This website is
 sponsored.gif

banner.gif

 Welcome    Main    Forum    FAQ    Useful Links    Sample Letters   Tribunal  

Condo investors caught in a bind
The Star 2/4/2004 By Yip Yoke Teng

Instead of the profits they envisaged, investors in Anggerik Villa II in Kajang are suddenly faced with hefty debts and even the possibility of bankruptcy.

About 40 of the estimated 200 investors gathered near the condominium block on Wednesday to highlight their plight to the press. With them was DAP National Consumer Affairs Bureau secretary Khong Chee Seng.

According to Khong, the investors did not have to pay anything up front when they bought the units.

All they needed to do was to present their identity cards and sign certain documents.

“The management company promised that it would pay the instalments of the bank loan taken by the investor, and had the option of buying over the unit at market price after six years, and that it would make up the shortfall if the market price was lower than the purchase price,” said Khong.

“If the management company sold the unit, the profit from the sale after deducting all expenses would be shared between the developer and investor who would receive 80% and 20% respectively,” he said.

He added that the investors were given various perks, including immediate investor’s profit of about RM10,000 and a two-night stay in the unit each year.

Although the investors first thought the offer too good to be true, they were convinced when they saw the terms stipulated in black and white in the Management-cum- Investment Agreement shown to them together with the Sale and Purchase Agreement. They thought they were protected by law.

They had a rude shock in the middle of last year when they received payment reminders and lawyer's letters stating that they had failed to settle the loan instalments and the bank wanted to recall the money.

“The management company didn’t pay the bank as promised, but the responsibility will fall on the ones who signed for the loans – these investors,” Khong said.

He said their loans exceeded RM200,000 each, which raised another issue - why the units, which varied between 1,000 and 1,152 sq ft in size, could range from RM88,000 to RM388,000.

The investors have had several meetings with the management company. In one session, the company offered them a “Smart-Partnership Investment Scheme”, spelt out in a letter, that suggested three remedial options which the investors thought were “unreasonable” and “could hardly cover the bank loans”.

“But there was also another letter from the developer stating that it would reimburse the total amount of bank loan instalments paid by the investors,” Khong said.

Photocopies of the relevant letters and documents were shown to reporters during the meeting.

Most of the investors present were the developer’s former employees and sub-contractors.

The group is calling on other investors to come forward by contacting Khong at 017-878 2881 or Albert at 019-223 9623.

Meanwhile, Khong has requested the management company to explain the situation and suggest possible solutions at a meeting at 7.30pm on April 5 at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.

He will also try to arrange meetings with the bank, as well as the Kajang Municipal Council to find out the basis on which the Certificates of Fitness were issued to the condominium in 2002 when some storeys of the building were not completed.

“We advise all house purchasers to buy only if they want to live there.

“Nothing comes free,” Khong said, adding that the matter would be brought up in parliament next week.
 

Main   Forum  FAQ  Useful Links  Sample Letters  Tribunal  

National House Buyers Association (HBA)

No, 31, Level 3, Jalan Barat, Off Jalan Imbi, 55100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 03-21422225 | 012-3345 676 Fax: 03-22601803 Email: info@hba.org.my

© 2001-2009, National House Buyers Association of Malaysia. All Rights Reserved.