I am in the midst of finalising the deal for purchase of a condominium. My solicitor has requested for me to sign 2 documents

Document (1)= "form of declaration" that states that

a) i am aware and understand that Solicitor ABC is the solicitor for Bank XYZ
b) i do not require nor intend to engage an advocate and solicitor to scrutinise the agreement and other related documents for me in respect of finance all that piece and parcel of xxxxx.
c) i confirm that Solicitor ABC are not my solicitor and i have merel requrest XXX to witness my signature.

Question: is it a statutory requirement for me to sign this declaration? Should my solicitor be protecting my interest and assisting me to scrutinise the agreements & related documents?

Document (2)

I have been informed and am fully aware that it is a procedure of the Bank to lodge a Private Caveat on the Master Title to enable the loan to be released accordingly. However at the request of the Developer, the Bank has agreed to waive the lodgment of the Private Caveat on the Master Title. In view of the above, I herby agree to allow the Bank to proceed with the facilitie and hereby consent to the release of the loan despite the non lodgment of the Private Caveat by the Bank on the Private Caveat on the Master Title.

(Note: For this condo, the developer is under bankruptcy and been told that as a purchaser, i am unable to obtain strata title)

Question: This document is addressed to the bank in which i am obtaining the loan. Just wondering is there any implication for me as a purchaser on signing the above document? Is it "safe" to purchase such property and what could i do in order to obtain strata title for this property?

Thank you for ur advice

hi, my friend just paid the 3% downpayment for a subsale apartment. she got the loan, lawyer and also withdraw her fix deposits for the 7%. but when the S&P was prepared, the owner was found to be a bankrupt as he did not clear up some loans. Question is:-

1- what can my friend do to compensate her losses? Time, leave and also the FD interest?
2- we're suspecting that the agent might be creating all these lies as one of her colleague friends are interested in this unit but we had booked this unit first.
3- can we lodge a police report on this on the suspect that the owner is trying to cheat as he knew that he is a bankrupt?

This would be quite unfair if there is nothing that we cant do about it, thanks.

Joannie T:


Document (1) is not a surprise and only some firms actually practise the issuance of such letters. In actual fact, the lawyer is acting on behalf of the bank, and not you. Despite the fact that you are actually paying all the fees. Weird and somewhat unfair, but that is how the system is in our country. As such, if there is ever a dispute between you and the bank in the future, do not expect this lawyer to assist you. It would be a conflict of interest. You would need to seek out another lawyer to assert your rights against the bank.

Document (2) would not have much of an implication. In most scenarios where there is a Master Title (MT), the financier can elect to waive the right to lodge a private caveat upon the MT. More so in your case where the developer has gone bankrupt and the affairs of the developer has been taken over by a liquidator.
There is nothing to be worried as the bank would've been issued with the necessary disclaimers and undertakings by the liquidator to protect its interests before agreeing to disburse the loan to you.

Safe is the sense that you won't find someone knocking at the door to chase you out of your property - of course. No worries there.
Not so secured in the sense that there is no strata title - but there are a lot of properties without strata titles for over 20-30 years and people still transact, buying and selling, leaving a long trail and continuous Deed of Assigments along the way. So, do not worry about it. As long as you get your keys and all security documents are in order with the bank.

To be honest, I'd say your friend is quite lucky that the bankruptcy search was done in advance. I know certain firms who do it at the last minute, especially when they also act for the purchaser's financier, and they do one search perhaps a month after the SPA has been executed and before the loan documents are executed. Lucky that it did not go all the way to that stage yet.

Yes, the owner can be faulted for not representing himself to be an unadjudicated bankrupt to you at the earliest stage. But what's the point of suing a bankrupt for misrepresentation? You'll waste good money chasing bad money. A police report would do you no good.

With regard to the agent, best not to jump to conclusions. In most, if not all scenarios, the agent would not know that the vendor is a bankrupt. There is no duty upon the agent to do the necessary searches. It would be hard to pinpoint the blame on the agent.

Now, you need to get back your 3% deposit paid and just cut your losses. A bitter pill indeed, but do be thankful that a deeper hole could've been dug if things went on all the way - and end up digging a bigger hole in your wallet as well.

Thanks Dario for your advice. Much appreciated

thanks!!

Hie there,

I'm new here and came across this site while researching for problems with lawyers discussion thread. Am annoyed and disappointed with how the whole transaction was management.

I hope to get some wise advice. Much appreciated.

To summarize, the bank had released the loan amount; feeling excited under the impression I would get my keys. I had no knowledge about the charges prior to my drawdown). My lawyer then told me after a week of the loan release (and me following up on the keys handover) the vendor is charging me with late interest payment which was not caused by me. There were some delay of documentation from the vendor's end.

While this pursuance of the ding dong late interest, I had started serving my first month installment and I had not gotten my keys. I'm required to also pay the apportionment of the outgoings as requested by MY lawyer as I was told that this is part of my duty in SPA. I totally agree it's my duty with the basis I have gotten my keys. I don't have the keys, yet I'm required to pay. Now my lawyer told me that they will forward the late interest payment to the vendor (they will not pursue further on the late payment interest) on the basis I need the keys urgently.

Can anyone advise me - meaning the lawyer will pay on behalf and claim the late payment interest from me?

Does it mean the the total scenario is as such?

1) I'm already paying my monthly installment
2) Now, I will need to pay the late interest (which amount 1k)
2) AND Pay the apportionment
*in order to get my keys*

This is totally unfair to the buyer. I felt that I'm in the losing end of the deal and my lawyer is not protecting my interest! Note: This is not the seller's lawyer. I'm not agreeable to pay any of the late interest.

Can anyone guide how to handle this situation? Can I terminate the lawyer and deal with the vendor's solicitors directly? How can I get my keys ASAP without paying the interest (it's obviously not caused by me)

Appreciate advice. Many thanks!

Thanks Dario!
This is something new to me, as I have not done any rental before!
Now that you mention it's all bear by the tenant, I am happy now

ienkcc:


First things first, it is important for you to understand that whatever process flow and chain of events must follow what is stipulated in the SPA. I do not have the benefit of perusing through your SPA. However, your lawyer would've followed what was stated in the SPA when dealing with the balance purchase price at the end of the transaction.

The normal practice is that the balance purchase price must be forwarded to the vendor together with payment of late penalty interest (LPI) and payment of apportioned outgoings. Once payment of the above is made to the vendor, the vendor may hand over vacant posession (VP) of the premises within 3 working days [some SPAs stipulate 5 days] to the purchaser, failing which the vendor has to pay late penalty interest to the purchaser.

So do read up your SPA again and see if the clauses to deal with the above mirrors the example I've stated. If it does, then you have no choice but to pay up LPI before you get your keys. Period.

You need to ask for a copy of all correspondence between the parties to determine the calculation of the LPI from you to the vendor and find out how it came to be. From what you said, the delay was from the vendor. In such case, the completion date ought to be extended in your favour to allow you more time to complete the SPA.

If the delay is from your side and it extends after the normal 3 months completion date into the additional 1 month period where LPI is due, then you have to pay the LPI.

It is highly unlikely that your lawyer would pay on your behalf and claim from you. If you want to terminate your lawyer and deal with the vendor's lawyer directly, you can do so, but what difference does it make? The vendor's lawyer would demand the LPI from you as well. So it is pointless to terminate your lawyer at this stage which is the tail-end of the transaction.

What you need to do now is to find out the source of the delay. Even if the delay is from your lawyer or your bank, you would still need to cough it up first. Whether you want to pursue a separate claim for reimbursement from the lawyer or the bank (whom you think is the negligent party) - is an entirely different issue altogether.

Good luck

No worries. There's always a first time for everything

Hi Dario, wanna ask you something...I have sign the snp and paid 10% downpayment for the lawyer on 7 Nov, normally it take how long for me to get the stampling snp and sign the loan agreement? thanks!

Good day to all!

I have just booked my first property, completed studio unit at ritze perdana 1 with offer price RM260k. I plan to take up the loan upto RM220k. The studio unit is leasehold and still under master title.

My friend had recommended me a lawyer who can handle both S&P and Loan agreement at the same time in which I hope to get some rebate from the lawyer. The lawyer charge me, including stamp duty, totaled of RM7.9k (RM3.9k for S&P and RM4k for loan agreement) + another RM200 for income tax filling.

As this is my first property, appreciate if you can kindly give me some advise whether this quoted fee is reasonable or not.

Thanks in advance for your time and kind help.

Stamped SPA - around a week.
Sign loan docs - check with the lawyer. It differs from firm to firm. Most would wait for letter of instruction first despite being verbally informed that they can start preparing the loan docs while waiting for letter of instruction to arrive from the bank.'

Feel free to compare your quotation with the previous quotations in this thread. There's quite a number of them together with comments and suggestions so do take a look.

there is really plenty of useful thread and comments about the legal fee. thank you very much.

Hi Dario,

Question: If the 3 months is up and in the SPA it is stated 3 + 1, then is the purchaser held the LPI if it goes into the additional 1 month period? Is that what the additional 1 month means?

Hi,

I'm a liitle bit confuse and need some guidance.

I'm selling my apartment by myself for the first time, and without any agent involve.

The buyer already paid me 3%, and the remaining 7% by right, which i read before, 30-90 days after signing the SNP.

My question is, am i the one(seller) who have to engage lawyer to prepare SNP, or the buyer have to find his lawyer to prepare SNP.

Who bear the cost ? Seller or Buyer ?

Thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by mycko7: Nov 22 2011, 01:11 PM

Good of you to actually take the time to browse through. I know it's a lot of pages to go through but the information is very useful!

It means the purc has to pay interest (normally it is 8%) upon the balance purchase price due to the vendor. The extra 1 month is like 'extra time' for the purc to complete the transaction, subject to payment of the said interest, which is calculated daily until the day the balance purchase price is paid to the vendor.

The remaining 7% is upon signing of the SPA. The balance 90% will be at the end of the transaction - normally it is 90 days from date of SPA (if freehold and no consent from State Authority is needed).

The purchaser has to appoint a lawyer and pay full scale fees.

You have the option of either appointing a lawyer of your own (another firm) whereby you have to pay full scaled fees, OR you can 'tumpang' the purc's lawyer to do the redemption, filing CKHT, deed of receipt & reassignment (or discharge of charge, as the case may be), etc.

If you tumpang, the fees will not be full scaled, but will be much less. However, you will be deemed to be unrepresented. So don't expect the purchaser's lawyer to do anything in your favour to speeden things up for you.

For more info, especially the pros and cons of tumpang lawyer or appointing your own lawyer, feel free to read up the first few pages of this thread as it has been discussed at length among us when this thread first kicked off. If you have any further enquiries do feel free to ask. Am sure you'll understand the procedure more once you read up a bit of this thread and learn from others' experience

Cheers