The Workers Consumer Movement (WCM) today claimed that it has received more than 200 telephone complaints from house buyers against 50 housing developers over a period of two weeks.

WCM secretary-general Mustafar Maarof said in a press statement that house buyers have been plagued with problems involving their purchases for over 30 years.

"Up till now, no action has been taken to resolve these problems," he claimed, adding that excuses such as the economic slump to explain abandoned housing projects were no longer relevant.

"We have experienced such downturns before, in 1985 and 1998, but the authorities have not done anything even when the economy was booming," he said.

Mustafar said complaints have been steadily received since the movement set up a monitoring line at its office in Subang Jaya two weeks ago.

Complaints included the legal obligations of housing developers, abandoned or deferred projects and breaches of sale and purchase agreements.

"Some developers are not registered with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government but are permitted to operate," he said.

"Some carry out large-scale advertisements, clear the land and set up their office and collect a 10 percent advance payment of houses that were supposed to be ready in 1999. Yet until today, the houses are not ready. All that is seen is tall grass growing on that land," he said.

Mustafar said some projects which were supposed to have been completed in 1992 were still not ready, but "civil servants who have bought those houses have to start servicing their loans".

"When projects are completed behind schedule, developers are unwilling to compensate the buyers with the amount stated in their sale and purchase agreements," he revealed.

Price jump

Mustafar said buyers were also confused by additional payments imposed by housing developers which were previously not mentioned in the sale and purchase agreement.

Some even had to contend with aan increase in their house price when developers upgraded their low-cost houses to medium-cost ones with the excuse that the project was being handled by a new developer, he said.

"Buyers have to eventually pay RM67,000 for a RM37,000 house even though an agreement was signed for the latter amount," he said.

Some projects were also not constructed according to plan, claimed Mustafar.

"A number of developers took 21 years to complete or continue a project and later force buyers to sign a new sale and purchase agreement that bears a new purchase price," he said.

Mustafar said several of the housing developers complained against were listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. One of them failed to complete a project as scheduled in 1998 but was allowed to continue operating.

"These companies operate through their sister companies whilst their parent companies announce a considerable amount of cash flow and a healthy investment portfolio during their annual general meetings," he said.