A Chinese national has sought help from the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department after failing to get a refund on his deposit of RM65,826 paid to buy a house in Selangor.

The 38-year-old businessman, who only wants to be known as Jiang, said he had been trying to get his refund since April after the bank rejected his housing loan as the property in question did not yet have a strata title.

He was told the property could not be sold to any foreigner until the strata title was issued.

"At first, the property agent said he would assist me to get back my refund. But later, he said the house owner refused to return my money" he said at a press conference Friday, 24 August.

Jiang wanted to buy a sub-sale bungalow at Lakefront Villa Cyberjaya for RM2.07mil and had paid RM65,826 to the property agency as the 3% deposit payment in February.

He said he signed a letter of offer to purchase provided by the property agency when he paid the deposit.

In addition to the question of strata title, Jiang, who currently resides here under Malaysia My Second Home Programme, was also not qualified to buy a second property, according to the laws of the Selangor state government.

He already owns a piece of property in Malaysia.

MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, who arranged the press conference, said he called the property agent himself twice.

"He gave many excuses and blamed everything on the house owner. After that, we were no longer able to contact the agent" he said, adding that legal action would be taken if Jiang still could not get his refund.

Chong urged foreigners who wished to buy property in Malaysia to seek advice from their respective embassies, as well as lawyers so that they understood the rules and regulations.