‘Run a check on builder before buying a house’
The Star 14/10/2005

PETALING JAYA: House buyers should check on the background of the developer before they commit themselves to a purchase.

Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) president Datuk Jeffrey Ng said it was also important to find out if the developer had valid licences to build, advertise and sell.

“They can also check with us or with the Housing and Local Government Ministry to ascertain whether the developer has flouted any rules or regulations or has been blacklisted,” he said yesterday in response to the ministry’s Monitoring and Enforcement Division’s action against about 700 developers from 2003 until last month.

Ng said that the irresponsible acts of a small group of bogus and rogue developers had tarnished the image of the larger group of responsible builders.

Meanwhile, the National House Buyers Association is calling on the ministry to compile a list of errant developers who have been convicted in court and publish it on its website.

Association secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said the database of errant developers would enable house buyers to assess the risk when purchasing property.

He said such a database was not something new, as the Selangor Government had been bold enough to reveal the list of developers of abandoned projects in the state under the title Senarai Nama Pemaju Projek Terbengkalai on its website (www.mbselangor.net.my).

He added that government departments like the Road Transport Department and KL City Hall and several other organisations have made public the names of those who had flouted the law.

On claims that bogus developers even have lawyers to prepare sale and purchase agreements, outgoing Bar Council president Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari said these lawyers could have fallen victim to ploys by such developers.

“But if house buyers have evidence that lawyers have colluded with unlicensed developers, they can lodge a police report against them and also report them to the Disciplinary Board for Advocates and Solicitors,” he said.