Home loan rejected? Complain to MOF - Guan Eng

Prospective house buyers who are denied loans from local banks can lodge a complaint to the Ministry of Finance for assistance, said Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Upon receiving such complaints, Lim said the ministry will refer to Bank Negara and the bank involved for an explanation on the grounds for rejection of the loan application.

"If you have difficulties getting loans, refer to the Finance Ministry. We will then check with Bank Negara and the banks, why are you not giving loans?

"We want banks to encourage loan lendings... If banks refuse to give loans, we will check with the banks," said Lim in his speech at the Malaysia Property Expo 2019 in Kuala Lumpur today.

"If they (the banks) are justified we will let go.

"If not justified, not only will we ask the bank to give loans, we may consider actions why they deliberately refuse to give loans," he further cautioned.

He also encouraged more house buyers to take advantage of various offers available through the ongoing Home Ownership Campaign - a joint initiative by the ministry and the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) - from Jan 1 to June 30.

Goodies in Budget 2019

Among others, Lim said the offers first announced in Budget 2019 include exemption of duty stamp for the first RM1 million of any property price, and the subsequent amount to be taxed at the original three percent rate instead of the new four percent.

"So if the property price is RM1.5 million, duty stamp will only be imposed on the RM500,000 at a rate of three percent," he explained, adding that developers are also required to provide a minimum 10 percent discount on all units sold, with exception of low-cost price-controlled units.

With an aim of encouraging more first-time house buyers and boost the property sector, Lim reminded banks that they would have little to lose even in the event of a default involving loans for various low-cost housing units.

He argued this is because a defaulted loan for a low-cost unit marketed at RM42,000 could, for example, be recovered through an auction of the house at its real value of over RM100,000.

"If they cannot pay, you (banks) auction (the property) and you can get all the (loaned) amount back. Why are you worried? Why are you afraid?

"It may be a different story for higher priced properties, but as for houses with an actual value far more than its sale price, I don't think banks should be very worried," he said.

A total of 72 private developers and related government agencies are taking part in the three-day expo ending this Sunday. - Mkini