Groups want BTS system enforced

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: Several consumer groups, housing associations and abandoned project committee heads want the Government to keep to its promise to implement the mandatory build-then-sell (BTS 10:90) system next year.

House Buyers Association vice-president Datuk Goh Seng Toh said the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had recently made a “U-turn” when he said he would propose to the Government to allow the system to co-exist with the sell-then-build system as reported in Utusan Online on Aug 26.

“This has drawn flak from the house-buying public and consumer associations, especially the victims of abandoned housing and of unlicensed developers,” said Goh at a press conference yesterday.

He said former Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Chor Chee Heung had in February 2012 reiterated that the BTS 10:90 system would be made mandatory by next year and this was recorded in the Parliament Hansard in the Dewan Rakyat.

Under the BTS 10:90 system, house buyers fork out a 10% down payment for a house and make further payments only when the property is delivered to them while the current system requires buyers to pay up to 95% until the property is completed and the rest released at the end of the defect warranty period.

Victims Malaysia president Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan said the minister’s back-pedalling was a complete betrayal of public trust.

He said Abdul Rahman should have a dialogue with stakeholders.

Rafick said the last letter sent to him for a dialogue was in April but he never received a reply.

“Ministers may come and go but the decision made in Parliament remains. If the Government wants to change it, it should still continue with the decision while reviewing it,” he said.

“Families are badly hit due to abandoned housing projects,” he said.

As of yesterday, Rafick said 356 projects were delayed and they involved 71,172 houses and affected the lives of 49,641 people.

Meanwhile, the Consumers’ Association of Penang and Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association issued a statement calling on the ministry to make the BTS 10:90 system mandatory next year.