KOTA KINABALU: The Tribunal for Homebuyer Claims here yesterday ordered a housing developer to conduct an inspection on one of its apartment units in Menggatal on December 10 this year.
Tribunal President Datuk Ahmad Sedik also ordered the developer to submit a report to him by December 12 this year.
The buyer of the unit, Rasman Sabar, had filed a claim stating that there were water leak in the kitchen of his unit that had persisted even after repairs were carried out by the management in August.
“The water dripping from the kitchen ceiling comes from a toilet on the fourth floor. I live on the third floor. I complained once in August and after repairs, it is still leaking and is worse than before,” he said.
According to Rasman, the leak had still persisted since October this year.
He also claimed that the floors at his unit were damaged due to water leak under it, while the sewage pipes outside his kitchen were exposed and leaking.
“The laminated floors of my unit have cracked and expanded because of the moisture,” Rasman said, adding that even the main bedroom and second bedroom had water leak problem.
However, he said, he had only filed a written complaint to the respondent last week but had made numerous oral complaints before that.
Meanwhile, the respondent said that they had tried to make an appointment with the purchaser to inspect his home, and said that they had only received the formal complaint from the claimant last week and assured that they will carry out the repairs.
Amongst other complaints that Rasman filed was that he was dissatisfied with the library facilities offered to residents of the apartments. Rasman also mentioned that as a purchaser, he was not informed of the courtyard being replaced with a children’s playground.
He expressed concern over the children’s playground’s close proximity to a swimming pool as it is dangerous for the kids visiting the playground.
The claimant also questioned the RM5 fee, on top of a RM105 maintenance fee, which he regarded as unnecessary and a surcharge.
To this, the tribunal president ordered for the RM5 to be included as part of the maintenance fees to avoid further confusion and advised that the playground should not be located next to a swimming pool.
Another claimant, Nismah Kadir, made a similar complaint against the developer for water leakage on her unit’s ceilings.
Nismah lodged a formal complaint with the apartment’s management on December 17, 2012 and was expecting a call from the respondent after two weeks but did not receive.
In response, the developer acknowledged that they received the complaint in December. However, they had tried frequently to contact Nismah but her number was unreachable.
The Tribunal President ordered the developer to inspect and repair Nismah’s unit within three weeks of the hearing date.
Earlier, Ahmad Sedik and Tribunal Secretary Datin Esther Le made a site visit to the apartments in question together with the aggrieved parties and the respondent.
He made the call for the on-site visit as 200 cases have been lodged against the respondent.