We bought our first house in 2016. So, the Defect Liability Period (DLP) is until 2018. 

Before the DLP ended, the Developer may have to fix and make good of things related to construction issues. Since we had this house for quite a while, The biggest issue we got it fixed during this period is the waterproofing issues.

As expected, a small family of mine (3 pax) won't use all the beds and baths. So this can go easily unnoticed by houseowner which is typically newly married / expanding family.. 

But in my case, I am lucky this waterproofing issues happened around 2018. After I gave birth to Seff, my sister stayed with me for a while because Seff took my sister's breastmilk (because he rejected bottle, and I need to get back to work). So the room and bath upstairs were used by my sister and her kids.

That is when we noticed leak at the ground floor toilet's ceiling

The leak at the ground floor bath

And when the leak is going on for a while, it became insect-bites-alike holes. haha sorry I didn't know the term(s) for these holes!

The holes

So we contacted the developer to get it fixed, but bear in mind, sometimes the developer might be tricking you to temporarily "fixing" the problem/defect.

From our own experience, the repair works went as follow :

1. We notify the Developer on this defect (waterproofing issues)

2. They came to check, came back for a repair on the ceiling* (this is temporary, guys!)

3. Not much long after (but still in the DLP period), the problem persists.

*Note : They confidently told us there is no way a leak happened because there is no water pipes above that ceiling (which is true!)

4. They came back for the 3rd time, repairing the roof (we complained about the roof too LOL), and still investigating the leak

In the meantime, I keep sending the DLP forms and I forgot to mention, everytime I send the Defect forms, I cover it with a letter, and then sent it to both the developer & lawyer

Note: When the step (5) below completed, the lawyer keeps calling me to check the status of repairwork (is the problem solved/persist), and they hold the final payment (one final payment that bank is holding after DLP ended)

I am glad to capture the lawyer's attention!

5. One fine day, I think about 2,3 months before DLP ended, they hacked all the plaster ceiling at the ground floor bath, hacked all the tiles at bath upstairs, and start re-doing the concreting works and waterproofing. And they did the tiling back after some curing (it took the whole weekend I think, but I am off somewhere during this time! My husband is supervising this work)

Note : I wish I could include photossss of the extensive repair work done on this, but it happened back in 2018, I must korek back 'em photos in my hard disk! If I found them, I will update this blog post!

UPDATE : FOUND THE PHOTOS BELOW

When they cut off the plaster at bathroom ceiling below

And hacked all tiles and cement above

Don't know what process is this..

Cement back before tiling works

And done!

And fast forward until now 2022, the leak resolved for real and it never happened again. So as the other defects, everything we managed to complaint before DLP ended, didn't happen again.. We are somewhat lucky!

By lucky I mean, imagined I have to hire someone to do the waterproofing all over again, with tiling works and plaster ceiling guys. Woah, we could've spent 10k easily! 

So as lesson learnt from my past experience, I tried my best to keep friends and family informed, and reminded to always check for waterproofing issues, before undergoing major reno (must check back S&P, but I think if one made structural changes, this DLP probably voided??)

If you are rich rich, then no problem fixing things at 10, 20k la kan.. hehe

I, however, would rather spend 10k in proper proper vacation overseas, then do things I could get for free. Be like me, anyone? Hehe

Until next post!