Buyers’ association: Make it a must to build-and-sell

10/05/2008 The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: The Housing and Local Government Ministry’s website should have the names of developers, their projects, directors, and shareholders.

National House Buyers Association secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said, “This is to allow the public to have access to such information so that they can make a reasonable judgement when buying a house.

“Even the housing tribunal cannot provide recourse for buyers as they only handle projects which have technical or non-technical issues, or on compensation for late delivery. They do not handle abandoned projects.”

Chang said the Government should make it mandatory for developers to adhere to the build-and-sell concept.

This, he said, was to ensure that projects would not be abandoned and buyers left in the lurch.

“Gone are the days of sell-and-build. It’s wrong for developers to take the buyers' money to build because the chances of the project being abandoned are high,” he told the press after the launch of the Architect Centre here on Thursday.