She said talks were ongoing with the Kuala Lumpur land office to restore the properties to their original status after the High Court declared that they had originally been subdivided from seven lots of freehold land.

Kok urged the affected landowners to not initiate any legal action to convert their land for the time being as negotiations were ongoing to settle the matter amicably.

She also urged the government to charge a reasonable fee for the conversion so as not to burden the affected residents.

Kok said she had written to the Chief Secretary to the Government Zuki Ali to step in and help resolve the current confusion on the land status following the court decision.

“The government changed the said lots from freehold to leasehold in 1977 when Petaling Garden Company Sdn Bhd applied to develop houses there.

“Early checks by the present administration show that these 7,000 lots had the potential of being restored from leasehold to freehold with a court order, as it was originally (divided) from seven freehold lots.

“This scenario is similar to Taman Bukit Maluri where more than 1,000 court orders have been registered (to convert from leasehold to freehold),” she said in a statement.