Hi all,

i bought a sub sale apartment in Feb 2016, paid all the DP & lawyer fee to Lawyer firm account.
signed SNP in March 2016. Bank approved loan in March 2016.

Problem was, a month later lawyer said the deal was ongoing but will take longer process since the owner has outstanding amount of maintenance fee 10k & need to settle first,
then later in Dec 2016, lawyer said the Developer now gone bankrupt & in process handling to new developer.
then new lawyer come in coz previous resigned said everything was going smooth.
Finally in Aug 2017(after 1 year 10 months), new lawyer replaced 2nd lawyer & said owner bankrupt! Such a nonsense after waiting for so long!

I check with Insolvensi i& said owner already bankrupt in Feb 2016! Lawyer said to get my 10%(14k) from owner!

I have few questions:

1. Should not lawyer check the owner financial status first?
2. Shouldn't it is lawyer job to get back 10% my money back to me? (thats y Client pay 10% DP thru them NOT owner. they also said this to me everytime i called " kite jaga you punye kepentingan")
3. Lawyer gave back the fee i paid them only 20% saying 80% used. How come they proceed job without checking financial status? Can i ask them to return all 100%
4. What should i do now???? Lawyer sudah lpas tangan & owner block my number.

all, please give guide & help!

first thing a good n ethical lawyer will do bankruptcy search BEFORE he draft SPA and call you for signing!!

seem that this is super lousy lawyer you have!!!!
please proceed with a report to Bar Council immediately & demand for compensation. Push Bar to summon n punish the lawyer

in a mean time - if the property has a title, make a caveat...

mind to pm me the lawyer n law firm name?

1) if the vendor is adjudicated a bankrupt in February 2016 and the date of your sale and purchase is also on February 2016, there is a chance that the search reports may not reflect the vendor's latest credit status, however this is unlikely to happen, even if the search report from Jabatan Insolvensi does not reflect but a CTOS search would have definitely show impending cases instituted against the vendor, this should be a sufficient red light.

2) what your solicitor told you is not wrong, they are not obliged to get back the deposit paid from the vendor, they can issue a letter of demand for you but if the vendor refuses then that is a litigation case waiting to happen and that is a separate matter from your sale and purchase agreement. the fact that you paid the deposit through your solicitor is merely for record purposes to indicate that there is in fact payment made and received as opposed to you paying to the vendor directly without any record (you cannot even institute a suit).

3) see reply number 1; solicitors can refund legal fees paid if the transaction is aborted but subject to deductions of the works they have done and the disbursements they have made through the funds paid to them. asks them for receipts for the deductions made from the disbursements and then asked them for their bill for how much they have deducted for works done (this is of course you want to be meticulous). to be fair, although it could be argued that it is their fault for not conducting due diligence searches on the vendor (maybe) but wouldn't you want to get paid for what you have done? if you are a painter and you painted a section of the wall already, you would want to get paid for that part you have painted, yes?

4) a solicitor can block you from communications but as a firm, they cannot prevent you from entry. if you really think that you have been abused and that you have been treated negligently, make an appointment with the solicitor or the partner (for that matter) and get the matter discuss like a proper person and if the partner also took the evasion approach then only if you want; you can lodge a report with the Bar Council for solicitor's negligence and trust me, Bar Council loves to put solicitors in trouble.

Contrary to popular beliefs, Malaysia's Bar Council isn't really incline to trust practicing solicitors.

here are links

http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/contact/complaints/

Subsale of a work-in-progress unit? Is this permissible?

absolutely permissible, so as long as the parties understand the nature and extend of the sale however the completion date (ie. period to settle the purchase price) will only starts to run from the date the vendor obtains vacant possession of the property from the developer.

Last time I heard one friend want to buy WIP unit, but said it's private arrangement that cannot let developer know.

Not entirely true.

If you browse through the clauses in the standard "HDA" sale and purchase agreement, it would have contained a clause which states that purchasers are allowed to sell and assign the property to a prospective purchaser provided that the confirmation from the developer is first obtained.

This means that either parties would need to obtain the developer's confirmation first prior to the sale and unless there is a modification to the clauses then section 22 of the housing development act actually disallow developers to impose conditions to comply prior to the issuance of such confirmation once the administrative fee of RM53.00 (inclusive of GST) is paid to them.

So typically the developer cannot reject such arrangement between first buyer and the sub-sale? Perhaps in my friend case the seller don't want to lose certain promotional offer from the developer

If the property is yours for the taking, who is there to stop you from doing anything with it?

You sound like a lawyer.

But what if they painted the wall without checking the wall condition first? The paint will quickly wear off if the wall is not cleaned at first. Ok let's be fair & forget about the lawyer fee.

Now about the Down payment. Who will be responsible to get back my DP after lawyer already issue the letter??
Is that all their responsibility with the money I paid?? Issuing the Demand letter??

The owner blocked my number. The agent wont't pick up the phone.

Already call bar council & they direct me to get consent from more lawyer. I'm losing my trust in lawyer now.

Any other possible suggestion?

This post has been edited by farhan2faiz: Jan 3 2018, 05:06 PM

Then it depends on the degree of wrongfulness, many factors but let's leave this as it is.

You are responsible for your own things hence by law, no one is obliged to take care of your things for you unless they have undertaken specifically prior to your reliance on such undertakings. Similarly, you purchased a brand new BMW and then you treat it like a tractor, 2 months down the road, the paint starts to weathered down, you cannot possibly run to BMW and create a scene, right?

A more simple scenario, you knocked your last toe into the foot of a table (to which you have decided unilaterally its position) while walking in the house. You cried in pain and cursed and the question, do you go up to your parents, your wife or your children and insult them for not "reminding' you to be careful?

If you want your money back, engage a proper litigation lawyer and they will guide you what to do next. No one is going to help you to take back what is yours for free.

Surely you cannot expect that the now bankrupt owner to entertain you especially if your conversation is the same old "give my money back".

Why am I not surprised with the real estate agent's actions it is almost natural in their DNA that their function is to do what they can to secure the deal (including misrepresenting the facts) and once it is done, they will disappear without a trace with their commission. If you expected any less from real estate agents then you need to meet with more of them.

Get consent; consent for what? You need to be more specific in your replies.