Cracks Driving Buyers Up The Wall
11/03/2005 The Star

House buyers of Taman Medan Klebang Restu in Chemor, near Ipoh, thought their dream homes were ready.

But they were soon disappointed and angry when they discovered defects such as cracks and shoddy workmanship.

Self-employed Ponniah Victor, 36, said cracks appeared on the walls of his single-storey terrace house even before he moved in three weeks ago.

He said the developer came over twice to patch the cracks on his house, which the bought for RM60,000, but they reappeared days later.

Ponniah said he also found water leaking from the ceiling in the living room, kitchen and bedroom whenever it rained.

Labourer S.Loourdusamy, 51, said they were worried the cracks would get bigger in future.

"We suspect the houses have serious structural defects since it was so difficult to patch the cracks which had appeared."

"I am afraid to move into my new house because of the cracks as I fear the walls might collapse," said Loourdusamy, who was among a group of dissatisfied buyers, who were relating their problems to three enforcement officers from the Housing and Local Government Ministry recently.

Loourdusamy claimed that there were at least 65 buyers in the scheme who were unhappy with the developer for building these defective houses.

Project manager Albert Ong, who was present during the visit, refused to comment on the complaints lodged against the company.

Later, five house buyers from another scheme - Taman Lapangan Permata in Gunung Rapat - also took the opportunity to air their grievances against the same developer.

One of tem, Robert Soong, 61, claimed that besides late delivery, the house he bought had many defects.

"We hope the government can act fast against the developer to protect consumers like us."

"We bought the house with our hand-earned money but in the end, the product delivered to us is not worth the money we are paying for," said Soong, who bought a corner single-storey house from the developer for RM100,000.

Soong said the developer was supposed to hand over vacant possession of the houses about two years ago but had yet to do so.

"The developer gives all sorts of reasons for the delay and we are sick and tired with their excuses," he said.

A ministry official said the visit was to confirm complaints filed by the affected buyers.