The 10:90 trial goes on
25/03/08 NST-PROP By Zuhaila Sedek

House buyers anxious to know the fate of the 10:90 variant of the Build-Then-Sell (BTS) system will have to hold their breaths for a bit longer.

Although the plan was announced in 2006, and the government did give it a two-year trial period after which the final decision on its use would be made, the rules and regulations pertaining to the concept only came into existence on Dec 1, 2007.

Thus, the National House Buyers Association (HBA) said the trial period should only come to an end by 2009.

HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said it is “still too early” to gauge the industry’s response to the housing delivery concept, but pointed out several developers, both big and small, have sought HBA’s assistance to better understand it.

“Many developers are keen to adopt the 10:90 concept, but do not know how to go about doing so,” he said.

“The Ministry of Housing and Local Government only recently put the framework in place, so time has to be given for developers to see how they can work with it.”

The 10:90 concept announced by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2006 is aimed at safeguarding buyers from being “trapped” should a developer abandon its project – a dilemma currently being faced by thousands who had bought properties through the Sell- Then-Build practice.

The 10:90 is a variant of the BTS system in that it allows a developer to receive a 10 per cent downpayment from buyers, though the balance need only be paid when its units have been completed.

In a BTS model, the developer has to complete the units and obtain Certificates of Completion and Compliance before being able to make a sale.

As incentives, developers that adopt the concept will enjoy fast-track approvals, need not pay a RM200,000 deposit to get a development license and can upgrade the low-cost housing allocation in their schemes to medium-cost units.