In a small, quiet town, an empty piece of land stands as a grim reminder of dashed dreams.
There are many stories of abandoned housebuilding and renovation projects, so much so that people have grown accustomed to them.
Statistics from the Tribunal For Consumer Claims show that at least 84 cases were brought before it every month until September last year.
Read more: Dream homes dashed by errant contractors
The advice that is inevitably given when such incidents occur is this: hire licensed contractors and have proper agreements.
Many people follow these recommendations, but they still find themselves grappling with unanticipated problems.
The New Straits Times examines the reasons why these problems persist and what can be done to overcome them once and for all.
CUSTOMERS DUPED BY CREDENTIALS
Hatati (not her real name) lost tens of thousands of ringgit after falling prey to a rogue contractor whom she had engaged to renovate her house.
Having paid more than RM70,000 to her contractor, who flaunted his CIDB licence to convince her, Hatati was dismayed when her house renovation in 2018 was left incomplete.
"After extensive surveying, we had shortlisted two contractors and chose the one who was registered with .CIDB because we thought it was a safer bet," says Hatati, who lives in Subang Jaya.
The work, she says, was not even halfway done before the contractor absconded.
BLACKLISTED CONTRACTORS CHEAT THE SYSTEM
Hatati's story brings to light another troubling development: the contractor she engaged was on the CIDB blacklist, and yet managed to beat the system by operating under his brother's licence.
Property lawyer Syazwan Mohd Jafri, who has encountered many such cases, said in one case he handled, the rogue contractor had used his wife's licence without her knowledge to secure projects."The case took a long time because we needed to find ways to nail down the husband (who was the real perpetrator)," he said.
Syazwan said some customers also fall for incomplete agreements.
"These cases usually fall into three categories, namely those with a signed agreement, those without, and finally, a 'perjanjian cap ayam', meaning it consists of just a brief document, two or three pages at most.
"These agreements lack comprehensive coverage. They merely list the contractor, client, project details and the agreed value.
"Even without an agreement or with an incomplete agreement, we can still proceed with legal action but the process will be longer and will incur higher cost," he said.
POLICE-CIDB 'GAP' ENABLES UNSCRUPULOUS CONTRACTORS TO THRIVE
In most cases, victims would immediately lodge a police report.
However, the absence of coordination between the police and CIDB allows problematic contractors to continue with their businesses and potentially victimise others.
Another victim, Khairul (not his real name), said the policemen at the front desk almost immediately recognised his problematic contractor as many reports had been lodged against him.
"The cops asked me, 'Do you know how many reports we have on him for cheating his customers?'
"He (the contractor) apparently already has three other reports against him," said Khairul.
Khairul, a policeman himself, had sold his assets to finance the completion of his dream house.
He said he was disappointed in the lack of urgency shown by his colleagues, which allowed the contractor to escape with almost a million ringgit from his victims.
"We (all the victims) kept on texting him (the investigation officer) even until today to get an update on our case but he doesn't reply," he said.
VICTIMS UNAWARE OF CIDB'S ROLE, FAIL TO REPORT UNSCRUPULOUS CONTRACTORS
Khairul took to social media to share his story to spare others from the same fate and he was shocked when 23 people, who were victims of the same contractor, responded to him.
Thirteen had filed police reports. The rest, however, did not do so as they had hoped to settle the matter amicably.
None, however, lodged a report with CIDB.
"The CIDB office is far from where I live and it is troublesome for me (to report), so I decided to just ignore it," Khairul said.
Khairul's response is echoed by most victims whom NST speaks to, which underscores their unfamiliarity with their responsibility to report unscrupulous contractors to CIDB.
PREDATORY CONTRACTORS THRIVE AS LEGAL COSTS DETER VICTIMS FROM SEEKING JUSTICE
When contractors breach agreements — leaving house renovations incomplete, for instance — there is a violation of civil law and the onus is on the victims to bring the matter to court.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf says abandoned construction projects do not constitute cheating and that buyers may seek redress only through the relevant authorities or the courts.
"As for renovation cases, yes, they may have elements of cheating but they still fall under a civil agreement.
"Similar to a wedding catering, it normally involves an agreement but when the (renovation) can't be done within the stipulated time, it is considered a breach of contract," he says.
However, victims often let matters slide because of financial constraints, thus allowing rogue contractors to continue exploiting others.
Khairul says he approached a lawyer, who asked for RM400 up front to file a lawsuit.
"After each step, I would have to pay RM400 more, and the total cost would go up to RM15,000," says Khairul, who abandoned the idea.
Hatati, too, did not bring the case to court.
"We don't have that much money so we decided to use whatever we had to finish the renovation.
"The contractor, knowing that we don't have the means to sue him, even dared us to do so," she claims.
WHY LICENSED CONTRACTORS FLOP
A seasoned industry player Mahanom Mohammad said various factors may account for this, including the contractors' incompetency.
Some contractors lack skills and technical knowledge, resulting in mistakes that jeopardise the building's main structure. They evade responsibility by fleeing.
Other factors include subpar management of workers or the recruitment of incompetent individuals, poor handling of cash flow or finances, mispricing, and undertaking projects beyond their capacity.
Homeowners, she added are also becoming victims due to their lack of knowledge in monitoring the renovation works.
This, she added, underscores the need to bring in experts — architects, plan designers, engineers, quantity surveyors or certified project managers — to help monitor projects.
Mahanom who won the Best Malaysia Construction Industry Excellence Award award for two consecutive years said she has developed a website called MyKontraktor — www.MyKontraktor.com — that contains a list of contractors whom she has personally vetted for reliability.
She also offers a guide on hiring contractors at https://mahanommohammad.com/panduan-mykontraktor/.
STRENGTHENING THE LAW
Syazwan says while there is a basis to classify the act of shirking construction responsibility as a crime, the solution lies in strengthening the current law.
"Making this a criminal act can be done to protect people from being cheated but we need to look into it to make sure the changes will not open the floodgates.
"Let's say the government decides to make this an offence. What about other industries (where agreements are involved)? Where do we stop?," he says.
He thinks the government should look at increasing the current penalty as a deterrent and emphasise public empowerment.
"The victims must report to CIDB whenever they have issues with their contractors so that an investigation can be done and we can prevent others from becoming victims," he adds.
Stringent requirements, he says, should be introduced for contractor-licence applicants.
"They must undergo industrial training or courses to ensure that they achieve a minimum standard and are competent enough.
"Those who have had their licence revoked several times should be permanently blacklisted," he adds.