According to this site, the agent can charge a maximum of 3%, but it shld be negotiated between the parties before you appoint the agent.

http://www.lppeh.gov.my/fees.html

With regard to the service tax (not GST,mind you. That has not been implemented yet), the agent is bound to collect it from the client and pay it to the govt. Do ensure that you get a receipt for it though.

You issued the cheque in favour of the agency right? Then your cause of action lies against the agency. Doesn't matter about the agent. Money is with the agency anyway.

That can't be possible. The SPA would be prepared in the name of the registered proprietor. Of course the person whose name appears in the deed has to sign, not anyone else. Unless there is a PA.

a) Yes. No further rebate. The 50% sum is fixed.
b) Yes.
c) No.
d) The rebate is only for transfer out of love and affection only. That means that there is no SPA and no loan involved. Just an MOT with a clean transfer. After that you can apply for a loan and charge the title to the bank as collateral.

Whether it is fair or not, do compare with the many samples in v1 of this thread. Many samples and comments there.

Legal fees does not only depends on the loan sum. It depends on type of property and type of loan as well.

If you pull out after signing the letter of offer and if a loan lawyer has been appointed and work done, you might need to pay some fees. How much ? Depends on the bank and loan lawyer.

1. Yes.
2. There's nothing you can do. Perhaps follow up closely with your lawyer and find out how he plans to resolve the problem.
3. Yes it does.
4. Hard to tell since I do not know of other factors. Your lawyer would know best since the whole file is with him.
5. Your lawyer should be sorting it out right now himself, as the matter cannot progress unless one party budges with the LU. Most likely it has to be the developer who has to issue a new LU as banks are very 'skema' and always refuse to move out of their comfort zone when dealing with things.

It comes to the same thing when you calculate. You still pay full duty if half duty is paid twice.

Stakeholder for what? The monies?

Nothing else to advise you further than what I've done so in my previous post. Just be patient and will till they sort things out. I'm sure one party will budge in the end.

Forfeit the booking fee for what reason? Please provide more details.

You're right. Under the HDA, 10% is paid upon execution of the SPA and nothing earlier. It also does not allow the developer to contract out of the terms of Schedule G or H in the HDA.

However in reality, the practice is for developers to collect a booking fee.

My opinion is that they have to refund the booking fee to you less any admin charges allegedly incurred. If they forfeit the whole sum your remedy is to appoint a lawyer to sue but most people do not do so simply because the cost of hiring a lawyer would be more than the booking fee itself.

1. Why did they call it off. Must be a reason. Did you miss the deadline to sign the SPA?

2. Check with the developer if it is a bumi lot. Can transfer but subject to consent of state authority.

3. It is really subjective. Can be 1month even to one year.

What is the liquidated damages as stated in the booking form? If you can accept that and if they are willing to pay, then go ahead. Otherwise, you would need to litigate the matter.

There's no fixed rate, there's no estimate rate. Litigation lawyers are like cars - there's Proton, Toyota, Merc, BMW. Different brands of course different set of fees.

It does not mean that you are unrepresented. You as purchaser need to appoint your own lawyer as there is a substantial bit of work for the purchaser's lawyer to do compared to the vendor, who can choose to be unrepresented. Plus, since the vendor is a lawyer I would suggest that you appoint an experienced lawyer who can act in your best interests. Refer to my post in the first page of this thread on tips to appoint a good lawyer for your SPA.

This post has been edited by dariofoo: Sep 25 2012, 10:27 PM

Do you know how to prepare the relevant form, i.e. Deed of Receipt and Reassignment and attend at Court for revocation of PA as well as stamping of the Deed of RnR at LHDN? If yes, then you can do it yourself.

Legal fees would be fixed at RM400 (RM300 for Deed of RnR and RM100 for revocation of PA), plus a few hundred more for disbursements.

Direct transfer can be done subject to agreement of developer. See what they say. Otherwise, you have to do back to back MOTs. However, the second would be exempt from stamp duty if it is from wife to husband AND if it is out of love and affection (no SPA, just transfer with no money changing hands).

If you know how to prepare the MOT as prescribed in the National Land Code, filling up of PDS form, submission for adjudication, dealing with developer and presentation of MOT at Land Office, then yes, you can do it yourself.

Legal fees for preparation of MOT depends on the market value of the property and is scaled according to it. You can download the SRO at the first page to find out more about the legal fees. It would not be the same as for SPA but much more less.

When was the SPA aborted? Was it within 1 yr period? When did the lawyer apply for the refund? You need to establish more facts before you can accuse the lawyer of being negligent. Just because the SPA was aborted does not mean that the lawyer is negligent. You need to prepare a proper chronology of events and see what went wrong, how it went wrong, and whose fault it was. There are other parties involved as well, from what you stated in your earlier post. About liquidators and some quit rent issue. For now your explanation is vague, so I cannot say for sure if you have a good case against the lawyer for negligence.

Why would the purchaser want to abort the purchase when he wants the house? And when he has paid legal fees, applied for a loan, etc? It is not common for it to happen.

If the vendor delays signing the SPA, the completion date will be longer and the purchaser would have more time to complete the transaction. Would that not be beneficial to the purchaser? in the interim, the loan processing and loan documentation can be sorted. This will mean faster turnover, so it can be completed within the 3 months' period. The vendor is punished by having to wait longer for his money, if he delays signing the SPA.

I would not know as I do not have a copy of the title. What does it say? If it says consent is required then it does not matter when the owner is bumi or otherwise.

If consent is required, then it is a condition precedent to the SPA. If no consent is obtained, the SPA is nullified and the deposit is refunded. Time starts to run from the date of receipt of the letter of consent from the authorities. More often than not, a period of 6 months is given to obtain consent. Sometimes even 6+ 3, i.e. a total of 9 months. More than enough to apply and then appeal, if unsuccessful.

Delay by vendor due to bank delay to PRESENT the title? Presentation refers to presentation to register at the land office. This is done on the purchaser's side, not the vendor. Perhaps you mean delay by the bank to handover the title to the purchaser's or vendor's lawyer?

If the delay was as such, then the completion date would be extended in your favour. Calculate the number of days of delay from the number of days given to the vendor to obtain title from his financier. If 14 days was given and 20 days was taken to perform, then you have another 6 days to add to your completion date. So, there would be no late penalty interest for that extra 6 day period.

What is stated in your SPA?

Usually the vendor has to handover keys within 5 working days from the date of receipt of the balance purchase price. On the 6th day onwards, you would be entitled to charge late penalty interest upon him. However, for your case, check your SPA as to how many days are stipulated.

When it comes to love and affection, the fees are not scaled according to the purchase price but is of a "reasonable amount not less than RM300".

Download the SRO at the first page, and see page 21 clause 4(a).

If you still think that it is so expensive, then get another quotation, and keep on doing so until you are satisfied with the cheapest.

This post has been edited by dariofoo: Sep 27 2012, 04:00 PM

Same advice as my previous post. When it comes to love and affection as consideration, it does not follow the scaled fees and the fees are "any reasonable sum not less than RM300".

Of course, don't expect RM300 to be the fees but having said so, what is reasonable differs from one person to another.

It is not a difficult transaction and for this lawyer to charge you so high for disbursements itself (RM250 for transport is too high), I'd advise you to get another quotation.