without the payment of the
prescribed fees.

Persons entitled to be registered

9. (1) Subject to this Act every person shall be entitled to have

his name placed upon the Register upon making application to the
Board and proving to the satisfaction of the Board that—
(a) he has attained the age of twenty-one years and is of
good character;
(b) (i) he has obtained the prescribed certificate or
competency issued by the Board after passing the
prescribed examinations; or
(ii) he has passed a professional examination recognized
by the Board as carrying exemption from the Board’s
examinations and has passed such further examination
and has completed such further period of training
in the States of Peninsular Malaysia or the Republic
of Singapore as the Board may prescribe;

(c) he has made a declaration in the form and manner prescribed

in the Schedule;
(d) he has paid the prescribed registration fee; and
(e) he has not had his name struck off the register and is not
under suspension from practice under section 16 or 17.

(2) The name of any Government surveyor who is otherwise

eligible for registration under this section may be placed upon the
Register without payment of the prescribed registration fee.

Licence to practise and renewal of licence

10. (1) The Board shall issue to each person other than a Government
Surveyor, registered in accordance with section 9 upon application
by such person in the prescribed form and on payment of the
prescribed fee a licence to practise in the prescribed form, valid
for the year of registration:

Provided that no such licence shall be issued to any such

person who is not a citizen without the approval of the Minister.
10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458

(2) Every such person intending to continue to practise as a

licensed land surveyor thereafter shall apply annually, in the
prescribed manner for a licence to practise and shall pay the prescribed
fee for such licence.

(3) The licence to practise shall subject to the proviso to subsection

(1) be issued by the Secretary and shall be in force from the date
of issue to the end of the year. Any licence to practise taken out
during the month of January shall be deemed to have been in force
from the first day of that month.

(4) The licence to practise shall remain the property of the

Board and shall be returned to the Board when so required by the
Board.

General funds of the Board, accounts and expenses

11. (1) All fees and fines payable under this Act and such other
sums as may be paid to the Board shall be credited to the general
funds of the Board.

(2) There shall be paid from the funds of the Board to the
members such fees for attendance and such reasonable travelling
expenses and subsistence allowances as may from time to time be
approved by the Minister.

(3) All salaries, remunerations, allowances and other expenses

incurred by the Board in the discharge of its functions may be paid
out of the general funds of the Board.

(4) The accounts of the Board shall be audited annually by an

auditor appointed by the Board with the approval of the Minister.
The accounts, together with the auditor’s report, shall be submitted
to the Minister.

Arrangements with reciprocating territories

12. (1) The Board may enter into arrangements with the Surveyors
Board or other competent authority of a reciprocating territory for
the recognition of the status of any person authorized by such
Board or other authority to practise as a licensed land surveyor in
such reciprocating territory and may prescribe what additional
evidence of character and competency must be produced before
such person may be licensed under this Act.
 Licensed Land Surveyors 11
(2) The Board may enter into arrangements with the Surveyors
Board or other competent authority in a reciprocating territory for
the setting and acceptance of joint papers in professional subjects
under the examination rules prescribed by the Board.

Powers of a licensed land surveyor

13. (1) Subject to this Act a licensed land surveyor whose name
appears on the Register and who has paid the annual licence fee
in respect of the current year, shall be entitled to practise his
profession as a land surveyor and shall be authorized to undertake
title surveys.

(2) Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of the Director
General of Survey to employ Government surveyors, whether licensed
land surveyors or not, on any type of title survey whatsoever.

(3) Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of any person, not
being a licensed land surveyor to undertake surveys other than title
surveys.

(4) A licensed land surveyor and his assistants may, for the
purpose of carrying out a title survey, at any reasonable time
during the hours of daylight enter upon all lands which he is
employed to survey, and upon any neighbouring lands and any
buildings on such lands and may emplace any boundary mark in
or upon such lands and may dig up any ground for the purpose
of emplacing such boundary mark and may cut down and remove
any timber or other growth which may obstruct any survey line
or any boundary causing as little damage as possible thereby:

Provided that nothing in this section shall exempt such licensed

surveyor or his assistant from liability for any damage which he
may cause in the exercise of the powers conferred by this subsection.

(5) For the purpose of obtaining data for a title survey, the
survey plan of which is to be lodged with a Government Survey
Department, a licensed land surveyor may at all reasonable times
be permitted to inspect relevant Survey Department maps and
plans and to take copies of such information therefrom as he may
require without payment of search fees, but he may not remove
any such maps and plans from departmental custody and he will
be held pecuniarily liable for any damage which he may cause to
them while they are under his control.
12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458

Deposit of plans

14. On completion of a title survey, the survey plan of which is

to be lodged with the Government Survey Department, the licensed
land surveyor who signs the survey plan thereof shall deposit such
plan together with the relevant field books, calculation sheets and
survey data with the Survey Department and all such documents
shall, if such plan is approved by the Director General of Survey
or other officer appointed by him to approve the same on his
behalf, become the property of Government and shall be filed as
permanent survey records.

Approval of title surveys

15. No title survey or survey plan thereof shall be accepted or

adopted for the purpose of any written law unless it has been
approved by the Director General of Survey or other officer appointed
by him to approve survey plans on his behalf.

Correction of errors

16. (1) The Director General of Survey or any Government surveyor

so authorized by him may at any time undertake such field and
office checks on the title survey work of a licensed land surveyor
as he thinks fit.

(2) The Director General of Survey or other person authorized

by him to approve survey plans, may by notice in writing, instruct
any licensed land surveyor to correct at his own expense within
a time specified in such notice any error made by him:

Provided that such notice is sent not more than twelve months
after the date on which the relevant survey plan was deposited
with the Survey Department as provided in section 14.

(3) In the event of such licensed land surveyor refusing or

neglecting within the time specified to correct such error it shall
be lawful for the Director General of Survey to undertake such
correction departmentally and to recover the whole cost of such
correction from the licensed land surveyor concerned.
 Licensed Land Surveyors 13
(4) If such licensed land surveyor refuses or neglects to refund
the cost of the correction survey referred to in subsection (3)
within fourteen days of the receipt of the statement of cost the
Director General of Survey may report the facts to the Board for
disciplinary action, and after due enquiry the Board may order
such licensed land surveyor to pay the cost of correction of his
work or to pay his client such sum by way of compensation as the
Board thinks fit; and if such licensed land surveyor refuses or
neglects to comply with such order within one month of the date
of such decision the Board may, subject to section 18, suspend
such licensed land surveyor from practice as a licensed land surveyor
until the cost of such correction survey has been paid, or for a
period not exceeding three years.

Disciplinary powers of the Board

17. Where, after due enquiry by the Board, a licensed land surveyor
has been found to have been guilty of professional misconduct, or
having been convicted of a criminal offence, is found by the Board
to be unfit to practise, the Board may—
(a) strike off the name of such licensed land surveyor from
the Register;
(b) suspend such licensed land surveyor from practice as a
licensed land surveyor for a period not exceeding three
years;
(c) impose a fine on such licensed land surveyor not exceeding
five hundred ringgit; or
(d) reprimand such licensed land surveyor.

Appeal to the High Court

18. Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Board under

subsection 16(4) or section 17 may, within one month of the date
of such decision, appeal to the High Court against such decision
and, on any such appeal, the High Court may give such directions
in the matter as it thinks proper, including any directions as to the
costs of the appeal and no appeal shall lie from an order of the
High Court under this section.
14 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458

Illegal practice

19. Any person who, not being a licensed land surveyor, wilfully
and falsely pretends, or takes or uses any name or title implying
that he is a licensed land surveyor, or not being a licensed land
surveyor or a Government surveyor, certifies to the accuracy of
any title survey or signs or initials any survey plan or, not being
a person acting under the immediate personal direction and
supervision of a licensed land surveyor, carries out or undertakes
to carry out any work, in connection with a title survey, shall be
guilty of an offence against this Act and shall be liable to a fine
not exceeding five hundred ringgit for each offence and to a further
penalty of fifty ringgit for each day during the continuance of such
offence.

Existing licensed surveyors

20. Notwithstanding sections 9 and 10, the name of every person

who immediately before the coming into force of this Act was
resident and practising in the States of Malaya and was licensed
to practise under the Surveyors Ordinance of the Straits Settlements
[S.S. Cap. 63] shall be placed upon the Register without payment
of the prescribed registration fee and the Board shall issue to every
such person a licence to practise without payment of the prescribed
licence fee in respect of the year 1958.

Regulations

21. (1) Subject to this Act the Board may with the approval of
the Minister make regulations to prescribe anything which under
this Act is required to be prescribed and generally to carry out the
objects and purposes of this Act.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the

foregoing, such regulations may—
(a) prescribe the conditions under which persons desirous of
becoming licensed land surveyors under this Act may so
qualify;
(b) regulate the practice and conduct of licensed land surveyors;
(c) prescribe fees for registration, annual licences, examinations
and other purposes under this Act;
 Licensed Land Surveyors 15
(d) regulate the disciplinary proceedings of the Board;
(e) prescribe forms of application and of the annual licence;
and
(f) prescribe the form of the Register and the particulars to
be entered therein.

Repeal

22. The Surveyors Ordinance is hereby repealed.

16 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458
SCHEDULE

[Paragraph 9(1)(c)]

I, A.B., do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare that I will to the best of my
ability, without partiality or favour, correctly survey and delineate the boundaries
of any lands I may be instructed to survey, in strict compliance with the
regulations and instructions, for the time being in force, of the Board constituted
by the Licensed Land Surveyors Act 1958.

A.B.

Note—The above declaration shall be made in accordance with the Statutory

Declarations Act 1960 [Act 13].
 Licensed Land Surveyors 17
LAWS OF MALAYSIA

Act 458

LICENSED LAND SURVEYORS ACT 1958

LIST OF AMENDMENTS

Amending law Short title In force from

Act 25/1961 Licensed Land Surveyors 01-08-1961

(Amendment) Act 1961

P.U. (B) 324/1970 Notification Under Section 3 01-01-1971

18 Laws of Malaysia ACT 458

LAWS OF MALAYSIA

Act 458

LICENSED LAND SURVEYORS ACT 1958

LIST OF SECTIONS AMENDED

Section Amending authority In force from

2 P.U. (B) 324/1970 01-01-1971

4 Act 25/1961 01-08-1961

P.U. (B) 324/1970 01-01-1971

5 Act 25/1961 01-08-1961

P.U. (B) 324/1970 01-01-1971

10 Act 25/1961 01-08-1961

13 P.U. (B) 324/1970 01-01-1971

14 P.U. (B) 324/1970 01-01-1971

15 P.U. (B) 324/1970 01-01-1971

16 P.U. (B) 324/1970 01-01-1971

DICETAK OLEH
PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BERHAD,
KUALA LUMPUR
BAGI PIHAK DAN DENGAN PERINTAH KERAJAAN MALAYSIA