Salam sejahtera,

Persatuan Pembeli-Pembeli rumah menyokong dan menggalakan semua usaha-usaha pelbagai pihak samada Kerajaan atau swasta untuk membina rumah-rumah bagi keperluan orang ramai. Owning a house in this country is without exception for all citizens irrespective of the social standing. It is laudable that in the 8th Malaysia Plan, the first phase of the OPP3, the Government has allocated RM110 billion to finance projects and programmes which includes the eradication of poverty and restructuring income imbalance between ethnic groups, urban and rural population.

Many promotions have been launched by housing developers towards House Ownership campaigns by giving discounts and other incentives to house buyers. While the efforts taken by the developers are commendable, they should not lose sight of  on the resale value of the property. For the coming years. We are all aware that the price of houses at any time, depend on domestic and global economic conditions prevailing in other countries especially our trading partners which have direct or indirect influence on our domestic market. As such the price forecasts of the properties that should be made on the basis of these factors might not prove to be correct and thereby causing confusion in the minds of the intending house buyers and deliberately enticing them to buy the properties.

Other forms of gimmicks are; such as the project overlooks the Petronas Twin Towers may turn out to be located in Sg. Besi from where the towers can also be seen from such a distance. We would prefer advertisements put up by developers should only be allowed to confine to factual information.

In the Malaysia Plan 2001-2005 our allocation of RM2 billion has been set aside for building low cost houses and RM2.2 billion for civil servants housing.

The Association fully supports the Government's decision to give top priority to building more low cost houses in the cities not only as a means to address the squatter problems but also to create a serene and harmonious environment and to wipe out social problems between people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. To enable low cost houses to be built within the affordable range of prices for the low income earners our Association has all along been advocating that there must be elements of subsidies on the land premium and the fees on the transfer of land to be developed for low cost houses that must exclusively be built for the targeted groups.

With such a huge allocation of funds earmarked for housing during the Plan period, developers should not take advantage of the situation to amass profits at the expense of the housebuyers. They should instead safequard their reputation and image as responsible developers by building quality houses that the housebuyers would be proud to own. They should inculcate the awareness that their reputation would be at stake if they resort to building houses without conforming to building plans and specifications approved.

Malaysia is on the threshold of being a developed nation and is already a model to many developing countries. It is pertinent that the house purchase system in this country be at par excellent with the best in the world where house purchasers are spared the agony of antagonizing ordeals with the developers. It would be advantageous if we could look into the system in developed countries where the concept of "build and sell" are practiced. Such a system would be more favourable to house buyers as it would certainly avoid subsequent possible feuds between house buyers and the developers. The objectives of the Association among others, is to seek justice for its members and to see that the laws provide the much needed protection to the rights of house buyers. The Association will cooperate with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the State Governments to monitor housing projects that do not adhere to laws and regulations governing the housing industry. Unless rectifications  to the laws are made soon, I can foresee that complaints from dissatisfied house buyers will continue to flood the Ministry.

Selagi undang-undang yand ada sekarang tidak di perbetulkan, selama itulah masaalah yang akan dihadapi oleh pembeli-pembeli rumah dan penyeleweng oleh pemaju akan berterusan. Pembeli-pembeli rumah telah menanggung kerugian dan derita semenjak beberapa tahun yang lalu lagi.

Sekian, terima kasih.