After all, the Taman Danau Kota apartments were supposed to have been completed in 2000. When construction resumed after the new developer took over, they thought that everything was all right and were excited about the prospects of moving into their new homes soon.

This was until the company asked each of them to pay RM8,000 to secure their units. The 470 buyers were taken aback as they had already signed the sale and purchase agreements for the units which cost RM25,000 each.

The original developer was Danau Kota Development Sdn Bhd. After the company folded, the project was taken over by Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd. It was then given to FBO Development Sdn Bhd.

Fed up with first having to wait for the project to be completed and then being asked to cough up more money, several residents formed a committee to deal with the matter.

The Taman Danau Kota Purchasers' action committee was formed three months ago and its chairman, Margaret Fam, has been trying to get the Government's attention since.

Fam claimed that the purchasers had never received copies of the sale and purchase agreements and the developers were trying to use this as a means to raise the price.

"We have already paid the legal fees and the minimum 10 per cent down payment so the sale and purchase agreements are valid. They cannot raise the price now," she said at a meeting of the association today.

Fam said the association would send a letter to Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, with a copy to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to explain their predicament.

She said if Ong failed to take any action against the developer or ensure that the price remained the same, they would take the matter to court.

"We intend to send the letter on Thursday. We are hoping that Datuk Seri Ong will take some sort of action to at least ensure that we are not cheated," she said.

The association managed to collect more than 50 signatures of purchasers for the letter at the meeting today.