Hi all - Need some advice from property experts in this forum. I recently just sold my 1st house but got bullied by my lawyer, keep delaying payment. This is my mistake for choosing buyer side lawyer because of cheaper charges on lawyer fee, i will avoid this mistake next time. I would like to seek advice from u guys what i can do from my side to delay back or dragging the handover, i'm very pissed off now!

below are some chronology of the event


June 28th - Agree on purchase & receive 1% downpayment
July 15th - Buyer got loan approved and pass balance to lawyer, signed S&P

July 19th - I went to lawyer office & sign S&P for only 7% of remaining deposit (3% on hold by this lawyer so called need to clear tax exemption). After received the cheque, lawyer called and say she will cancel this cheque as i need to settle my maintenance fee until Nov!!!, feel got cheated to sign the S&P)

August 17th - after much follow up, finally i got my 7% deposit (nearly one month after i sign S&P)

August 26th - receive clearance letter from LHDN that no tax, called lawyer to chase for my remaining 3% deposit. She told me she's in Johor attending court case and all sort of excuses. Until now still keep delaying.

This lawyer is so fishy, im sure they are using the money for some other purpose.

what else can i do from my side?

thanks all! really need advice here.

Whos paying for the lawyer fee? Seller right so most likely she is keeping it as collateral in case u fail to pay her for the house lawyer fees.

I never sold house before but I bought. At that time I decide to use my own lawyer and the seller use his.

hi - i already paid the lawyer the sellerr side of lawyer fee at about RM900. it's cheap because im using the buyer side lawyer. and because it's cheap then i have problem now. lesson learned - use own lawyer

Cannot do anything, cheap lawyer as a stakeholder they always do that.

if i remember correctly, there is a no law that gives the lawyer rights to hold any monies owed to the owner once everything is paid (maintainance fee, house cukai tanah, quick rent, assessment).

Threaten her that you would bring this to the Bar council for disciplinary action if she fail to respond within 1 week. Make sure you have paid whatever owed on your side as the seller

thanks so much for the info. it's really a pain to deal with this kind of lawyer, every response is excuses to delay the payment

what can i do from my side to give delay back to them? really need to teach them a lesson.

You appoint new lawyer to deal with her. Definitely effective.

What is the firm name?

Maybe she deduct more from you and not 900 as quoted earlier

Costs would be more than whats owing.

ya, not a very good idea. can i purposely delay the hand over?

Not a good idea but neccesary to get your money back. Try pestering the buyer so that both of you will pester the lawyer.

Firstly, in relation to the deposit, 1% paid as earnest deposit, that leaves 9%.

Under the law, lawyer will have to retain 3% to be submitted to LHDN if RPGT is payable. Not retained in their own account.

The balance 6% is to be paid to you upon signing of SPA.

In your case, you mentioned that there is no tax payable. Have you owned the property for more than 5 years or did you elect for the once in a lifetime waiver? If you have, the lawyer is not supposed to retain the said 3% as you would have signed the Form CKHT3.

Based on what you have mentioned, there is something fishy going on.

Best you get a lawyer to represent you now. However, as you have signed the SPA without getting a lawyer previously, the terms and conditions will most likely not be in your favour.

As for paying off all maintenance etc, that is your duty.

Under the SPA, you will be required to handover vacant possession within a certain number of days. Please note that if you delay, you will need to pay late delivery interest. So definitely not a good idea. Release of the balance purchase price will also be conditional upon you delivering vacant possession.

This post has been edited by jason1986: Sep 14 2016, 09:34 PM

No rpgt why the lawyer want to retain the 3%? Nonsense.

Though there are some standard practices and certain laws to govern a sale and purchase of property, no one knows exactly what is written in the SPA.... Recently I read some terms which are new to me in the draft SPA... No one could say it is not relevant at all. But, without negotiation to delete or amend the draft terms, it would have become terms of SPA and it is binding both parties,

You are not represented by a lawyer in this case and terms may likely in favor of the buyer. Read the SPA and share the relevant clauses. It is wise not to listen to others who has no knowledge of the SPA terms.

Just sharing.

This post has been edited by SAHM: Oct 1 2016, 01:09 PM