Buyers cry foul over ‘town centre’
The Star 22/10/2001 By Clarence Chua
KUALA LUMPUR: Five years ago, 73-year-old Zain Hussin bought a shop house at a proposed town centre in Shah Alam as an investment after he retired.
“The developer, in its brochure, presented the town centre as having two office block towers of 20 storeys, a shopping centre, car parks, a bus station and other public amenities.
“Based on the advertisement, the concept of the thriving township and the reputation of the developer, the shop houses were sold out in less than two weeks,” said the former civil servant who is now the chairman of a pro tem committee that represents the interest of 80 buyers.
Zain said only two blocks of approximately 200 shop houses were built when the developer handed over the keys in 1998 but nothing further was done to complete the project.
“The whole place is in a deplorable state. There are no streetlights, rubbish is not collected and the place is infested with drug addicts. Thefts are so rampant that everything from wires, windows to shutters are being stolen. Nobody wants to rent the shop houses here,” he said.
He said many of the buyers still had to service their bank loans of about RM5,000 a month and pay an annual assessment fee of about RM6,300.
“We know that at this time it may not be reasonable to ask the developer to build a shopping centre but it should at least maintain the place. The municipal council also has an obligation to maintain the place so that some business activity can come into this area,” he said when interviewed at the House Buyers Association headquarters yesterday .
The association’s legal adviser Albert Soo said this was a common problem as there were no laws in the country governing commercial properties.
“Commercial properties are governed by the terms of the individual sale and purchase agreement. For example, in this case the developer had promised to build a shopping centre and offices but did not do so.
“Legally it has done nothing wrong as the developer has fulfilled his obligations to the buyers once it hands over the keys,” he said.
He said it was time the Government proposed a new Act to govern commercial properties. |
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