Not dream homes but a nightmare
14/06/2007 The Star By Dharmender Singh

APARTMENT owners at Taman D’Menara near Banting were lured by the chance to enjoy a quiet and relaxed semi-urban neighbourhood when they purchased their units over three years ago.

Since then, that they really got was anxiety and no peace of mind as they were faced with water dripping from the ceilings and seeping into the walls of their units.

A spokesman for the residents, Ayob Sharijan, said the problems started even before the buyers took vacant possession of the units less than 18 months ago and complaints were made to the developer concerned.

“Some remedial work was carried out but the problems only got worse over time to the point that water started to leak from the ceiling of the units and walls were permanently damp,” he said.

He said the floor was also poorly designed as water that collected on the floor could not flow out and therefore damaged the parquet flooring.

Ayob said that after finding that their complaints were not getting the needed attention from the developer, the residents decided to take their problems to the Kuala Langat District Council (MDKL).

“Recently, our water supply was cut as the developer failed to settle the bill with Syabas (Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor),” he said.

On Thursday, the 49 year-old businessman pleaded his case to Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo during the People’s Complaints Inventory in Banting.

Dr Khir said he had directed the MDKL to issue a stop work order to the developer immediately as the company was still working on other phases of the project.

“The problems are serious and the order will not be lifted until all the remedial works are satisfactorily carried out. The state government’s stand on problems with completed projects is clear. If there are problems caused by the developers, then the local authorities must do what it can to force the developers to do remedial works,” he said.

On the inventory for the Kuala Langat district, Dr Khir said he received 142 complaints, mostly involving problems in changing the land use status and applications that did not follow the set conditions.

He was confident that most of the problems would be settled within a year.

“We received 105 reports during the same inventory last year and we have already settled 100 while action is being taken to settle one more and we are studying the remaining case,” he said.