Before you buy that house, ask your lawyer this....Part 1

I have actually drafted a book which a few publishers have shown their interest in and where one of the publisher is a self-published author quite well-known in Malaysia who writes about property. As he seems to put his money where his mouth is and is successful at that, it was a kind of an endorsement when he expressed his interest on the subject that I wanted to write. So, I did write the book and have actually finished writing two chapters before I lost my momentum and blogging took up my time. Its not an excuse as I can actually merged both (hobby?) work and finish what I have started. It took me sometime to start this series as I have written the book in a series of Question and Answer. Before I delve into the book proper, consider this as its synopsis and introduction.

The idea for the book that I wanted to write starts off with just that one book then expanded into a series. The name of the book is in the vein of the title of this blog posting but more catchy. The idea is to see the question that any normal housebuyer would ask his or her lawyer when he or she would want to buy a house. The perspective will be from a lawyer but the book is divided to a few parties who plays a part when one buys a house. As to date, I haven't finish dividing the topics for the book properly yet but here are some rough outline :-

1. The Lawyer : Who governs them, What is the law applicable to them, How much can they charge you,  Where do you take your grievance to if your lawyer does an unsatisfactory job, Can you NOT use the lawyer suggested by the developer, Can you ask for a discount

2. The Developer : Who governs them, What law is applicable to them, Can you cancel your purchase, How are housebuyers protected, How much are they allowed to charge interest

3. The Authority : A kind of a redundancy but important to highlight the other authorities other than Housing and Local Government Ministry which licensed the developer such as the local authority where the development is situated, the fire department, the land office, the stamp office and such

4. Landed property : This is mostly on how one buys a property with title where there involves more cost than a stratified title but the beauty of it the piece of land where the house is build is yours when the transfer is done properly

5. Stratified title property : The cost that is cheaper in the initial stage but will be quite a headache to maintain with maintenance charges, unscrupulous developer charging water or cutting off water, the meaning of sinking fund and whether the developer can sell you the extra parking that you crave or is it a given thing in a condo

These are just some of the questions that I would tackle in my book with a few tweaking to help make it an easier companion for housebuyers in Malaysia. This first of the series will tackle residential property before going to explain about housing loans, commercial property and then litigatious matter.

Do stop by this blog to know more later...