Dream homes in sorry state

Malay Mail 27/08/2001 By Harny Abu Khair

For 40 house buyers, forking out more than RM20,000 of their life savings as downpayment for their dream homes was a big thing.

But they felt it was worth every single sen. Imagine their anguish when they found that their almost completed units in Kota Kemuning Shah Alam RP4A1 were a far cry from what they had in mind.

They claimed shoddy workmanship on the developer's part. The cracks on their houses are prominent testimony to this.

Yesterday, they held a Press conference to voice out their disappointment wiht developer Hicom-Gamuda Development Sdn Bhd whom they claimed had failed to comply with their requests after the units were found with cracks on them.

"The buyers met the developer a few months ago regarding the structural problems at 40 units of the double-storey link houses," said Subang and Shah Alam Consumers Association legal adviser Jacob George on behalf of the buyers.

"They were promised that rectification works would be done before the units were handed over to them by October," he said.

Despite assurance from the developer, the buyers claimed that the developer had not carried out proper rectification works.

"Our main worry is that the houses were built without waiting for the soil to settle properly," said one of the house buyers, Richard Wong.

He said they feared there would be massive cracks until the soil finally settles. Wong, an engineer, said they found out that some of the repair works were not done according to specifications.

"For example, there are nails at the net used to wire conduits. This is unacceptable as the wiring can be damaged easily," he said.

The buyers want the developer to compensate them for the defects. "We had invested most of our savings on the houses and we did not get what we had paid for," said another buyer, Chen May Leng.

She said the developer should at least compensate them 35 per cent of unit price and can give assurance that their houses are safe for occupation. 

"We also want the developer to extent the liability period to five years." Yong Tian Wei said he is having sleepless nights thinking about the defects on his house.

"I took out all my savings for it and now, I am afraid that without proper rectification, the house might collapse one day."

George said he will write a complaint letter to the Housing and Local Government Ministry and Shah Alam City Council.

"The Ministry should look into the matter seriously as without proper monitoring, house buyers would be saddled with problems caused by unscrupulous developers."