Houseowners who can't move in
06/05/08 New Straits Times By Noel Achariam

SUBANG JAYA: All we want is to move into our new houses. That is the plea of some 200 house owners at the Taman Puncak Jalil Phase 10A housing development at Bukit Jalil, Puchong, near here.

They have been waiting for the last four years to receive the certificate of fitness (CF) from their developer. They claim they have written to the developer several times but their request seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

They said the developer wants them to drop their demands for the liquidated and ascertained damage claims (LAD) before applying for CF for the houses.

Yeoh Cheng Lim, one of the house buyers, said that according to the sale and purchase agreement (S&P), his house was supposed to be completed in 2004. "But the delay by the developer has caused me and other home owners to suffer.

"The developer has gone too far. They have completed the project and are now delaying our CF. We are not only demanding that the developer pays our LAD but also applies for CF immediately," he said.

S. Ayamany, 55, said it was ridiculous for his family to still rent a house when he had bought a house four years ago. "I can't afford to be paying rent and service my housing loan at the same time. What is worse is the house I had bought is ready but I cannot move in because of the developer's arrogance. My family and I are suffering but the developer does not care."

According to Ayamany, the developer has to pay each house buyer about RM21,000 in LAD due to the delay.

"We have discussed with the developer and we have told them that we are willing to forgo 50 per cent of the LAD claims although we don't have to. Yet they declined to compromise. They are not only asking us to waive the LAD claims but also want assurance from the house buyers that we will not institute any legal action against them for the delay," he said.

Yeoh said he and Ayamany had made numerous complaints to the menteri besar of Selangor, the state secretary, the former Minister of Housing and Local Government and the Subang Jaya Municipal Council. "We have yet to receive any response from any of them," added Yeoh.

"We had six meetings in the past with the housing ministry and two with the MPSJ. And, recently, we had a meeting with Cempaka assemblyman Iskandar Abdul Samad.

"We hope that the authorities will take action against the developer and get them to get our CF so that we can move into our houses quickly."

Iskandar, who is also the Selangor Housing, Building Management and Squatters Committee chairman, said he understood the plight of the house buyers and hoped to reach a settlement soon.