Malaysia Real Estate

[mei7]

Hi,

I am recently in the process of purchasing a house in Ipoh - see details below:
- New 3 storey terrace house, Freehold, Master Title, Not Completed (20% built)
- House Value: RM379K
- Load Sum: approx. RM300K

I went ahead to engage my own lawyer (not the developer's lawyer) for the purchase of this house. My lawyer found out that the land onwer is not signing the S&P with the Developer (the developer changes name recently, lawyer suspects that there was a change of hand) and the advice given by my lawyer was, basically there is nothing that they could do to alleviate all possible consequences if the developer and land owner are not executing the S&P - is this true? My lawyer has also anticipated that the worse case will be - my 10% will be held by developer, developer asking for progressive payment but bank cannot disburse the money and purchasers resort to court for ownership of property upon completion of house. I desparately need advice on whether I should still consider buying this house. I only paid the booking fees and but not the 10% of the house value yet.

In addition, my lawyer has informed me that the total legal and other fees will be higher in general for a house that is on a Master Title and needs tranfer to Individual Title later. Below is the breakdown of fees:
(a) Transfer property into your name (when title is issued) = RM9,702-80
(stamp duty is already RM6598-00).
(b) Caveat on Master title additional RM600-00
(c) Assignment - RM5,072-25
(d) Perfection of charge (when title is issued) - RM1,068-85

My questions are:
- Please advice if the above fees are reasonable?
- Could you also shed some lights what the Caveat and Perfection of Charge are for?
- Is it common that buyers purchase a house on Master Title?
- What we need to look out for if a house is on Master Title?

A prompt reply is appreciated as I'm seeing my laywer soon so I need to make a decision prior to the meeting. Thank you very much.

Mei

[cynthusc]