Monday, November 28, 2011

No recourse for cheated housebuyers

What say you on the issue below?

WITH a monthly income of about RM1,000, K. Shanti and her husband saved up to settle a deposit of RM18,000 in hopes of purchasing a new house in Taman Pinggiran Rishah Hijau some 17 years ago.

However, their dreams were dashed when they found out that the developer had abandoned the low-cost housing project and fled, along with their money.

Deep despair: Buyers standing at the abandoned housing project site in Taman Pinggiran Rishah.

It was a moment of tremendous upheaval in their lives, which has lasted up to this day.

“For the past decade, we had sought help from various parties.

“We were even promised a new piece of land near the site of the abandoned housing project in 2007 by those whom we had sought help from but in the end, all of it turned out to be empty promises,” said the 46-year-old housewife.

Shanti said she and her husband were forced to continue renting houses as a result.

“Back then, my son was just a child.

“Now, he is married and settled down with his own family and yet, this issue has not been resolved,” she said in dismay.

Another buyer, gardener M. Ramasundram, 58, said he and his family had gone through a period of strife after losing all the money they had invested in buying the house.

“I was extremely sad and angry.

“I even quarrelled with my wife after we were swindled of our money, including the 10% I had withdrawn from my EPF account,” he said.

Ipoh Barat parliamentary constituency coordinator R.K. Muthu said the project was initiated in 1994 and was supposed to have been completed in 1997.

The project consisting of 422 low-cost units on a 6.88ha piece of land was halted abruptly as the developer had gone bankrupt, he said.

When contacted, state Development Corporation (SDC) chief executive officer Datuk Samsudin Hashim clarified that neither the land nor the project belonged to SDC.

“It belongs to a private company.

“We were merely tasked by the state government to help sort out the matter after the developer went bankrupt in 2000.

“When this issue was first brought to our attention, we made an effort to assist the buyers by formulating a housing scheme in another area.

“However, the plan was rejected by the buyers who felt it was too far from where they had initially planned to settle down,” he said, adding that another 14.16ha piece of land nearby had been identified and approved by the state.

“We are in the process of preparing a detailed plan and identifying all the buyers.

“It is not that we are not concerned about the project but it involves too many technical issues, which need to be sorted out before the new project can be carried out.

“We are formulating a few options and will discuss them with the buyers and the banks, which they had borrowed from to purchase their units,” he said.

He said the buyers’ borrowings from their current banks was one of the reasons why they were ineligible to apply for another loan for the new houses.

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