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KUCHING, Aug 7: The house owners of a housing project at Jalan Stapok, Kuching, finally receive occupation permits (OPs) for their houses following intervention from Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen.
In a statement today, Chong said he brought up the matter to the press, the developer responded quickly and within two weeks, the occupation permits were issued, and the developer notified the house purchasers to take possession of their houses.
According to Chong, who visited these new houses yesterday, the house owners bought their houses from the developer sometime in 2017 and 2018.
He claimed that even though it was provided in the Agreement that the developer must deliver the houses to the purchasers within two years from the date of the Agreement, up till July 2023, about five years after some of them bought the houses, they were still denied their houses while paying interests and instalments on their bank loans.
Chong said on July 13, during his meeting with the house owners, he was told that the construction of their houses was almost completed last year. He was further informed that sometime around July 2022, the developer promised the purchasers that the occupation permits would be issued and houses delivered to them soon.
“Yet, that promise of ‘soon to be issued’ had gone on for a year, and the purchasers still saw no sign of it coming through,” said Chong, who, after the meeting, issued a letter to both the developer and the Housing Minister, urging a quick resolution of the matter.
“We are glad that finally, the purchasers have got their houses. There will be some penalties that the developer still has to pay the purchasers for the late delivery of their houses.
“There will also be some defects to be repaired, but as a whole, I am glad that the matter has been promptly resolved,” said Chong.
Chong, who is the Democratic Action Party Sarawak chief, however, pointed out that the slowness of the Ministry of Housing in addressing the problems faced by house purchasers left much to be desired.
“There are many errant developers out there taking advantage of the helpless house purchasers, and yet the Ministry of Housing has not done enough to protect these purchasers’ rights,” said Chong. — DayakDaily
