Eye on developers and their gimmicks

The Star  21/06/2000  By Faridah Begum

PETALING JAYA: Housing developers who attract buyers with "unrealistic'' offers are now being closely monitored by the Housing and Local Government Ministry.

Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said yesterday some developers were using sales gimmicks which did not clearly represent the true state of their housing projects.

"There have been cases of housing developers offering incentives such as gifts, home fittings and free services related to the purchase and when the property is handed over, the promises made are not fulfilled.

"I have directed the enforcement and monitoring division officers to ensure housebuyers are not cheated by greedy and irresponsible attitude of errant developers,'' he told reporters after presenting donations to three organisations and prizes to winners of the Home Ownership II campaign at the Housing Developers Association Malaysia (HDA) here.

He said such offers tend to inflate property prices as the costs of the offers were imputed into the final cost of the houses.

He said it was better for potential housebuyers to look for their homes in sales or fairs that had the support of the ministry as participating developers were unlikely to mislead them.

Ong said the division was also directed to ensure that all housing developers submit their statements of account every six months, as required by the law, to monitor those showing signs of financial difficulties.

"This is to protect housebuyers by minimising the number of abandoned housing projects nationwide,'' he said, adding that this was one of the issues brought to his attention during a recent visit to Penang.

Ong said in the case of condominiums and other high-rise property, his ministry was in the midst of fine-tuning the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Bill which he hoped could be tabled in Parliament by the end of this year.

The Bill is expected to address problems related to the maintenance and management of subdivided buildings, especially during the period between vacant possession and the formation of the management corporation.

"The Bill is being fine-tuned with the aid of the Attorney-General's Chambers,'' Ong said.

Among the provisions in the Bill are for the appointment of the Commissioner of Building to settle disputes and to ensure smooth management of the building even after strata titles are issued.