Hi Lawyers,

How do we differentiate between those banker agent who are direct to bank and those outsource ? Coz heard that outsource agent will give more hassle and slow in processing, is this true ?

If an agent claimed that he's direct to the bank but he's on part time job on this, how do we confirm that he's "direct" ?

I'm buying a house with a special term which the the seller requested the bank only reimburse to the seller after 1st Oct 2011, but my SNP is going to sign around May 2011. The reason is the seller doesn't want to rent from us after SNP sign because he doesn't have outstanding loan with bank. The question is, is there any foreseen risk to me as a buyer ?

Would rather not comment as it is very subjective and a general answer would not do justice to the hardworking and honest agents out there. If the agent comes recommended or has the relevant experience, I think it doesn't matter if he is internal or otherwise.

Easy. Call the bank directly and find out!


Well, just make sure that the completion date will reflect this special arrangement and all should be ok. Normally it would be 3+1 from the date of the SPA, so in your case, perhaps time can be stated as 6+1 from date of SPA? If property is unencumbered then ought to be alright and normally it ought to be completed within a month or so.

one more question i have about loan agreement.
normally the owner would want a total upfront of 10% of house purchase price.
so typically i will need to have bank pay 90% of the remaining balance in form of bank loan.

if i want to reduce my margin of finance(bank loan) by let's say 10%, meaning i borrow 80% in total, what will happen to the balance 10%??

do i pay it upfront to the vendor?
or do i pay the 10% i want to reduce to bank after it makes its transaction?

That is called the differential sum. You would have to pay it to your solicitor to be kept in their client's account as stakeholder. They will then release it to the vendor's solicitors (if any) BEFORE your financier releases your loan sum. Any delay in forwarding the differential sum will result in a delay from your financier.

Hi, I need some advise pls...
I just bought a leasehold apartment at 170k.
My s&p lawyer chrg me 3700, but the bank's panel lawyer chrg me 5000.
When I request the bank's lawyer send me bill via email or fax before I going to sign the loan agreement on next Monday, they refuse to give me the bill and said will explain to me face to face on monday.
Is it reasonable that the loan agreement can come up to 5k(include stamp duty)?

I have a situation with my landlord. My 1 year tenancy ends this mid April, and I have already moved out this weekend. So he has 1 week of 'free' rental from us. He was well aware of this, and I said he has 1 week extra for someone to come and rent the unit from him. Today I met him to return the keys and to get back my deposit, but he said he needs 1 week to inspect the unit before returning me the deposit. Plus, he wants to check with management if we have any outstanding amount payable to the management even though i have ALL the receipt for water and sewerage. My electricity bill is registered with e-services under tnb, and paid the latest bill already. He also asked for the keys and cards to be returned to him immediately.

When he said 1 week to inspect the unit, anything can happen and he can probably say I have broken a few items, and told him to check everything now instead. He said everything's fine, and will return the 2 month deposit on monday cos he doesnt have money at the moment. I told him, it is unfair to not return me the rental deposit (2 months) and 1/2 month for utilities. He instead gave me 1k, which is what he has in hand at the moment. And that is only 25% of the total deposit we've put him.

Now he owes me 1 month rental, and 1/2 month utilities. And he took the keys and cards already.

I suggested I hold one pair of keys/cards as a security, but he said I will be held responsible if anything goes missing in the apartment.

For your information, we have cleaned the apartment (cleaner when we moved in anyway, it wasnt occupied for quite sometime and we had to clean it ourselves). And now he wants to hire someone to clean up the place again, and probably will charge it under me.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have rented 3 apartments in KL, and this is the most troublesome landlord I've ever had.

what is the thing that I need to be alert of in the loan agreement? Are all the loan agreement standard? Do I need to go through each and every word? Thanks.

It can, but it's highly unlikely that it is RM5000 flat. It's ok, you just attend on Monday and listen to their explanation. Perhaps when you see the itemised bill then you would have a clearer picture. Best not to jump to conclusions. If you're unhappy with the bill, raise it with the Bank.

You've done the right thing so far. You can't hold the keys nor the card anymore as he can turn around and say that the tenancy is still ongoing. What you need to do now is to confront him and tell him to return the deposit to you, failing which you will lodge a police report (detaling the sequence of events) and appoint a lawyer to send a letter of demand to him.

Hopefully that would shake him up a bit. If it still fails, see a lawyer to send him a letter of demand.

He has no right to do so. Once he has taken vacant posession of the premises, there can be no further claim against you, and vice versa. The only thing now which is outstanding is the balance deposit, which you must recover.

Pretty standard. It is the Schedule at the back which differs and which you would have to keep an eye out for.

But you should go through the whole document and ask the lawyer (or the clerk, as is happening in most cases these days ) to explain to you any clauses which you don't understand. You're paying the legal fees for that purpose, really.

Look out for lock-in period, monthly repayment, interest rate, term of loan, due date for payment, repercussions if you fail to pay and remedies available to the bank, penalty for early settlement within lock-in period. If flexi loan, what are the misc fees, how much are the charges for withdrawal from fund, stuff like that.

But those bolded parts are already mentioned in the LO from bank. Just to check to confirm it is the same with the LO right?

Your LO will be annexed to the agreement as well.

For new property:

1. What's the normal practice for SNP signing - before down payment or after?
2. Do I need to hire my own lawyer if the SPA legal fee is beared by developer?
3. What is the general details in the SNP generally that I need to pay attention on?
4. How can a buyer be protected in this case as the buyer doesn't have a lawyer to protect his/her interest?
5. If the content of the SNP is on contradiction to the product catalogue and commitment by the developer, what should the buyer do?

Hi, I have a question on leasehold properties without title. Is the state authority consent required if I want to sell this kind of property? Or is the State Authority consent only applicable to those leasehold properties where individual title has already been issued? Thanks.

1. Concurrently at the time of signing the SPA.
2. No, but some ppl do so to protect their interests, as the lawyer appointed by the developer would be deemed to represent them, and you would be deemed to be unrepresented. So basically legal fees are borne by developer to pay for their own lawyer. In certain situations, however, the lawyer would be stated as representing you, and not the developer.

Even so, as they are paid by the developer and deemed to be one of their 'panel firms' the general situation is that they would be hesitant in being strict or stringent against the developer to further your interest.

That is why some people just fork out a bit of money and appoint their own lawyer.

3. Everything is important!

4. How can a driver be protected if the driver doesn't wear a seat belt to protect him? Is it a correct analogy?
* Read the earlier posts in this thread for a discussion on your query.

5. Don't execute the SPA. Once you execute it then it will be an acceptance of the contract and parties agree to be bound by whatever stated therein. Whatever is not in there, will not be required to be provided for, or complied with, by the developer.

Generally, not all leasehold land require the consent of the State Authority to transfer. The important thing is, when doing a land search, is to look for a column which states Sekatan Kepentingan (Restriction in Interest).

If it is stated TIADA, then there is no need to obtain consent.

If it is stated Tanah ini tidak boleh dipindah milik, dipajak atau digadai melainkan dengan kebenaran Pihak Berkuasa Negeri, then you would need to obtain the consent of the State Authority.

For leasehold properties in Selangor, if it is an individual title for a landed property - then reference has to be made to the title (via a land search) to see if there's any Sekatan Kepentingan as elaborated above. Same rule would apply for a Master Title in cases where strata title for a building has yet to be issued. See what is stated there.

If it is a strata title, then yes, one would have to obtain consent of the State Authority.

Thanks for the advice.

But I'm not satisfied the service with the lawyer firm. The staff are very rude when talking to me via phone.
Can i cancel the loan with this bank since i have other offer? Did i need to pay any penalty charges to this lawyer firm? But i'm not willing to pay them

You might as you have executed the letter of offer and the Bank have appointed solicitors to act for you. The solicitors would've prepared the loan docs for your execution as well. So there might be charges from both the Bank and the law firm. I'm not sure how much though. You've to check.

The law firm who is preparing the loan doc for you is one of the Bank's panel law firms appointed by the Bank?

The bank charge me RM200 processing fees. And said i need to bear half of the legal fees...
Ya.. It's appointed by the Bank. But i really not willing to pay them with this kind of services. (When i request the bill, they refuse to give me, so i mentioned that i wont go to sign if you all didnt provide the bill to me. The staff reply me that "Dont want to sign, Dont sign" then hang off my phone)

You better write a formal letter to the law firm, cc copy to the Bank and Bar Council (Conveyancing Practice Department), stating the chronology of events from start til the end as to what transpired as why you're not willing to pay. Perhaps you can get your SPA lawyer to help you draft it out in a more professional and detailed manner. He might charge you a nominal sum for it. Send it out by hand and get an acknowledgement. Do it immediately without any further delay.