A disgruntled condominium buyer of the now abandoned Sentul Raya project will stand to lose thousands of ringgit if he agrees to receive only a principal sum reimbursement from the developers, Sentul Raya Sdn Bhd. He may not be the only one.

Kamal Sahar Jamli, an insurance agent, told malaysiakini he booked a Villa Perhentian luxury condominium that is being constructed under the Sentul Raya project in December 1996. In August last year, Sentul Raya sent him a letter stating the project was being abandoned and requested Kamal to agree to only a principal sum refund.

The principal sum does not include the interest on the loan, legal fees and the liquidated ascertained damages (LAD) which are paid by the developer for late delivery.

Kamal said since he signed the sale and purchase agreement, he has paid up RM60,000 in three stages to the developers. This does not include other miscellaneous payments totaling about RM20,000.

"According to the sale and purchase agreement, the developers would have to pay us RM17,000 a year as liquidated ascertained damages for late delivery since they did not complete the project by the intended date. Now, it is three years late and by right, they would have to pay us quite a sum.

"Knowing that they have to pay a large amount if they adhere to the sale and purchase agreement, Sentul Raya is obviously trying to get us buyers to agree to only receive a principal sum refund. This is to cut their losses," said Kamal.

Financial difficulties

The letter from Sentul Raya, a company under Taiping Consolidated Bhd which is handling the project, requests the buyers to sign an agreement "to accept the refund of the purchase price already paid free of interest."

Sentul Raya company secretary Lee Kian Teck told malaysiakini that as the project was never completed, the LAD under the sale and purchase agreement were not applicable. He refused to comment any further.

The Sentul Raya project was originally jointly owned and developed by Taiping Consolidated and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd and was supposed to have been completed in 1999.

During the economic crisis in 1997, Taiping Consolidated ran into financial difficulties and had to sell a number of their assets to YTL Corporation. The Villa Perhentian condo project, however, was not one of them.

Under the original plan, Sentul Raya was to have been made up of four blocks of luxury condominiums but to date only one has been completed.

Kamal explained that at the time of the agreement to purchase the unit, the developer's plan showed that there would be eight units per floor with each block comprising 25 floors.

Future home affected

"This incident has not only caused us financial worries but also jeopardised the future of us owning a home. My wife, who applied for the housing loan from Petronas, will now not be able to apply for another housing loan," said Kamal.

"The interest charged by Petronas was four percent and if we had taken the loan from the banks, the interest would have been higher.

"The only excuse Sentul Raya has for stopping construction on the project is that the project is not profitably viable. The construction was going at full speed up to 1997 before it stopped," he said.

Kamal said there were many other buyers who had yet to sign the agreement allowing Sentul Raya to only pay back the principal amount.

"We buyers do not know each other and this makes it hard for our grievances to be pooled together and heard. I hope other buyers will also come forward as we will be shortchanged if we agree to receive only the principal sum," said Kamal.