Shoddy
workmanship the main complaint
NST 23/06/2003 By K.T. Chelvi and Aniza Damis
June 22: “I AM so sad and disappointed with my
house!” said Brenda, tears of frustration on her
tired face.
Like many young couples in their late 20s and early
30s, Brenda and her husband, Billy, are first-time
housebuyers. Having striven to gain financial
independence, they had finally bought a house — a
step up from the rented apartment they currently
live in.
Like many housebuyers, Brenda visits her house
regularly as it is being built. These visits only
serve to strip her of whatever dreams she may have
had of owning a home.
"The wall tiles are falling off, the beam of the
door looks like it's just been slapped on and the
walls aren't even straight and smooth.
"And did you know, the staircase landing, which is
supposed to be rectangular, is some trapezium shape
with gaps between the wood and the wall!" exclaimed
Brenda in dismay, mingled with a helpless laughter —
a defence mechanism to help her cope with the
reality of the nightmare.
Brenda's case is not an isolated incident. Last
year, more than 105,000 complaints were made by
houseowners to the National House Buyers Association
of Malaysia (HBA).
From falling wall tiles, cracked walls and badly
done flooring to poor support beams, shoddy
workmanship featured largely.
Early this year in Taman Dato' Abdul Samad, Port
Dickson, the wooden support beams holding up the
water tank in Mohd Zahid Abdullah's house collapsed.
The tank crashed through the ceiling and struck a
double-decker bed in the room below, bending the
metal frame. The house was flooded.
Fortunately, Zahid, his wife and two young children
were out of the house at the time.
They had moved into the new house only nine days
before the incident. The house did not come with a
certificate of fitness, despite complaints to the
developer.
This is a common problem. Although it has been a
Ministry of Housing and Local Government ruling
since July 1992 that CFs be given within two weeks
from the date of delivery, this is not always
observed. Subsequently, some houseowners can go
months, if not years, without a CF.
Such a situation puts many houseowners through a lot
of mental and financial anguish. They cannot move
into the house because it is has not been declared
safe for occupation. At the same time, having
accepted the keys to the house, they then undertake
responsibility for the security of the house — which
is difficult to do unless they live in it.
Workmanship defects, best discovered through
occupation of the house, then also go undetected.
On top of this, they have to pay off their bank
loans, and, if they are first-time housebuyers, they
have to pay rent for their current housing.
Tapped financially, many are forced to take delivery
of the property even though it does not have a CF.
And some, like Zahid, would have to take a gamble on
their family's safety.
But even when everything seems to be going well,
apartment or condominium owners can still face
problems with the strata title. Similar to a title
deed for houses, the strata title is "a title deed
in the sky", so to speak.
Last year, 28,550 owners in 155 projects faced
strata title problems, representing 27 per cent of
the total number of complaints received by the HBA.
According to the association, difficulties faced by
owners without strata titles are numerous.
As there is no final and conclusive proof of
ownership, an owner who wishes to sell his property
cannot execute a straightforward transfer of
ownership. Rather, he has to go through a deed of
assignment and all the legal hassles that come with
it.
Owners also do not have rights to manage and
maintain the common areas and facilities themselves
because such rights belong to the developer until
the strata titles are issued. In the meantime, the
owners have to continue to pay developers or their
agents monthly maintenance charges.
But quite possibly the worst thing that can happen
to a housebuyer is if the project is abandoned. With
a housing loan on one side and no house on the
other, the buyer would have to pay interest for what
does not exist.
And though Real Estate and Housing Development
Association (Rehda) president Datuk Jeffrey Ng
believes that the number of abandoned projects in
the last four or five years is "insignificant", what
has to be remembered is that each project involves
thousands of units.
As at the end of 2002, the Government has had to
revive 359 abandoned projects involving 67,792 units
valued at RM9.5 billion last year. And this was only
what was deemed viable.
This money comes from the people's taxes — probably
even from some of the people who have been ripped
off by the developers.
Housebuyers like Brenda don't expect a bungalow and
three hectares of land in the middle of the city for
the RM180,000 that they are paying. But neither do
they expect a rickety shack with lop-sided walls and
a leaky roof.
And when the product delivered does not match the
price paid, they shouldn't have to shrug and just
accept it. And no one should expect them to.
Malaysian housebuyers are not citizens of an
undeveloped world begging for alms and a simple
shelter. |
| |
|
