Hi all, I need some guidance on how to deal with this issue.

Recently I found an affordable house and decided to buy the place. The contact of the property agent was displayed on a banner of the place, so I called and arranged a meeting with the property agent.

So we met and he showed us the place and I remembered very clearly he mentioned that the owner is a Malaysian Chinese (to be exact, he just said Chinese though). I paid the deposit and I started to find a lawyer. I found one and I passed all the information and documents to my lawyer.

Moving forward few weeks later, at the very end of the process before signing the S&P, my lawyer informed me that the unit is a bumi lot. I've also signed the letter offer from the bank too that time. My lawyer then helped me to get back the earnest deposit, which the property agent did refund to me.

But still, there is the legal fees and a small sum (for the bank) which total to half a thousand approximately I have to pay. Can anyone advise how I can get the agent to bear these cost?

Thanks in advance.

Question: If you had collected all the documents, how did you (or your lawyer) not realise that the unit was a bumi lot? Even when you signed the letter of offer to purchase prepared by the agent, wouldn't it not state the particulars of the vendor? Plus, you or your lawyer should've checked with the management office or developer whether the said unit was a bumi lot or otherwise. You can't merely rely on the representations of the agent. Caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

As such, it is not a clear cut case of negligence on the part of the agent. You and your lawyer (whom ironically is charging you fees for work done) ought to have been more vigilant. As such, you can send a letter of demand to the agent, or an official complaint to the agency, but you may not have an absolute case against the agent to make him liable for your loss.

From another perspective, why was the lawyer not more vigilant on your behalf as well? Perhaps a finger of blame ought to point that way as well. Think about it.

That is my view on that.

With regard to the letter of offer which you signed, there is no binding contract there as the offer is contingent upon signing of the SPA. By right it ought to have been executed after the SPA is executed. Since the SPA is aborted, the letter of offer does not have any legal effect at all. As such, the bank cannot compel you to pay any fees whatsoever to them.



This post has been edited by dariofoo: Oct 15 2011, 11:31 PM

Thanks bro!

Lawyers' Corner turns one today. Let's have some cake

Recently i received together two letters from lawyers.

Perfection of Transfer and Perfection of Change

Q1 : Should i pay the above? If not who?
Q2 : It is charging ridiculous charges such as transportion = RM150, printing/postage = RM 75, telecomunication = RM75 and miscellaneous = RM50. Not complaining on Profesional charge = RM200 and other stamp duty charges. All items charged in both letters.
Q3 : What is the letters about? Understanding a little that it's regarding the strata title stuffs.
Q4 : Understand that professional fees cannot be discounted but is the other ridiculous, can it be reduced? Since it's an high rise, should that they doing the same thing together? printing RM75? what are they printing?

Thanks. Would like to get some advice from the expert here.

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Added on October 17, 2011, 11:14 amHappy Birthday! Lawyers' Corner

This post has been edited by stormchaser: Oct 17 2011, 11:14 AM

Happy Birthday Lawyer corner!

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Added on October 17, 2011, 11:49 amEverybody life difficult. Haiz.

This post has been edited by Seremban_2: Oct 17 2011, 12:10 PM

not choice lar, low-income citizen, the apartment is even much lower than the goverment's PR1MA, suddenly need to fork out RM3k, must be becareful.. at least we need to know what are we paying..

anyway, thanks Seremban_2 for your advice..

This post has been edited by stormchaser: Oct 17 2011, 12:01 PM

1. Yes you have to pay.
2. It's not ridiculous. It's normal charges but perhaps the amount is a bit high. If it is a full SPA then perhaps it would be justified.
3. I think it is regarding the issuance of strata title, so the lawyer is now billing you for it - to register the transfer and to perfect the charge with your financier.
4. Yes you may ask for discount for disbursements. Even the RM50.00 misc can be totally waived.

is "perfect the charge" meaning add the charges to the loan amount at the bank?

I need help & clarification.

An owner of a low cost apartment (in the SPA - this sales and purchase agreement right?, its stated rumah kos rendah) wanted to sell his unit to me & we have agreed on a purchase price. Upon applying for loan, I went to the panel lawyer of the bank to start preparing for SPA.

The office personnel in the lawyer office told me that I should not buy the house because due to the title of the house being low cost, I have to apply for rumah kos rendah from pejabat hartanah (whatnot), which I won't qualify, and this leads to me unable to have the strata title for the house upon the lawyer applied for the strata title from the land office.

1. Is this true?
2. If this is true, is there any loopholes? i.e owner must live in the house for 5 years before selling to a person not qualified for low cost housing

Help, help.

Thank you very much for your time and thoughts.

This post has been edited by blueicecube: Oct 17 2011, 09:28 PM

No,bro. Charge in this sense means mortgage, or gadaian - you charge (gadai) the property to the bank as a security for a loan granted by the bank. When it is without title, the security is a deed of assignment. Now that title is out, it has to be replaced by a charge. The charge is created by you in favour of the bank. The relevant form is Borang 16N.

1. Can't say for sure. Don't just take the bank officer's word for it. Check with the developer if there are any restriction-in-interest in the property. Check the SPA as well if there are any restrictions imposed upon the purchaser (the current owner).

2. Legal loopholes, you have to look for it in the SPA. Illegal loopholes = wrong forum

hi, may i ask for partial 10% downpayment, i should write cheaque to my lawyer firm or the seller?

its confusing. Developer told me can't but when the owner called the Developer they said its possible, but with a little bit nuisance :-P

i guess this ruling is not standardized

Norm is to seller directly.

Of course you have to take what the owner says with a pinch of salt as he will say anything to seal the deal. If you have spoken to the right person on behalf of the developer and it's a no, then it's a no.

1. I would like to know how to get extra money on my existing loan without resigning/refinancing the bank loan ?

I took bank loan below 70% last time.

2. Can a non-bumi buy apartment from bumi ? The real estate agent said it is possible. But in future, if I want to sell it again, will it become non-bumi unit or bumi unit bcos I bought it already.

This post has been edited by jalsrix: Oct 19 2011, 05:09 PM

Dear Dario

i signed s&p with the buyer on 1 June 2011.according to the S&P completion date shud b 3+1 from 1 june 2011.On 2 sept 2011 ,purchaser financier paid redemption sum to my bank. Balance purchase price to b paid later. but my bank took 22 days (S&P 10 days) which is 25 sept 2011 to execute the discharge of charge and original document . .today 19 october ,the lawyer stil havent receive the balance from the purchaser's financier.

Wish to ask ,am i be able to get 8% interest perannum from the purchaser?Tq Dario
how to calculate

This post has been edited by ken8120: Oct 19 2011, 06:45 PM

1. Tell your mortgage consultant of your current bank that you want to top-up your loan. They'll explain the rest.
2. If it is a bumi lot, you might want to check with the developer first. If was merely bought with bumi discount as it is a bumi purchaser (the current vendor), then it makes no difference. You can buy it.

Yes you can. You would just need to deduct 12 days from the total number of days of delay to account for the delay on your part. You can calculate the total days of delay once the SPA is completed - normally from the date of receipt of the purchaser's solicitors of the balance purchase price from the purchaser's financier.