PLEASE is in capital because this is only an advice. Penang Housing committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said that developers cannot force home purchasers of affordable homes to buy any renovation package. I assume this includes also additional car park package etc. Of course they are free to offer such packages but it must be on a willing buyer-willing seller basis. Under no circumstances that the buyer should be coerced to buy the package. In short, “Renovation packages are optional.” He also said that whatever the price and size announced should be the final price and not any additional number on top of the original price.
Personally, I am not sure how much can Jagdeep do to exert pressure on these developers. The buyers may be those who were approved by the state housing committee while the developer is not part of the state housing committee. However, I do believe that for these affordable projects, their plot density should have been increased and thus, the developer should be able to earn profits, even if it may be lower than usual projects. After all, if the price offered is just not possible, why are developers of these affordable homes offering it in the first place?
Maybe the best would be for all these buyers to always go to the press with the names of these unscrupulous developers. These days, news travel in seconds and I am not sure if the developer would want to be mentioned in a bad light. The one thing they can do? Well, for their next project, they can also register a new company name. Perhaps these affordable projects should only be handled by the established players whether big or small who has completed many projects? This ensures they are likely to be in this business for the long term and may be more reluctant to do things which may damage their image. Frankly, I am not sure if a totally new developer is able to be effective and efficient enough for all these affordable units project which is cheap and yet must still maintain quality and be completed on time. Let’s continue to share news against unfair practices then. Cheers.
written on 9 Apr 2015
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