SHAH ALAM – The recent floods in Selangor, which submerged some areas for several days and damaged building and residential infrastructure, have conveyed expectations that the property market in those areas will be affected.
Legacy Real Property Sdn Bhd’s registered real estate agent Mohd Saharudin Tunggal said although property prices for the area were expected to be affected, the reality is this has not happened yet as the disaster only hit about two weeks ago.
“The Valuation and Property Services Department will usually conduct a property valuation every six months and the latest value of the property will usually be seen within a year,” he said.
However, he said that logically, the demand for flood-affected properties would definitely decline, with more tenants wanting to move out, buyers cancelling purchase plans and owners trying to sell the said homes.
“Currently, in areas such as Kota Damansara and Petaling Jaya, which are not affected by floods, demand is still encouraging but flooded areas, including those near the coast such as Klang, have not received any inquiries from buyers in the past two weeks,” he said.
Saharudin said his company had also received requests from several homeowners affected by the floods in Puchong and Klang who wanted to sell their homes.
Usually for such homes, we will not lower the value of their properties, we will follow the previous value, we will only see the future in terms of demand and if there is no demand at all, logically the price will be lowered,” he said.
He said the impact of Covid-19 and the latest flood disaster had directly affected the property market in Selangor as a whole and that buyers will be more careful in choosing areas that were safe from disasters. “However, a house is a necessity and people will rent if they cannot buy, then the transaction will still happen, but the effect will be clearly seen in terms of the price and value of the property, which will decrease,” he said.
Meanwhile, Qarliff Zamzuri said that so far, his company Messrs Qarliff & Associates had received dozens of calls from property buyers and sellers from Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam and Puchong who wanted to seek advice on the process of buying and selling houses affected by the floods.
According to him, in such a situation, the buyer can cancel the sale and purchase agreement of the residence, but the deposit payment will not be refunded.
This is because there is nothing in the agreement that states that the area is flood-free, and buyers should do ‘due diligence’ or take appropriate steps first by reviewing the condition of the area before signing the sale and purchase agreement,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the selling side, he said if the seller wanted to continue with the sale, he would have to repair and rehabilitate the residence to the state as seen by the buyer before the floods.
“The job of homeowners and sellers is to ensure that the house is delivered in a clean, good and undamaged condition as seen by the buyer when looking at the house – that is the buyer’s right,” he said.
However, he said, if the seller could not afford to do so, they would have to return the deposit and pay a penalty of the same (deposit) value to the buyer (10+10).
“Besides that, this matter can also be resolved at the discretion between buyers and sellers, such as lowering the price of the property without doing repairs and restoration,” he said.
As for houses that were swept away by floods, he said the transaction cannot be continued and the seller must return the deposit to the buyer. – Bernama, January 4, 2022
