Most people can only dream of buying a house abroad, let alone a second house. When it comes to buying a new home, you have to be careful about dealing with real estate agents or developers as not all of them are honest. This woman from China, unfortunately, had to learn it the hard way.
A woman who goes by Yang Ting Ting bought an apartment unit in Forest City, an integrated residential development and private town located in Johor but her dreams of owning a new home in Malaysia were crushed after she discovered that the place was not what she had expected.
As reported by Hong Kong news outlet, HK01, Miss Yang was promised a luxury sea-view apartment by developers when she first bought her unit several years ago back in 2015. When the time came to inspect the unit before the official handover, the Chinese woman was horrified to discover that the residential area is basically a ghost town. She even provided photos of her so-called “sea-view” apartment as seen above.
A glorious view of the ocean wasn’t the only promise. According to HK01, the developers had apparently told the woman that if she were to purchase the apartment unit, she would receive a few benefits such as a high-speed rail service to Singapore and an “overseas Chinese student policy” that would ease the admission of owners’ children into prestigious local educational institutions. But those were just empty promises.
Miss Yang reportedly tried to cancel the agreement upon discovering that Forest City is basically abandoned with too many unoccupied lots and unkempt surroundings but unfortunately, it was too late. The foreign woman claimed that she tried getting a refund on the grounds that the developers had changed the residential title of the building to commercial without consent. Instead, she was given cold and passive responses.
After feeling that she was deceived by the developers, Miss Yang was determined to take legal action against them. However, the journey hasn’t been easy. Due to the ongoing lockdown rules in China, she and other victims have been encountering one roadblock after another. Other than that, Chinese authorities are not able to intervene as this incident is in Malaysia.
At the time of writing, Forest City developers have yet to respond to the allegations. It’s unfortunate that the situation has come to this. Back in 2021, Tunku Mahkota Johor (TMJ) Tunku Ismail Idris ibni Sultan Ibrahim shut down claims surrounding the “failure” of the Forest City mega project but it seems that nothing much has changed in regards to the development.
Sources: HK01, MustShareNews, TheVocket
