Hi,

Can we claim back our booking fees if we finally cancel to purchase the unit?
Me and my brother had place a booking fees of RM1000 respectively to different project.

For myself, one bank approved loan, but after some consideration, i decided to cancel the booking.
I asked back to the agent, and she told me as long as there is ONE bank approved, i cannot get back my booking fees.

For my brother's case, he got no bank approve, finally give up.
He could not get back his booking fees as well.

To my understanding, as long as the developer has not obtain ADPL, they cannot collect any money from buyer.
These two developers have not obtain it at the time we place booking.

I have tried mail to developer asking a claim back, but it was like stone into the sea, no reply.
My question is:

1. Can we claim back our booking fees?
2. What other ways can we do?
3. If write letter to developer, any sample to refer? i'm not sure the proper way.

Thank you!

Yes rightfully developers cant collect money if apdl not approved but they can deduct certain adm fee if they believe is justuficable. Usually its rm500.

You can file yr complaint to housing tribunal if u r purchasing resi units.

Loan conditions are not required for buyer to cancel yr booking. Dun be fooled by agent or developer.

Tell your agent he is sheet. He is fooling u bro. He will just makan the moneyZ

Go report police. 😬

It is highly unlikely that a developer who has no AP/DL dared to collect any deposit from you, usually the agents or lawyers of the developer will collect on behalf of developers under all guises.

If you have paid the deposit to the developer and the developer refuses to refund you your deposit (whether the developer has AP/DL or otherwise), make an online compliant here :-

http://ehomeonline.kpkt.gov.my/aduan-onlin...maju_swasta.cfm

Regulation 11(2) of the HOUSING DEVELOPMENT (CONTROL AND LICENSING) REGULATIONS 1989

"No housing developer shall collect any payment by whatever name called except as prescribed by the contract of sale."

This means that the developer cannot forfeit any of you booking fee, for whatever reasons (administrative fee or service fee whatever) in the event that you do not wish to proceed to sign the sale and purchase agreement (even if you already have the letter of offer from the bank and the developer is aware of this).

IF your deposit was paid to the Sales Agent and the SA refuses to refund you your deposit, made an online complaint here :-

http://www.miea.com.my/file-a-complaint

No payment is allowed before SNP signed. As simple as that.

normally is paid to stack holder (lawyer firm)

just search the lawyer firm and give them a call for refund

If deposit paid to lawyer, and lawyer refused to refund, lodge a complaint here :-

http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/complaints_...st_lawyers.html

Aiyo....nowadays many many yong agents kacau developer pojek and appeared to work for the developer ....r u sure the agent is outsourced or directly employed by the developer internal staff...or simply outsider ...to whom the deposit u paid to..if to genuine developer staff, most will refund or partial refund...talk to the developer Directly

project witout apdl,buyers how to get loan? without apdl no s&p sign & cannot get loan from bank. ask them to refund the money.talk direct to developer

Masa ts paid booking fees = haven't obtain apdl yet.

Well, most of the time the "deposit" collected or "booking" fee collection is done only after both sides sign on some piece of paper. Commonly the tactic employed is not to call this "booking" or "deposit" but "admin" fee. And I'm pretty sure there is a clause that says that the money can only be "partially" or even "non" refundable. If you did sign on this piece of paper that says that, then legally you will prolly not win.

A buyer should not make any payment to the housing developer before the Sales and Purchase Agreement has been signed.

The developer is also prohibited from taking any payment. If a developer refuses to return the deposit or booking fee, a buyer can write an official complaint to the ministry so it can take the necessary action either to direct the developer to return the money or to take legal action against the developer for infringing Regulation 11(2) of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulation 1989.

Regulation 11(2) of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulation 1989 states that:

"(2) No housing developer shall collect any payment by whatever name called except as prescribed by the contract of sale."

This post has been edited by heavensea: Apr 19 2017, 05:35 PM

No APDL launch projek and collect booking are vely common ...just to let u knw....most developers will refund u fully or partial unless u deal with dishonest agents or fly by night company

well said.

Again, despite arguing about the refund,
Most important is to ensure there is always a proper official receipt when u place booking fees.
Eventually, this will turn out to be a legal documents in court

Original receipt with date and developer chop/name is a must imno.

By malai "law", yes.
By developer's "rules", no.

You don't pay booking fees = won't even entertaint you...

This post has been edited by heavensea: Apr 19 2017, 10:28 PM

If you have not sign S&P and the property is under Schedule H, your booking fees is 100% refundable. If developer refuse to return the deposit, make complain online @http://www.kpkt.gov.my or you may call the officer at KPKT for guidance. They will just ask you email them the booking forms or details, receipt etc. They will take action at their part and without you even need to pay a visit to them. The process is very fast and I already get back my deposit. This booking fees issues, we as consumer are lack of education and knowledge that we have the rights not being forfeit. There are some Unscrupulous developer out there, claiming to deduct as admin charges even malaysia HDA already have this law in black and white. So beware and know your own right and claim back what you
NOT suppose to pay.

Hey I am newbie here, do u mind sharing if u have signed any offer letter/booking forms, etc and still managed to get your deposit refunded? I might need to file complain as well...

owl2017is this refundable only accountable to developer case only? how about the agencies that handle the sale on behalf of the developer.. can they do refund?

Pls study the form you signed when you paid yr deposit.

All should be there.

hi sifus here..

this is meaning post that could help many from being cheated by developer.

I wonder if anyone recently facing this issue too?

please pm me..

i think something have to do to prevent more innocent buyer money being "illegal suck by developer under bright sky" just because they keep threaten buyer that they had signed the developer booking fee form.
they and agent will keep forcing buyer "You had signed means you accept".

I believe all professional developer and agent aware of the rules Regulation 11(2) of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulation 1989 ,
yet, purposely ignore and do it, challenge the law.

from my view,

For those who involve , developer and agent, should be investigated by housing ministry all over again, or go take exam again.

Offence 1: Illegal black and white letter
They ignore and challenge the law by writing in out black and white on paper.
Under Regulation 11(2) , they dont even have the right to have the term of forfeit this word/meaning in their letter.

Offence 2: Misleading on purpose
As a professional developer or agent, this act is a way of misleading buyer by wrongly "educated" buyer.
I always thought agent should stand by buyer side protect buyer too,
until i see this post..OH MY GOD...where is the professionalism ?
Agent can earn so many k once purchased,
buyer willing to pay because we dont want /no time handle mess, wish to find a professional person handle for us,
but they are not even responsible backed with law and regulations in their brain,
what is the purpose of agent?

Offence 3: Forfeit money
The money they forfeit, consider illegal money in their account,
i believe there is always buyer change mind all year round,
imagine each unit RM1000, easier then rob bank.
entire account of company had to be checked, how many money been forfeit, consider as dirty money,
all have to return to buyers.

Anyone agree with mine statement above?

Please point me out if I am wrong, lets discuss and I wish to learn as I learning to invest in property

This post has been edited by bunny2018: May 9 2019, 08:30 PM

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/busines...ur-booking-fee/

Booking fee dilemma Can the developer confiscate your booking fee?
BUSINESS NEWS
Saturday, 4 May 2013

I found my dream house. The developer’s office said the project was selling like hot cakes. Sales were on a ‘first come first serve basis’ and I must pay a deposit otherwise she would have to give it to someone else. Or was it a booking fee she called it?

I begged her to give me one week. Three days, she said. How very sweet and understanding of her. Bank loan? No problem... 85% loan margin? No problem, she assured me. If I could not get a housing loan I could always cancel and get my money back. I left the developer’s office feeling on top of the world. I had secured my dream house by paying the deposit. My dream turned into a nightmare when I could not get a bank loan. I had no choice but to forgo the house.

As if letting go of my dream was not bad enough, the developer now refuses to give me back my deposit. The lady said her hands were tight because it’s a management decision. It was not stated in the ‘option letter’ or ‘booking form’ that my purchase was subject to the loan approval. On reading the terms and conditions in the option letter/booking form, I now realised that all terms were inclined in favour of the developer.

What do I do? I just want my money back. I don’t mind if they keep a small sum for cost of paper work and for administrative purposes.



Many house buyers are unaware of lending guidelines requiring loans to be tagged to net income as opposed to gross income. Many find that they are unable to obtain the financing they want and have to withdraw from an intended purchase before the sale and purchase agreement is even signed. The developer then refuses to refund the deposit or booking fee or whatever other payment which may have already been paid.

The unfortunate part about this whole thing is that house buyers do not have the luxury of a learning curve in which they can acquire the necessary skills to avoid getting themselves into trouble. Very often by the time they realised that they have made a mistake, it is already too late and the result can be traumatic and financially crippling.

This very noble and seemingly simple undertaking of buying a house, in a lot of cases, have gone terribly wrong.

Can developers collect booking fee or deposit?

The sale and purchase agreement (Schedule G, H, I or J) as prescribed by the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulations, 1989 (the Housing Regulations) provides very clearly how the purchase price is to be paid. The first 10% is payable immediately upon the signing of the sale and purchase agreement (SPA), not before.

No collection of any payment is allowed before the SPA is signed. Deposit, booking fee, advance payment, administration charges are just some of terms used by some devious developers in their vain attempts to circumvent or contract out of the Housing Regulations and to confuse, mislead and convince naïve house buyers especially the first-timers.

Collection of any payment by a housing developer before the signing of the SPA is an offence. This is very clear under the Housing Regulations and it does not matter what the developer calls it.

The Housing Regulation 11(2) stated: “No housing developer shall collect any payment by whatever name called except as prescribed by the contract of sale”. (In this context’ contract of sale means the SPA)

Commission of such an offence under the Housing Regulations means that the developer in question can be prosecuted, fined and/or even imprisoned under Regulations 13. Even those persons who knowingly and willfully aids, abets, counsel, procures or commands the commission of such an offence shall be liable to be punished.

Prosecution, however, is in the hands of the public prosecutor whose action or non-action the house buyers are not able to dictate. House buyers and indeed the general public are of course at liberty to lodge a complaint against any developer in breach of any housing laws. Such complaints can be lodged with the Enforcement Division of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government: www.kpkt.gov.my

The law as regards non-payment before the signing of the SPA is very clear and house buyers are strongly urged to understand the law and not be misled by some cunning, unscrupulous developers or their smooth talking sales representatives who either do not know the law or simply do not care about the law.

Profit orientated developers care about nothing but profit. The more they sell the more they gain. They engage marketing commission agents and sales representatives whose only mission is to sell. In their quest to sell their products, some unprincipled commission agents (secondary markets included), who are untruthful will not hesitate to mislead, conveniently telling “white lies” and make empty promises to make a quick buck. Some are so well trained in the art of selling they can probably sell sand to the man in the desert.

Ever wondered why the sales office told you there are only five units left but three months later there are more than 10 units still available? Did the developer’s office tell you the unit you want is already booked but called you two days later to congratulate you because the same unit has just become available? Ever gone to a developer’s office in the hope of getting the “Early Bird Discount” advertised the day before only to find that the project was launched more than a year ago?

Filing a claim for refund

Free gifts, rebates, and waivers of this or that are also fairly commonly seen and are often stated to be for a limited time only. House buyers hurry to meet the deadline. Three months later the same advertisement appears, again for a limited time only or perhaps extended due to popular demand. Gimmicks of “Free legal fees” offer but you must use the developer’s panel lawyers are commonly marketed.

The list of marketing ploys used by developers and their marketing alliance goes on and unscrupulous developers and real estate agents are not likely to stop trying to exploit vulnerable house buyers any time soon. House buyers must therefore be very wary and not be easily swayed by promises made by the developer’s office.

House buyers who are already caught in tussles with housing developers over refund of booking fee or deposit are at liberty to file their claims at the Tribunal for Homebuyer Claims (the Housing Tribunal). The Housing Tribunal was set up as an alternative forum for house buyers to save them the costs and hassle of fighting with housing developers in the civil courts.

The filing fee is only RM10; no lawyers are required and hearings are normally fixed within a month. The Housing Tribunal is empowered to hear disputes between house buyers and licensed housing developers even though the SPA is yet to be signed but the claims must be filed within the time frames provided under section 16N of the Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act 1966 (the HDA). Check out the link: www.kpkt.gov.my – TTPR

Can the developer forfeit such payment?

Where booking fee or deposit or any other payment is collected by the developer before the SPA is signed, the house buyer would normally have been asked to sign a document indicating the house/apartment/condominium he/she is interested and agreeing to sign the SPA within a certain time frame, say 7 or 10 days or upon notice from the developer. This document may be in the form of an option letter, letter of offer, sales proforma, booking form or another document by whatever name the developer chooses to call it, all in an attempt to disguise a collection prohibited by law.

The amount varies and in some cases it is as much as 2% of the purchase price – RM10,000 for a RM500,000 house. When the house buyer decides to withdraw from the intended purchase, the developer refuses to refund the deposit, or was it booking fee, or was it ...?

l Chang Kim Loong is the honorary secretary-general of the National House Buyers Association: www.hba.org.my, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation manned by volunteers. He is also a NGO councillor at the Subang Jaya Municipality Council.

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Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/business/busines...AveWEjzkB8XY.99

Good morning guys, can enlighten me few things? What is ADPL? Also, I booked a house and loan didn't get to approve, so I want to get back fee back. Any concrete and solid statement/excuse I can use to get the full refund booking fee?

two official letters from any two banks citing your loan applications have been rejected.

APDL is an advertising permit allowed developer to formally start selling the house with marketing and promotion.

pls note that you may not get full 100% refund even though the law does say you should.

Hi all. Recently I had place a booking on a property but decided to pull back after knowing more unfavourable information about the property. Those information wasn't shared upon signing the booking form. In the form it said that refund takes 21 days. However its been more than 21 days, and the agent said normally it takes 30 days to refund. Any ideas on how to resolve this? I believe the company must uphold on whats written in the form which is 21 days.
tq in advance.

developer isn't supposed to collect deposit.
who do you made the cheque out to???? which company?
have the cheque been cleared?

if your cheque is made to independent agent and not the developer, good luck.

write to the developer and c.c. copy to Housing Tribunal.

Yeap, however almost all developer is practising this booking scheme, even big listed developers. Wondering why govt tutup one eye.

Paid to developer. Just called them in the mrg, cheque will be ready by this few days.
Tq for the tips.

big developers usually required you to sign spa within days bcos lawyers need to prepare spa n you need to get loan approval letters,

Curious to know about this too...

Parking to learn roti canai technically.

Hi, I am new here.

Recently just turn down a project after sign Letter of Offer from bank.
I request refund my booking fees RM 5000 from developer, they said already get loan approval not entitle to refund. My RM 5000 will be fully forfeited.

Can i try made aduan at KPKT or tribunal court to request them do refund? Even just partially is good enough.

Which project

It's gone, also don't forget the penalty to bank since you signed LO.
If you even signed SPA then there's no turning back.

Burn la. Middle man cannot eat pasir.

Aduan? yes you can. Win or not different story.

always put condition on booking form for cancellation 100% refund and u are good

i tot with rejection letter usually is fully refund? no?

Hi

i have similar situation as TS. I have recently placed a booking fee of 3% for this property (subject to loan approved 90% or else fully refund), and went to apply loan from a few banks.

what happened was that 3 out of 4 banks approved basis 90%.

the question here is that, If i decided NOT to proceed with the purchase, can i use that 1 rejection letter from the bank as a supporting doc to claim back my booking fees?

what if the agent somehow knows that the other banks approved my loan basis 90% thru her/his contacts?

Hi, same situation as TS.

I placed booking for a new apartment with RM3000 before MCO. Then mco hit and other issues arise. Now my loan is approved but i wish to cancel the booking as im not confident with the company stability as well as my own personal financial stability at the moment.

When i place booking (before MCO) the agent advise that if i myself cancel the booking (not due to loan reject etc), the RM3000 booking will be forfeited, or if loan reject, only RM500 butn (admin fee). Can advise if there’s any way to cancel but with refund?

If you buy from developer, it is illegal for developer to collect booking even it is common practise to do so. You may talk nicely to agent /developer but if didn't work, u can always write to kpkt and tribunal for the solution and copy to developer.

Good luck.

Im facing the same thing too 😭😭

Those that have signed LO from banks - tougher the Bank's penalty will be there.

The one that got me few months back was a RM5k deposit - with the Bank's letter I incurred costs of RM500 (admin fee). Very expensive admin fee indeed.

But generally, if you have a loan rejection letter, you can talk to your agent and see how it goes.

Hi,

I'm currently in the same boat. Loan was successful but only 80% which we don't like to take up.

Decided to not continue. Have not signed any offer letter from the bank.

Now agent wants to see Rejection Letter from bank before can refund.

What can I do?

Discuss with the bank the possibility of increasiing the %. Show more supporting documents, if possible.

Go online e-aduan at kpkt

They will settle for you

Very efficient

Actually we tried that with an appeal. Apparently, the bank rejected as they are being cautious due to another possible MCO. I didn't received any letter on it either, it's just information from the bank officer.

will do this today.

What is stated in the booking form ? Anything mentioned about 90% loan ?

Do I need to sign any documents or form to proceed with booking cancellation?

Any update on this? Did you manage to get your booking fee refund? Currently in the same boat, agent said cannot get back deposit since no loan rejection letter from bank. Already raise the complaint to e-aduan KPKT. Not sure when I would hear from them.

I recently also paid a booking fee of RM1k to this agent and he said will fully refund back the money if I decide to cancel. I believe he will do it so. But my concern is I have signed a pre-contract due diligence and request for option to purchase. Should I ask for the agent to ask send me a cancellation T&C?

Essentially I’m just worried if there’s legal implication in the future if there’s no B&W that I have cancel this.

Thanks and sorry if this is a noob questions.

Any cancellation tnc must be included in the option to purchase contract. If is not stated, is your word against the agent. Hopefully the agent will honour what he promised and whether there is an admin fee for cancellation ... if is RM1k, meaning no refund.

Refund really depend on developer and agent itself. All must with one or two rejection letter.

Problem will arise if agent n banker not cooperate good especially in loan margin part.

In the option to purchase T&C, it does state “to refund or cause to be refunded the security money (booking fee) free of interest should I fail to perform any of my obligation as stipulated in clause...”

The “clause” talks about responsibility of buyer to apply for loan etc.

But I’m just scared (for some reason) that if I cancel this booking, that there would somehow be any legal consequences later down the road, so I thought is it advicable for me to also get a signed T&C from the agent to confirm this cancellation?

If you are worried about bank loan, ask the agent to recommend a bank loan officer of your choice banks. He should have many contacts. Whether approved or rejected, he will know.

When is approved and you have no intention to follow up with the purchase, then the deposit will be forfeited without any further penalty or liability. The unit you have chosen is then open to other buyers.

I dont think there is any further confirmation to add if is stated in the option to purchase contract.

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Oct 10 2020, 04:03 PM

Hi would like to seek some advice, thanks in advance for reply.

I have booked an unit through virtual zoom meeting during MCO period on 25 Feb 21. The sales agent had took roughly a month on 1 April 21 to send me the booking form for signature and after I have submitted the signed booking form, they mentioned that I will receive email from banker on the loan application documents. Again, I followed up with them and no further updates nor reply from them.

In the mid of waiting for booking form, I did mentioned that I wished to cancel the booking as it had been taking too long to even proceed (which they are so proactive when they were doing sales pitch but no news after I have paid the booking fee). I don't feel comfortable at all.

Now I am stucked with no updates and progress and not sure how should I get back the booking fee that I have paid.

Below are the T&C on cancellation.

Tried calling them? Otherwise try contacting the agency they work under directly?

Call the agency firm, giv them the agent name, get his/her lead contact.
Talk to the lead, ask for explanation. If u still wan proceed, get a new agent. If don't want, ask the lead to assist in cancel.
If still cannot, directly call the developer marketing team to complain the agent n demand refund.

First, what i wanna say, developer will listed out term and condition before place booking, like with 2 loan rejected letter, fully refund. Some developer will get admin fee 100,even with loan rejection letter. Developer oso will stated, if without loan rejected letter, fully forfiet booking fee. All term and condition, developer will list out, main problem is agent have tell buyer regarding this matter or not, and the most important is must bank in to developer bank account, not personal or agency bank account. Make the thing clear before make a speculation about it. The main problem is agent didn't tell buyer regarding the term and condition before place booking , and regarding if using cc, developer normally will charge 2% for merchant services, that all, thank you

Parking

This post has been edited by taengu: Jul 18 2021, 07:55 PM

Hi, my friend paid booking fee for a new property and proceed for loan application however suddenly agent said the property already sold despite my friend paid the booking fee... So my question is booking fee really secure the property? Or its just a fee of "interest".. and what can he do assume he will get back the full refund?

This post has been edited by t3n: Nov 29 2021, 08:11 AM

Booking fees are not contractual obligations that the property is "yours", so yes someone else can buy the unit if they're able to confidently sign SPA much earlier.

A confirmed sale (signed SPA) is almost always going to take higher priority over an unconfirmed one.

Since unit is sold your friend can demand full refund. As for purchasing, they only can either choose another unit or seek another property to look at.

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Nov 29 2021, 09:54 AM

Alright, thanks for the clarification...

It depends on the developer right?

Depend on what term ?

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Nov 29 2021, 11:20 AM