Dear Legal Experts and Proerty Experts,

I have a major dilemma here that I hope you can help me. I bought a high end condominium in Feb 2011, and moved in Dec 2011. A week after that, my bathroom was flooded with sewage water that flown out from the shower drain in my bathroom. I am staying on the first floor. Because it was weekends, the developer didn't send in their plumbers to rectify it immediately. I had to than a few days of this shit and urine in my bathroom for 2days before they came in and cleared the waste. And upon investigation, they blamed it on the contractors above my units who might have thrown rubbish into the drain and caused the blockage. During that time when the plumber was checking the piping in my house, he kept mumbling that the developer used cheap labour and cheap materials that's why so any problems. I couldn't sleep well the few nights, i stayed in the unit regardless, cos i feared that the Waste would flow out of the bathroom and damag my bedroom.

I thought after they cleared the rubbish that had clogged the drain, everything will be fine. But after a few days, it happened again! Same shit problem! I wrote to the director of the developer, she replied it is normal fr the first floor unit to kena this problem. After they cleared the debris and changed the pipes, they said they won't promise it won't happen again.

I got phobia after that incidents. I did not dare to use the bathroom, cos I feel that it's so unhygienic and unhealthy to use a bathroom that was flooded with human waste. I did not even dare to sleep in the master bedroom because every time I hear water noise, I will freak out and worried that same shit problem happen again. So, I moved to a second bedroom and leave the master bedroom unused. Imagine how sad I was paying 790k, but I didn't use the master bedroom or the bathtub that I have been longing to use.

A few nights ago, which means 9months after, same shit happened again. But this time is worst. I came home and even before I reached my door, I smelled urine and shit, and I could see sewage water flowing out non stop from my house!

It flooded my house! It contaminated my whole house including the bed, wardrobe, electrical items, kitchen, timber floorings, and etc.

I called the person in charge on his cell, he said its 10:30pm, he can't do much, the plumber won't come, he asked me to wait until next day, but he couldn't promise what time of the day.

Damn it, my neighbors came and helped me, we alerted the security guards, and they informed the management. The maintenance team from the management team came and took a few hours, before they managed to help me to unclog the pipe below. Me and my neighbors had to sweep out the human waste out if my unit.

I called the bloody developer rep the next morning, she said nobody informed her of anything. I sent an email to them and the director two hours before I called. She said we can't check the mail because the secretary only has the access to the email, and that the director is not in the office.

After I scolded them, she finally sent the plumber in and took a look, but he didn't give me an definite answer or solution. The developer didn't reply me either since then. Not even regarding the denying fees that I had to fork out.

I am devastated. None of my friends can help me in the legal advice. The lawyer friends said they are not expert in this.

Please help me guys.

Not to mention, it's has been 3weeks that they ignored my complain about the water leaking in my second bedroom wall, even after I threatened to bring this issue to public. I wrote almost 10emails but none was replied.
Please help me.

Write to free Malaysia today.

Include apartment name all.
Do pm me when it gets published.

Dear Gurvin,

Thank you for your advice, I wrote in Free Malaysia Today Fb after I read your advice.

But I did not dare to put in the condominium name. fear that its against the law or something. I really do not know much about my legal rights:(. I do not want to get into trouble.

Is there anything else that I can do?

I was actually a law student.

BTW you can sue them because it happen again.
Ask them promise it won't happen again.

You should ask ur lawyer advice, return property, take back ur money.

1. is your property still under warranty?
2. normally after taking delivery of vacant possession one is given 24 months to discover and complain of any defect.
3. the protection gives the purchaser the right to report to developer to rectify the damange according to term which are set out in SPA. So please check out your SPA.
4. upon receiving of any complain from the purchaser, developer has 30 days to rectify the defect.
5. if developer fails to rectify the defect within 30 days, purchaser has the right to rectify the defect at his own cost and claim the cost not from developer but directly from developer's solicitor who is holding the stakeholder money on the developer's behalf.
6. before the purchaser can do this, he must have given a notice of 14 days telling the developer of his intention to carry out the remedy himself.
7. bare in mind the developer's lawyer can only release the amount to you if all the condition above are complied.

I hope it helps. Good luck.

Is normal for first floor???????? Weird, I agree that is higher chance, but then is "Normal" is something new to me! By the way, it just happened to you only? How about other unit in first floor?

Dear Ioriyagamii,

Yes, the condo is still under warranty.

I understand the clauses. But, it's not fair for me to wait for another month, because the same shit might happen again anytime. . I moved all my things to higher level to prevent damages if that happened again. But there are things that I can't move, such as my leather bed.

Thank you so much for your input. I really appreciate it. But I need compensation from the developer of the damages done due to the flooding of sewage water in my house. I hate it when the bloody developer does not respond.

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Added on September 9, 2012, 1:24 amDear tatagal,

I heard it happened to other units too. But the owners sold off the units. And some even were advised no need to take legal actions, because the one of the developer directors is a lawyer, and she knows all the loopholes to avoid legal lawsuits.

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Added on September 9, 2012, 1:26 amThey do not respond to any of my emails. And they verbally said they can't promise because it might be due to the contractors in units above who are doing renovations.

My SPA lawyer is their lawyer too. I have asked other lawyers but they said they are not expert in this, so they can't give me answers.

This post has been edited by DrTay: Sep 9 2012, 01:26 AM

Try to post in this thread as well if u have not done so ..

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2138486

Dear 1282009,

I have done that just now. Thank you for reminding me.

Lol , I'm pretty much sure its Papillon....

I can't reveal


This post has been edited by DrTay: Sep 9 2012, 03:04 PM

DrTay, you should update your complaints in Papillon thread. If you are telling facts, i dont think they can sue you. If possible, please post some pics here of the flooding in your unit.

I own a house there as well.

why not just hire lawyer to sue them, no need to talk anymore

You should proceed to hire an expericence plumber and advise you on the problem. Ask him how much to fix the problem. I would rather pay with my pocket money now to solve the problem once and for all to have a peace of mind. At the same time, send a notification to the developer on your intention to carry out the repairing on your own, reason that they failed to solve the problem till today and prevent further damages to your property. Dont think it will cost much compare to the nightmare you have to face everyday. Worse come to worse, you will only lost a bit of money if the developer refuse to compensate you. But you still have time to further pursue this matter with the developer. The main thing is get the problem solved now, once and for all.

Doing some search on internet, Zeus properties is under Peter company that build 1120 park avenue. Need to becareful of this developer in future.

I hope you don't mind me asking this: is your unit affected by leakages as well? Thanks.

Thanks for the info.

if u planning to sue them, u need to hav all the pictures taken with dates available and get a 'expert' plumber to giv opinion on these.

anyway, if u r bought the unit as a sub sales unit, pls go through the terms and conds on the warranty of the building by the developer... u know our country full of con man ard.

it's jux my 2cents.

Drtay
am just thinking aloud here - would it be possible the developer did a short cut and instead of providing one pipe for water and the other for waste, they
only installed one instead - so the units on the ground floor will get a backflow because the pipe cant handle the outflow of water and waste ? so the ground floor
units will be affected the most as compared to the higher units?

Also if its still underwarranty - suggest you write officially to the lawyer who is holding the remaining 5% (or whatever the amount is) outlining the problem and unless and until the defect is addressed satisfactority the lawyer is obligated under the law to hold back this money - this should be enough to force the developer to deal with the problem. after you have done it then only inform the developer and i reckon that they will be more cooperative after that..get a lawyer to draft the proper notice to the developer so that it will hold up in court in case you need to litigate. most importantly you must do this before the warranty period lapses and asap..
however please double check what i have just mentioned to ensure that this is indeed provided under the law as am no lawyer nor expert..