‘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.
