CF issued for condominium with no water and electricity

06/11/2007 The Star By K.W. Mak

THEIR dream home has become a long-drawn nightmare. Buyers of the Mutiara Court in Bandar Sunway are still in the lurch. Although the condominium was issued a Certi-ficate of Fitness (CF) for occupation by the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) seven months ago, they are still unable to move in. Why?

The strange scenario is that the building was given the CF without utilities such as water and electricity being installed first. The normal practice is that a CF is issued only after all the essential utilities are in place.

The buyers are also unhappy with the yet-to-be ratified defective workmanship. They are still waiting to be paid the liquidated ascertained damages (LAD) that the Housing Tribunal awarded them in July.

The condominium was originally to be delivered to the buyers between January and March last year, but the vacant possession letter only came in April this year.

According to Kelana Jaya MP Loh Seng Kok, who is assisting the buyers on the matter, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) have confirmed that water and electricity are ready to be connected.

“It’s the developer’s responsibilities to install individual meters at each unit,” he said.

Loh said that he had arranged meetings between the buyers, the developer Westcourt Corporation Sdn Bhd, TNB and Syabas, but the developer didn’t send attend any of the meetings.

The buyers had also sought the help of MPSJ president Adnan Md Ikhsan on July 6, but nothing came out of it.

The buyers are now contemplating taking legal action against the architect involved in the project, the developer and the council, as their queries with the authorities have shown up various alleged irregularities in the procedures.

Subang Jaya assemblyman and MPSJ councillor Datuk Lee Hwa Beng, meanwhile, defended the MPSJ decision to issue the CF for the condominium.

Lee said in an email response to the buyers that the MPSJ was only interested that all the necessary bylaws are adhered to, and since the developer had apparently met all the legal requirements, the MPSJ was correct in giving the CF.

Buyer Loke Khing Hong, however, pointed out that if the bylaws allowed a developer to hand over to purchasers a condominium that was not fit to be lived in, then something was surely not very right or proper.

Buyer Jessica Tan said that they had been told that Housing Ministry officials were unable to enforce the Housing Tribunal decision directly.

“They can only help us initiate a civil suit file. But to file the civil suit requires a year or more because we have been told that there are thousands of backlog cases,” she said.