Affordable housing applicants must pay RM15,000 to show commitment

Applicants to buy Rumawip (affordable housing) in Kuala Lumpur are asked to pay RM15,000 upfront to show the housing developer that they are committed to the purchase, says Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan.

He said the payment was required for the developer to be certain that the buyer was committed to make payment should he or she be eligible to buy.

Loga was responding to Kepong Community Centre head Yee Poh Ping's request for the Federal Territories Ministry to explain why agents of the developers were asking house buyers to pay RM15,000.

“The developer will ask you to pay the RM15,000 first and then the  Federal Territories Ministry will screen your application. If you are eligible, you apply for the loan. If you get the loan, the RM15,000 will be used as part of the downpayment. If you don’t get the loan, the money will be refunded to you,” said Loga, adding that the sum would also be returned should the buyer fail the screening process.

Loga said the same applied for applications made online.

“If you were to apply online, we will still screen you, and if you are eligible, before the ballots are drawn for the units, you will get a call asking you to pay RM15,000. It is a commitment.

"We will screen your application and check the details. We will know if you already own a house, for example. If so, you will not be eligible,” he said.

He explained that buyers were assured of a unit once they passed the screening process and that the balloting was held to determine the unit the buyer would get.

Yee, when contacted by The Malaysian Insider, accepted the requirement as fair now that it had been made clear that every applicant had to pay RM15,000.

“It wouldn’t be fair if online applicants did not have to pay and only those who applied to the developer had to pay, as priority could be given to those who paid. But as both will need to pay before balloting, the requirement is fair,” he said.-- The Malaysian Insider