KUCHING: Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (SHEDA) is urging Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) to consider charging uniform flat rate on legal fees for the preparation of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (S&PA) and Memorandum of Transfer (MoT) for newly constructed houses particularly the SPEKTRA and Affordable houses selling below RM300,000, said a press release yesterday.
The latest amendment to the Advocates Remuneration (Amendment) Rules 2018 has taken effect on 1 May 2018. In it, AAS has put a stop to any discount or any self-imposed standardised scale fees by the banks, financial institution, developers or clients.
SHEDA President, Joseph Wong indicates that under the latest amendments, the scale of legal fees have been amended or revised upwards by almost 40%. The amendments would affect the affordability of the house purchasers as the legal fees for S&PA and MoT are to be borne by the house purchasers.
In the press statement SHEDA requests AAS to give house purchasers a standard uniform flat rate on legal fees for the S&PA and MoTas lawyers are given the standard S&PA format by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing Sarawak (MLGH) at zero cost to them.
Wong opines that AAS should be more considerate on the B40 and M40 house purchasers as most of them are marginally qualifiedto buy an affordable house but the new scale fees will serve to burden them more. Sarawak State Government together with SHEDA members are now focusing on building more affordable houses for the middle (M40) income group. With these new rules, it would made them even more difficult to qualify for this type of affordable housing in Sarawak.
SHEDA is in the opinion that this various schedules of scale fees have effectively allowed the legal profession to monopolise and put undue pressure on both Sarawakian developers and purchasers.
It views that it would be good to charge the scale of legal fees on a free market basis. Lawyers should be encouraged to offer discounted legal fees with healthy competition among the lawyers as most of the S&PA and MoT are on standardised format and with the advance technology, their services can be provided in a more effective manner. Thus, the saving should be passed on to the house purchasers.
SHEDA is willing to work with AAS to propose a workable and feasible uniform flat rate on legal fees for S&PA and MoT especially on the SPEKTRA and affordable houses to in line with the current market demand and regulations, the statement concluded.
