JOHOR BARU: A 38-year-old housewife who has been bogged down with bank loans and housing issues for more than 17 years, was relieved to receive help from a group of lawyers who provided free legal advice.
G. Kavitha, who has five children, said her family was in heavy debt due to poor financial management as she and her husband decided to purchase a flat in Taman Cempaka, Tampoi here in 1999 even though they did not have enough money.
She said her mother-in-law agreed to lend them a sum of money for the down payment to buy the house and even helped them service the loan when the couple could not afford to.
“My husband had been in and out of jobs and we did not have a stable income. We ended up in debt after we repaid my mother-in-law her money,” she said when met at a free legal clinic organised by the Kempas assemblyman for his constituency.
As their debt built up, Kavitha said she felt helpless and even borrowed money from the Ah Long in attempts to cover her financial woes but it led to an even bigger amount of debt.
“We managed to sort out some of our financial problems but now the housing loan provider is asking us to pay the outstanding amount of RM15,000 and we are unable to as my husband had just started working in a factory in Singapore last year,” she said.
Kavitha said she wanted to seek the lawyers’ expertise to solve the matter and hopefully write a letter to the bank to allow her to repay the money in stages.
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She was among those who sought help from 20 lawyers as part of Barisan Nasional Youth Volunteers (BNYV) who provided legal advice for free at @Mart Kempas here recently.
Sales executive Muhd Redza Abdul Razak, 24, said he found out about the legal clinic from his brother and decided to seek help on his friend’s housing issue.
“My friend is facing difficulties in transferring the ownership of a low-cost unit that he purchased and has been given the run around.
“As such I decided to refer the case to the lawyers available here in the hope of solving the matter soon,” he said.
Kempas assemblyman Datuk Tengku Putra Haron Aminurrashid Jumat said the clinic was organised to help the public with legal issues such as syariah-related cases, property, will writing, insurance claims and civil matters.
“Many people are still not familiar with the law as well as their own rights and are afraid to approach lawyers with their problems, thinking that it would be expensive so we decided to bring the lawyers to them,” he added.
BNYV chairman Akmal Saufi Mohamed Khaled, who is also a lawyer, said the free legal clinic was the third one to be conducted this year and that after those in Johor Baru and Pasir Gudang, it would be held in areas such as Batu Pahat, Kluang and Muar soon.
“The response has been good so far and we got to get close to the people and help address their problems and give them the right information,” he said.
He added that the most common cases they have received were related to housing and Hardcore Poor Housing Programme (PPRT), women not aware of their rights after their husbands left them and accident claims.
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