Saturday, December 23, 2017

Lawyer: Change loans rule and pay direct to developer

The Star
by Fatimah Zainal

PETALING JAYA: The Public Sector Home Financing Board (LPPSA) should change its loans rule to allow the money to be released straight into the developer’s account if it is a direct purchase from the developer, said a senior lawyer. 

“If it is a second sale or sub sale then I understand the money must be released to the seller’s lawyer to take care of other payments,” said Datuk Roger Tan, the chairman of the Malaysian Bar Council Conveyancing Practice Committee. 

LPPSA is a statutory body established under the Public Sector Home Financing Board Act 2015 to manage the provision of housing loans to civil servants. 

Tan was commenting on reports by The Star on Thursday about buyers of an affor­dable housing scheme in Johor Baru who were duped by a lawyer. 

The lawyer, who was supposed to help them secure housing loans, did not remit the money to the developer after the loans were approved. 

The lawyer siphoned off the money from the victims, mostly civil servants, and wrote invalid cheques to the developer instead. The developer then decided to hold back the keys to the houses, to the dismay of the buyers. 

The Star also reported that the victims, who lost more than RM620,000, lodged at least five police reports against the lawyer.