After paying their life savings as downpayment for their first homes, around 100,000 house buyers in Selangor are now left with massive debts after the housing project was declared abandoned.
K. Anakili, who was among the buyers of an abandoned housing project at Bukit Rimau Indah, Section 32 in Shah Alam, struggles to pay for the rent of her present house in Kampung Baru Hicom and service the housing loan for her uncompleted unit, reported The Star.
“We pay RM750 in rent and for the last three years, we could not pay the interest on the bank loan so we have been blacklisted…We owe them RM3,347 for the unpaid interest,” she said.
The project was supposed to feature several blocks of low-medium and low-cost flats next to existing low-cost and double-storey houses.
Housing, Building Management and Urban Living Committee data showed that Selangor has 90 abandoned residential projects with 20,000 uncompleted units.
Kajang has the biggest number of uncompleted units at 3,943 from 12 housing projects, while Klang has the most number of abandoned projects with 25 housing projects, three commercial and one industrial project.
Overall, there are 106 abandoned projects in the state including commercial, factories and residential projects involving nearly 25,000 units.
According to Selangor Housing and Urban Living Committee chairman Haniza Talha, the matter is alarming based on the number of affected buyers.
“These buyers are stuck in a vicious cycle where they have to continue to service the loans for these properties and also fork out money to pay rent on their current houses,” she said.
“Most are not eligible to qualify for another loan as they have been blacklisted by the banks for not repaying their first home loan.”
She noted that the situation is even more dire considering that “these buyers are low- to middle-income earners who were hoping to own their first homes”.
Image sourced from The Star
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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