Condo buyers sue over unit sizes
Pavinee Pinyo, the president of the condominiums juristic body, said the owners did not become aware of the problem until the 36th month of their interest-free installment payments.
When ownership transfers were to take place in the 37th month, buyers sought mortgages from financial institutions, at which point they realised that the unit sizes stated in their hire-purchase contracts were not the same as what was stated on the title deeds.
Klong Chan Place, located in Bang Kapi, consists of three buildings with a total of 593 units and about 1,000 residents.
Sales began after the condominium was built in 1996. A pilot project by the NHA at the time was offering units priced at 20,000 baht per square metre and up.
Buyers realised in 2000 that the unit sizes were not the same as had been claimed, but it was not until 2004 that 106 buyers joined together to sue the NHA. Witness testimony is currently being heard.
Of the total units, 60% have been transferred to buyers. Another 30% of the buyers have declined to accept transfers as they are afraid they will have to accept an unfair contract. The remaining 10% of units are still available for sale.
Ms Pavinee said one condition in the hire-purchase contract stated that buyers would agree to accept units that may be bigger or smaller than specified without any change in the price.
"According to the Condominium Act, this condition applies only in cases where the area lost is less than 5% of the total area. However, some units lost more than 5%," she said.
She said the losses ranged from 1.8 square metres for a unit of 49 sq m, to 7.17 sq m for 66 sq m unit. The average price per sq m was 26,000 baht.
"We believed the NHA built low-priced housing for low-income people. On the day we bought the units, we didn't compare the prices with other nearby projects as we were confident that the NHA units were cheaper than those of other developers," she said.
Mr Pavinee said that after the case was filed, the NHA had amended its brochures to state the actual unit sizes.
The buyers want the authority to refund the money for the area lost to those who already have ownership, and to reduce the price for those who have not yet taken transfer.
"We want to set an example for residents of other NHA projects who also faced problems in buying units from the authority," she added.
Ms Pavinee said the group would file at least three more cases against the NHA. One would seek retroactive payment of electricity bills from 33 shops currently leased at the site for commercial purposes.
Another case involves assets belonging to the juristic body such as the parking lots, and the last case involves the refund of payments for common space before the establishment of the juristic body, which buyers had made based on their larger unit sizes.BANGKOK POST.
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