New Clause in S &
P Agreement
NST 22/05/2001
Petaling Jaya, Mon – A new clause will be inserted into the standard
sale and purchase agreement to give house buyers more time to secure
a loan when buying property under construction.
Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Peter Chin Kah
Fui said they were aware buyers were compelled to settle their
payments quickly after signing the agreement as the houses were more
than 10 percent complete.
Normally the buyer pays 10 percent of the sale price upon signing
the agreement. But in the case of a house that is already, say, 30
percent complete, he would be asked to pay another 20 percent or be
charged penal interest.
Yesterday, the House Buyers
Association said buyers were caught unawares that they had to
settle their payments immediately after they signed the agreement.
Its secretary-general Chang Kim Loong was quoted in a news report as
saying that when a buyer intended to acquire a house that was 30
percent complete, he often was not aware that he had to pay more
than the 10 percent down payment almost immediately.
"We acknowledge that there is a problem as not all housing projects
are developed at the same speed. Nevertheless, we are reviewing the
standard sale and purchase agreement, but for now, we will handle
the problem case by case," Chin said.
He was speaking at a Press conference after launching the Real
Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) 2001 directory on
behalf of Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka
Ting today.
He said when the relevant Bill was passed in the next session of
Parliament, developers would be obliged to inform buyers that they
had to secure a bank loan before proceeding with the remaining sale
transaction."The Bill, when passed in
Parliament, will include a clause that developers must inform buyers
to secure their loans first."
Chin said a formula would be drafted to benefit both parties.
Earlier, when reading Ong's speech, Chin said the directory would
serve as a primary source of reference not only for the property
industry, but also for other sectors of the economy.
"It would be a useful source of first-hand information on developers
and development projects" he said.
Rehda president Datuk Eddy Chen said the
association was preparing an Internet portal on the directory. |
