Legal fees & stamp duty calculator
Buying a property in Malaysia costs roughly 5% to 6% of the price in legal fees and stamp duty. The solicitor's fee follows the Solicitors' Remuneration Order 2023 — 1.25% on the first RM500,000 and 1% after that, on the sale and purchase agreement and again on the loan — with 8% service tax on top. Stamp duty on the transfer is charged in tiers from 1% to 4%, the loan agreement is stamped at a flat 0.5%, and a first-time Malaysian buyer pays neither on a home up to RM500,000. Enter your price and loan margin below and every line is itemised.
Free · No sign-up · Rates checked September 2026
The purchase
The price on the sale and purchase agreement, and how much of it the bank is lending.
Loan of RM630,000, down payment of RM70,000
Who is buying
Stamp duty on the transfer is charged differently depending on this, and the exemptions are not open to everyone.
Fees & duties to buy
RM37,214
On top of the RM70,000 down payment. Together, RM107,214 of cash.
On the purchase
On the loan
Charged on the RM630,000 you are borrowing, not on the price.
Cash you need
Rates checked September 2026. The legal fees are the full scale, so this is the most you would be asked for: a firm may discount it by up to 25%, and a new launch bought from a developer is charged on a lower scale again — the table further down shows by how much. Disbursements are an estimate. It does not include the booking fee, valuation, insurance or renovation.
The rates it uses
Nothing here is an estimate except the disbursements. The legal fees come from the Solicitors’ Remuneration Order 2023, the duties from the Stamp Act 1949 as amended, and the tables below are the ones the calculator above computes with — not a second copy that could fall out of step with it.
Legal fee scale — SRO 2023
| Value of the transaction | Fee |
|---|---|
| First RM500,000 | 1.25% |
| Next RM7,000,000 | 1.00% |
| Above RM7,500,000 | Negotiable, max 1.00% |
Minimum fee of RM500. Charged once on the sale and purchase agreement and again on the loan documentation, the second time on the loan amount rather than the price. A solicitor may discount the full scale by up to 25%, at their discretion.
Developer purchases — the discounted scale
| Value of the transaction | Sale side | Loan side |
|---|---|---|
| Up to RM50,000 | RM500 flat | RM500 flat |
| RM50,001 – RM250,000 | 75% of scale | 75% of scale |
| RM250,001 – RM500,000 | 70% of scale | 70% of scale |
| RM500,001 – RM1,000,000 | 65% of scale | 65% of scale |
| Above RM1,000,000 | 60% of scale | 50% of scale |
Applies where the sale is governed by the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 — every new launch bought from a licensed developer. This scale may not be discounted further. The calculator above quotes the full scale, so on a new launch the legal fees come in below what it shows, by the percentages in this table.
Stamp duty on the transfer (MOT)
| Portion of the price | Rate |
|---|---|
| First RM100,000 | 1% |
| RM100,001 – RM500,000 | 2% |
| RM500,001 – RM1,000,000 | 3% |
| Above RM1,000,000 | 4% |
| Foreign buyers, any price | 8% flat |
Each rate is charged only on its own slice of the price, not on the whole of it. The 8% flat rate applies to non-citizens and foreign companies buying residential property, for instruments executed from 1 January 2026; permanent residents pay the tiered rates. The loan agreement is stamped separately at 0.5% of the loan.
What it comes to in practice
A purchase with a 90% loan, by a Malaysian citizen who already owns a home, so no exemption applies. Legal fees at the full scale, which is the ceiling — a new launch is charged less. Every figure is produced by the calculator above.
Total cost of the paperwork, by price
| Purchase price | On the purchase | On the loan | Total | Of the price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RM500,000 | RM16,750 | RM9,325 | RM26,075 | 5.2% |
| RM700,000 | RM24,910 | RM12,304 | RM37,214 | 5.3% |
| RM1,000,000 | RM37,150 | RM16,570 | RM53,720 | 5.4% |
| RM1,500,000 | RM62,550 | RM23,680 | RM86,230 | 5.7% |
| RM3,000,000 | RM138,750 | RM45,010 | RM183,760 | 6.1% |
Includes legal fees, service tax, stamp duty and estimated disbursements on both sides. Excludes the down payment, the booking fee and the bank's own charges.
When each of these is paid
Not all at once — which is the part most first-time buyers are caught out by.
- Booking fee — 2% to 3% of the price, usually before anything is signed.
- SPA legal fee + transfer duty — Within a few weeks of signing, when your solicitor stamps the documents.
- Loan legal fee + loan duty — With the loan documents, after you accept the bank's letter of offer.
- Balance of the down payment — In one payment on a completed unit. On a project under construction it is drawn in stages as the building goes up.
On a new launch the transfer may not be stamped until the building is finished and the title issued — sometimes years after you sign. On a completed unit or a subsale, everything above lands inside three months.