Since there's so many questions about lawyers in this forum, I took the liberty to list down a few links for those who want to find out more about lawyers practising in West Malaysia as a member of the Malaysian Bar. It is important that you know that the lawyer who is handling your matter is fit and properly admitted as an Advocate  & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya and possesses a valid Practising Certificate for the year 2010.

If you want to see if your lawyer is a member of the dreaded Hall of Shame (disciplinary order has been issued against him/her), go here:
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/disciplinary_orders/

If you want to check if your lawyer is indeed a lawyer registered with the Bar Council and who possesses a valid Practising Certificate for the year 2010, go here:
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/find_a_lawyer.html

If you want to check if the law firm handling your matter is registered with the Bar Council, go here:
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/find_a_law_firm.html

For an up-to-date list of lawyers without a valid Practising Certificate [read: cannot act on your behalf], go here:
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/members_wit...or_pc_for_2010/

Check out this link for a very simple yet informative info on buying and selling property:
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/sale_purchase_of_houses.html

..and for general info on the law on other matters:
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/public_awareness.html

For any direct enquiries – call Bar Council at 03-2013003.

I also propose that those who has had any bad experience with a lawyer/law firm to list down his/her experience here with the name of the lawyer/law firm involved. If there can be a list of scammers and fraudsters on LYN, there ought to be no reason why it ought not extend to bad apple lawyers/law firms as well. Everyone here ought to be forewarned.

Speak only the facts and don't descend into insults or disparaging comments which may cross the line into the realm of defamation. If you speak what is the truth, no one can sue you for defamation. Share your experience here for the benefit of all. Any enquiries and knowledge sharing is also encouraged, especially from lawyers.

Lawyers, no soliciting and touting for clients here please. Take such shameless acts elsewhere.

Cheers.

The phone number ought to be 03-20313003. Sorry about that 

With regard to your query whether mistakes in law documents are backdoors for possible technical errors in order to avoid legal action, I think what you're trying to ask is whether clerical or typographical errors can be raised as an objection by the other party to get the lawsuit struck out.

Well, there's Order 1A, Rules of the High Court, 1980, which states:

Order 1A.  Court or judge shall have regard to justice.

In administering any of the rules herein the court or a judge shall have regard to the justice of the particular case and not only to the technical non-compliance of any of the rules herein.

and

Order 2, Rule 3. Preliminary objection for non-compliance of rules not allowed (O 2 r 3).

A court or judge shall not allow any preliminary objection by any party to any cause or matter or proceedings only on the ground of noncompliance of any of these Rules unless the court or judge is of the opinion that such non-compliance has occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice.

and also

Order 20, Rule 11.Amendment of judgment and orders. (O. 20 r. 11)

Clerical mistakes in judgments or orders, or errors arising therein from any accidental slip or omission, may at any time be corrected by the Court by summons without an appeal.
Therefore, as long there is no prejudice on the other side, clerical errors and typos can be amended.

Hope that answers your query.

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Added on October 19, 2010, 12:15 pm

Cheers. I replied to your topic on lawyers' fees. Which one did you appoint?

Haha. Looks like someone had a bad experience in Court recently? Take it up on appeal,bro. Don't give up. Lawyers who object to technicalities are just, well, *tsk tsk* 

Hansel,

Can you please enlighten us as to where you got the information that the developer has to obtain separate titles within 2 years and strata titles within 3 years?

According to Reg 11(2), Schedule G to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulations 1989, upon issuance of the individual titles, the developer shall execute, or cause the proprietor to execute (as the case may be) the MOT within 21 days from the said issuance, and shall thereafter hand the said MOT over to the purchaser.

As such, it is the duty of the developer to get the LP to execute it within the time period. It has nothing to do with the purchaser. If the Dev fails to do so within the prescribed period, they are opening themselves up to be penalised.

Hansel,

Even with this thread, the response doesn't seem to be very encouraging. There has not been many enquiries. Or maybe some people want to start their own threads rather than posting it here.

Different folks different strokes, i guess.

It's good to have you around though. Cheers.

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Added on November 5, 2010, 2:07 amComing back to the discussion, here's the Schedule G which I stated earlier:

http://hba.org.my/laws/housing_reg/2002/Schedule_G.pdf

As you can see in Clause 11, it does seem similar to the one in the agreement in your case.

Now, when you say subject to the purchaser being in "observance of all terms and conditions herein provided" , it is limited to the T&Cs contained in the agreement itself, and not any other T&Cs imposed by the developer upon the buyer which is outside the scope of the agreement.

With regard to observance by the buyer, it would mostly be referring to the buyer (through his financial institution who granted him the borrowing facility) making the progressive payments to the developer as and when same is duly requested by the developer. I don't think the buyer has anything much to do apart from that.

Well, maybe avoid being declared bankrupt in the interim perhaps?

What do you think? Can the developer still twist the buyer's arm with the above clause?

I, for one, doubt so.

When the S&P is aborted, the solicitor would normally charge half of the scaled fees, and refund whatever unused dibursements back to you. Same applies for loan doc.

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Added on November 7, 2010, 2:14 am

Is this a subsale or purchase directly from a developer?

1) This thread is not to put down developer's panel solicitors or bank panel solicitors. It is not to suggest that they are incompetent or biased. It's to give you enough information to put things in perspective so that you can make an informed decision at the end of the day, after having weighed all the pros and cons.

The choice is ultimately yours at the end of the day. 

Who can say for sure whether the developer's panel solicitors will actually (as you say) "less likely to entertain or act on your behalf if there is any dispute in the future"?

Unless you have a crystal ball which can predict the future, even you can't tell whether there's even going to be a problem or otherwise, right? For all you know, the developer's solicitor can be later kicked out of the panel, and to exact 'revenge', he may agree to act for you to file a civil suit for damages for late delivery, for instance, if the event occurs.

2) Disbursements for purchase from developer is really not much. How much of "huge cost" can they charge you anyway? If you're really worried about it, get a quotation from the solicitor and put it up here for us to take a look and advise you further. 

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Added on November 6, 2010, 2:37 pm

Hansel sorry for the late reply.

"Due to certain valid reasons, the buyer decided to redeem the loan from the bank in the middle of the construction, and gave an undertaking to the Dev to continue paying the progressive payments to the Dev as and when any stage of the construction has been completed and is certified by the Architect in-charge, as if the buyer is the bank now."

How is that possible? The buyer REDEEMED the loan?? Does that make him a cash buyer then? Are you sure of this fact?

"Guess what ? The Dev now stops processing the MOT though the buyer has been diligent enough to perform his part after receiving the MOT from the Dev, ie appointing a lawyer to process the MOT, and making the necessary payments as in legal fees and the Stamp Duties."

My question is, if the buyer has undertook to make the necessary payments as and when is due, why is the developer doing all this? They profit nothing from witholding from executing the MOT.

Arm-twisting it may be, but for what end is the developer seeking to achieve? They would've spent a lot of money applying for subdivision itself. Why pay for all that, but then leave it halfway? Might as well refuse outright to apply for subdivision.

Sorry to pose these questions back to you,but to me, it all just doesn't seem to add up.

Yes, the MOT must be executed by all parties involved before it can be sent for adjudication.

Very easy only. File an Originating Summons (Saman Pemula) in the High Court seeking, among others, an order for specific performance, i.e. that the developer (or LP, if there's no PA) executes the MOT and hands over same to the buyer within 14 days from the date of the Court Order, and in the event the developer fails to comply with the above, that the Senior Assistant Registrar of the High Court be given the authority to execute same.

Your argument would be based on the agreement itself, which provides for them to execute it within 21 days.

They would have no excuse for not complying with the provision of the agreement.

After obtaining the order and getting it executed, you can present the MOT for adjudication and proceed to present it for registration thereafter.

By way of Originating Summons will not take long as it will be heard immediately after affidavits are exchanged. There is no oral evidence as everything is based on documents.

You can get an order within a few months. Of course, this would depend on the efficiency of your lawyer. Haha.

Hope the above helps.

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Added on November 14, 2010, 10:21 pm

Question is - why do you need the title so quickly? If you take a loan and the property is charged/assigned to the Bank, do you know that it is your bank who will keep the ORIGINAL title? You'll only get a photocopy. 

Banks would give the solicitor around 3 months or so to get the duly registered title out.

Secondly, with all due respect, why on earth do you want to help your lawyer? You've paid a ridiculous amount for fees, and you've got to run around figuring out other stuff for the new property you're buying, so why bother assisting him? 

Would you offer to peel potatoes at a restaurant you're eating out at? Or offer to bring your own syringe to the clinic when you need a jab (or offer to sterilise it for the doc?  )

You may laugh at my analogy but that's what it appears to me when you say that you offer to help the lawyer extract or follow up to obtain the duly registered title. 

What do you think? Is all the trouble really justified?

Cheers.