I think he's just playing dirty with you, since he hasn't perform his obligation and has not given you a specific answer as to when the ownership transfer may take place, you have the right to withdraw your deposit.

Maybe Section 30. of the Contracts Act 1950 will help.

CA1950 S30. :Agreements, the meaning of which is not certain, or capable of being made certain, are void.

Maybe CA1950 S47. will apply as well: Time for Performance of promise where no application is to be made and no time is specified. However, the "reasonable" time frame is a question of fact.

Just be firm, and get nasty if you have to. Tell them you will spread their dirty tricks to potential customers should they persist.

Otherwise, you may seek the consumer tribune, although it may take a long time to get your money back.

In a subsale deal, EVERYTHING is negotiable. Just be calm, polite and explain to the vendor nicely your current predicament. So if he refuses to return you back the deposit, why not nego an early VP upon signing loan LO?

That way, everybody wins...........

VP - vacant possession

If the property is currently empty, it makes even more sense that the owner can release it early to you, maybe with you paying a nominal small sum as token for rental while he takes his time to do his transfer of title. VP also carries the meaning of handing over the unit, not just making sure it's not being occupied.

Usually when the unit is tenanted, the vendor/seller may take his own sweet time to do the transfer, while he is still collecting rentals during the delays.

If the unit is empty, the vendor/seller should be in a more sense of urgency because the sooner he can complete the transaction, the sooner he can get his money from the disposal of his property.
So, what Pai has suggested is that you may nego nicely with the vendor to release the unit early to you, so that you can start occupying the unit while waiting, then it's a win-win situation where you will get your unit while vendor continue doing the transfer.

Any refund at this stage, both parties will incur friction cost (legal fees, penalty of exit etc), you wont be getting full 10% anyway. Since you bought the place 6 months ago, surely the entry price you wont be able to get at today's market (assuming it's a good buy), then why not just stick to the waiting if still unable to nego for an early release. Unless it's really a terrible mistake walking into buaya mouth when you bought this unit, then you may want to muscle your way out, but i highly doubt so.

It's OK to be eager and excited to get your first unit handover asap, but it's also entirely OK to wait slightly longer for your first unit to deliver safely to your hand, be it 6mths, 9 mths or a year. As long as it's a good buy, you win, just a slightly longer waiting only.

p.s. my first unit took 9 months for a freehold unit, and I am superbly happy and glad that I waited for the whole transaction to pull thru. =) Property investment, patient gets you a long long way. cheers

sometimes for owner's protection, owner's lawyer would advice the owner not to give VP to the seller, because if anything goes wrong, it can be difficult to get the property back....

---

Added on June 18, 2010, 11:59 am

based on my experience, it is not easy to nego...especially if your seller is a "professional"...and it still haunts me

confused seller offered you VP...and you nego? nego wat?

---

Added on June 18, 2010, 12:27 pm

u remember my story well

Then no issues lah, just move in 1st then after everything is settled u can start reno'ing. He seems to be a genuine seller if u ask me.......... and he's taking the risk by allowing u to have an early VP. He only get 10% but now you can alredy stay in his house. You can damage his house while staying there (he has greater risk than u leh? ) but he allows this anyway as he understands your predicament n looking for ways to help you out in a way.

Good luck 

oh....of course la, money go inside his pocket jor, sure difficult to come out....anyway, good luck 

my point is, it is his ABSOLUTE discretion to only pass you the keys upon full disbursement, but he was kind enough to give you early VP and undertook unnecessary risk to accomodate to your request.

Plus, if he has intentions to chase you out or to play u, why would he consent you to have early VP?

since he wants to sell his property, i don't think he will chase you out at the end but to wait till the completion?.....

I think the problem now is you.....................not the seller? U cant enter a contract then simply wants out?

agree

@jasonlim - can understand your anxiety, since your first time....good luck again!

You leave me the impression just like your avatar, super gan jeong, super cannot be calm, and worried that this seller genuinely want to cheat your money.

FYI,
1) if he wants to cancel the deal without your consent, he has to give you full refund plus double of what you have paid for SNP signing.
2) if he wants to sell to others, he will still need to get the title transfered to himself then only he will be able to transfer it out again, same as your case. They why bother to sell to someone else, and kick you out if you are staying in there already.
3) if he really have new buyer, read item 1), he needs to find a buyer that willing to pay so much more than this original selling price, just to break even.
4) if you are so worried he will kick you out, make a tenancy agreement with him before you move in la. dun start your reno till the transfer to your name is complete, anyway, this is supposedly the original timeline that you can get your VP, ngam mou?

if he let you stay before the transaction complete why not treat the deposit as "rental fee"?

if he let you stay before the transaction complete why not treat the deposit as "rental fee"?

if he kick you off and sell to other people u still can get back the deposit "legally"

it's like free stay if you ask me

if sign jor s&p and the problem is with the seller, the seller will nit to return you all the downpayment

if you scare, you can ask your lawyer add - if deal not success, the seller bear the legal fees

+ moving fee and emotional stress fee

You should have been known before paying anything roughly how long such a transaction will take to be completed.
The "deposit" I believe is the earnest deposit, given to indicate commitment to buy the property from seller. It is exactly meant to prevent such cases where buyer says wanna buy, and 2 days later changed his mind. Unless seller deliberately withheld important information that may have jeopardize the contract, I believe it will only be refunded in special cases where either buyer or seller is legally unable to fulfill his/her obligations.

You mentioned a couple of times, that you're worried seller may not be able to meet his obligation to sell. What's the reason behind this, and what did your lawyer say about this? Do you have a legal reason to say the contract is null and voided.

How did you end up paying 10%? Usually, you only pay 2% and the balance 8% upon signing S&P.

It all depends on the seller. I once "bought" a similar property but the agent refunded the full 2% to me when he informed me later on the same situation as yours. I was lucky then but in any case, it's only a longer time to settle the case. Not impossible. I presume.

I think the agent has mis-led you as he did not give you the full info. You may want to report him to the Real Estate Association.

---

Added on June 18, 2010, 10:28 pmEven if the agent manage to win on the basis that you back out of the deal, I think he is only entitled to half the commission if the S & P is not signed. Real Estate association or institute will be able to help you.

Jason, upon signing SPA u should have known that property belongs to the late wife. Why did you proceed anyway? U can back out then if you wanted..........................

Actually from what I've heard, ownership transfer can take up to 6 months, depending on state of property (strata-title, freehold vs leasehold, etc...)

But, in your case, it seems your major concern (IMO) is the timeline of property delivery, and whether it will actually be delivered at all in the end.
As such, you can make known your concerns to your lawyer, and have him worded the S&P in such a way to protect your interest. Say for e.g. the ownership transfer should be completed within 6 months pending which, you reserve the right to charge interest. If seller has doubt he cannot complete the transfer within such period, he wouldn't dare to seal his fate with the contract.

You probably also want to check the contract you've signed when you paid he earnest deposit. Btw, the agent has no right to withheld the deposit if seller is unable to fulfill his obligations, he risk having his licence revoked. Also, I'm wondering if seller can actually try to sell a property if he isn't the owner and doesn't have legal consent from owner, thus he cannot sign the letter of intent or some other documents to sell to you. Would be a breach of contract already. I think you need your lawyer to tell you all this, not us here.

You might wanna check out hba.org.my, it's a non-profit org for housing related issues. There are some veterans and maybe lawyers there who might be able to give you better advice. Or other property related forums.

Agreed. Better for you to check with HBA or Real Estate Association/Institute. Good agent should check status of properties, including obtaining a copy of the title and S&P before selling the property for the owner - Not representative.

i am facing the similar problem too. but in my case, we are quite lucky as in we havent pay the deposit yet. the day before we pay the deposit, my gf went to view the unit again and have a short talk with the owner's daughter. and in the conversation, my gf found out that the lady father just passed away.

upon checking with the agent, we know that the late father own 50% of the house. the agent kept telling us the transfer of ownership and etc has been completed and kept asking us to pay for the deposit... of course we do not pay for it, we insist to look at the documents first before placing the deposit. my lawyer is handling it now and after few weeks, they still havent handover the appropriate documents to us...

as far as i know, the whole process of transferring ownership from her late father will take very long time... it could take up to 2 years or more?