GEORGE TOWN, March 28 — Penang will blacklist any developers found in cahoots with “gangster contractors” who intimidate home buyers into engaging them for renovations.
The state government said it has arranged to meet with the Penang police chief to crack down on the group allegedly intimidating and threatening new home buyers into engaging their services, especially in high rise projects.
“We will not tolerate this. If we find any developer involved in designating these gangster contractors to intimidate and threaten home buyers into booking their renovation services at their projects, we will not hesitate to blacklist the developer,” said Penang Housing state executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo.
He told a press conference that he had recently received complaints from home buyers who alleged they were threatened for not engaging the project’s designated contractor to undertake renovation works on their newly completed apartment units.
“They now fear for their safety as they had been threatened,” he said.
This is not the first time such incidents took place, and Jagdeep admitted that it has been going on for years in other residential high rise projects in the state.
Such cases involve “designated” contractors who set up temporary stations at newly completed apartments and allegedly coerce home buyers planning to renovate their units to use their services.
Home buyers who appoint their own contractors will be forced to either pay a “fee” or to buy renovation supplies such as cement and tiles from them.
“I have said this before, there is nothing in the law that requires home buyers to up take up renovation packages if they don’t want to and this most definitely is not in any sales and purchase agreement,” Jagdeep said.
He called on all home buyers who faced similar issues at their apartments to lodge police reports against the errant contractors.
“This is criminal intimidation and harassment. The police can take action against them,” he said.
He said the state will urge the police to act harshly against these contractors while the state will check to ensure the developers are not in cahoots with these contractors.
