THE State Legislative Assembly was yesterday told that house buyers defaulting with their instalments are given ample time to settle their outstanding loans.
Housing Minister Datuk Amar Johari Tun Openg said Housing Development Corporation (HDC) would follow various procedures before issuing a writ of possession to the defaulters.
According to him, house buyers with two months outstanding loan would first be issued with a reminder letter, and issued a second reminder if there was still no payment, followed by house visit to discuss with the defaulters before a demand letter is issued through a lawyer if there is still no payment.
He added that the legal process would continue until a writ of possession was issued by the court if no payment was made.
“Before a writ of possession is issued, HDC still conducts house visit to discuss with them (loan defaulters) and the process of issuing a writ of possession will sometimes take one or two years, and during such period, the loan defaulters are still given the chance and ample time,” he told the Assembly in his winding-up speech.
He further said HDC officers also assist loan defaulters to withdraw their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to settle the outstanding and reduce the loan.
Abang Johari noted that most loan defaulters did not give priority to paying their housing loan, which resulted in them having outstanding loans.
The minister also said the government was making effort to address the squatter problem by 2020 through the State Squatters Eradication Action Plan.
One way to address the problem, he pointed out, was to build affordable houses in areas with many squatters like Kuching, Miri and Bintulu.