Illegal building renovation is an increasing urban problem in Malaysia. This situation has created a lot of problems and has caused unnecessary burden on the Local Authorities. This study seeks to explore the role of public participation in developing building renovation guidelines to solve the problem of illegal building renovations in Malaysia. Ampang Jaya Town Council (MPAJ), the eighth most developed town council in Malaysia (Jaafar 2004) will be set as an experimental test bed in developing a public participation model for a house renovation policy.