Real estate complaints top CPB list

Real estate complaints top CPB list

Board set to tackle property disputes

The Consumer Protection Board (CPB) has agreed in principle on key measures designed to curb disputes between homebuyers and real estate developers following a surge in complaints.

Cases filed with the CPB regarding property issues topped the list of consumer issues submitted to the office, CPB spokesman Songrit Rattanadilok na Phuket revealed.

He said the CPB was dealing with more than 3,000 cases. The board discussed a plan to devise new and urgent measures to better tackle real estate-related consumer issues and make the work more integrated, he said.

The measures could be divided into two parts: to seek to amend the existing laws, and to certify and reward developers with good records concerning home buyers' rights protection.

The CPB plans to work together with the Council of Engineers, Engineering Institute of Thailand, Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, Department of Lands, Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning, and local administration organisations, he said.

In the second area of the work, a related proposal was also made for the CPB to seek to work with the Office of Insurance Commission to issue a new regulation requiring every business in the real estate development sector to buy home insurance policies for their customers to ensure consumers are protected.

Common problems facing homebuyers, which have been reported to the CPB are post-construction damage such as partial collapses and cracks; that not all essential public utility services are provided as advertised; unfinished construction; construction cancellation; delays in transferring the proprietary right from the developer to homebuyers; that the constructed building doesn't conform to approved construction plans; disputes over down payment refunding in case of a rejected mortgage loan application; and disputes over real estate project management by a legal entity.

Most of these problems are found to stem manly from developers' greed and lack of professional ethics, which often leads them to exploit an unfair contract with home buyers to achieve maximum profits, a source at the CPB office said.

On the consumer side, in most cases buyers facing problems such as these were those who failed to pay sufficient attention to details in the sales contracts before they signed them.

Homebuyers are advised to carefully examine the contract and compare its details against what has been advertised to ensure they get what they are promised, the source said.

But if a developer fails to provide what has been promised in a contract and a brochure, homebuyers can use these documents as evidence to seek justice, he said.

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