Saturday, October 8, 2011

Consistent Leaks In The House

Just wanted to share some leaking problems that we are still facing in our house. We've reported it many times to the developer but all they have done was covered and painted over it. It's super annoying and I know that many neighbours are facing the same issues. Apart from continuously hassling the UEM customer service office, I'm wondering if anyone has successfully gotten UEM to fix these leak issues. Please do share your experience and thoughts.

Leaks on staircase landing wall


Leaks on guest bedroom's bathroom ceiling


Also, we found out that almost none of the windows are straight and the rendering on the walls are quite soft. Well, actually a lot of things in the house are not straight (from door frames, main entrance, etc) !!!!!!

We thought we could just drill and screw on timber blinds, but the rendering cracked so we had to screw in a length of aluminium angle to reinforce the top of the window opening which is anchored deep into the wall and then attach the Venetian timber blinds clip to the aluminium angle. The benefit of this is straight edge, less screws required to be counter sunk into the wall and we can attach any window finishing to the aluminium.



If you're buying a house in Malaysia, do keep note of house defects and reputation of the developer. Even though this is a high end development, we still find challenges in getting the developer to be responsive and responsible in fixing defects. I have been told that this is very common here unfortunately. Hopefully things will improve (being optimistic) :)

16 comments:

  1. HI,

    I am in Singapore and plan to imitate you next year. Can I offer you lunch against some advice ?

    Best

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  2. Hi Charles, thanks for reading my blog. Sure, no probs, you can drop me an email at e_oktora@yahoo.com.

    Have a great Sunday evening.
    Erika

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  3. Erika
    Do you have a defects liability clause in your sale agreement? There should be a clause that says the lawyers will hold back the last 5%, and will only release to UEM after 2 years from date of handover - the idea of course is to protect new owners against defects.
    Actually it splits up as 2.5% after 8 months, and another 2.5% after 24 months.
    Apparently a standard clause in all malaysia contracts. The lawyer showed me this afternoon (I was doing the paperwork for my Impiana purchase).
    Worth checking out I think.

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  4. Hi Erika
    Finally got our keys. Next Monday the customer service (CS) personnel and I will do a Testing and commissioning T&C (wiring and plumbing)of the house as well as checking for defects and render the repairs. They are doing this as 'out of kindness' to us since the unit is a sub sale one. (I thought I should do this prior to my contractor coming to get the home fixed). Otherwise they (the developer) will not claim responsibility.

    There are many little defects in the house. The major one would be the leakage on the ceiling above the master bathroom toilet area. There is an UNCLE, going about the estate on his little motor cycle, fixing little defects here and there and all he did was painted over the leakage stains. I am going to ask the CS people to put a layer of sealant on the roof to prevent further future leakage.

    The excitement of having the home fitted is very scary as I don't know the competency of the contractors. They can certainly talk but I am not sure of the work. (being an almost perfectionist). Well, since I cannot do the work, I might as well bite the bullet and pray for the best;-)

    All in all, we are very excited and can't wait to move in. I still think we have made the right decision.

    Once we are there, few things we need to look for. That is a good vet for my cat and a good reliable limo driver to take us back and forth to Changi airport should we have to travel together. Know of any?

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  5. @CHickenWingSing - thanks for the insights! Apologies for my slow reply. We bought our place as sub-sale unit so I don't remember seeing any of such clause. The developer's contractor has came to view the leaks so we're waiting for them to fix it (properly) now.

    @Jackie, congrats!!!! Welcome to the neighborhood (soon enough). You have to aggressively pursue the developer to get the defects fixed. For vet, the place we go to for pet boarding also runs a veterinary clinic (GlobalPets). For Limousine driver, I have seen SG special taxi coming to pick up a neighbor to go to Changi, I can't remember the name but we can easily find out when you're here and when you need it from other neighbors :)

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  6. Hi Alex, thanks for reading my blog and for your comments. That's great to hear, residents also need to continue to be very vocal with the developers, otherwise things will be left unattended.

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  7. Hi Erika,

    I have the same problem, leaking ceiling. Do you mind sharing reliable contractor that can fix the problem?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Neu Tea,

      Thanks for reading my blog. I apologise for my late reply as I've been away on long holiday.

      We're still in midst of renovation so the leaks on our staircase landing is not fixed yet. Our current contractor (who's doing our renovation) will help us look into that but since he's so busy finishing our renovation, we've left him alone for now. I'll blog more as soon as we've found out the cause and fixes.

      Cheers,
      Erika

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  8. Hi, can please advise where do you get your sub sales leads from? It's disappointing to hear that the quality of the house can be a problem :(

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ben,

      Thanks again for your msg.

      I found my property through a SG agent via iproperty/propertyguru (can't remember exactly). We bought our house subsale from a lady who bought many many houses from UEM during release of Phase 1.

      Quality of houses are problems everywhere in Johor, even higher end properties like HH, EL, etc. Do take the time to talk to the developers to understand their commitment in quality of finish, maintenance etc.

      All the best,
      Erika

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    2. Hi Erika,

      Thanks for taking time to reply. I really appreciate it. I was in JB last Sat and had a chance to rive around the newly built houses like Tranquility, Melody and many others. It looks very much like an American town.
      You are right, I found out from the more reputable developers that most houses will have some defects and it's normal. They do offer to repair defects from 2-3 years depending on developer after owners receive the keys. Some developers will have a clause to hold say 5% of outstanding payment till end of the 2-3 years.

      Thanks so much,
      Ben

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    3. Hi Ben, that's correct but do note also the quality of defects repairs. What's commonly done is more of a touch up/paint over and true defect fixes. Hence you often hear home owners facing the same problems even after the 2-3 years defects liability expire. UEM tends to send an Indian/Malay/Indonesian sub-contractor who's not qualified builder (they're often rather just a immigrant worker). Hence, I think it's important for you to raise this when speaking to the sales team.

      All the best,
      Erika

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    4. Hi Erika,

      Thanks for telling me this. At least I can request or demand from the sales person to ensure good fixes :)

      Thanks

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    5. Yes, you should. They're very good at lip services! Happy holidays

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  9. Do you mind sharing reliable contractor that can fix the ceiling problem? dubai blinds

    ReplyDelete