Speech by Y.Bhg Dato' Hj Zainuddin Hj
Bachik at the Property and Investment Deal 2000 exhibition on the 6th October
2000 at 2.30 p.m.
The onus of building houses to enable a large segment
of the public to purchase rests with the govt. through their corporate bodies
or agencies and the private developers.
While spontaneous, efforts and huge investments of funds
are channeled by the public and private sectors in this field of development
are clear manifestations of their consciousness and obligations towards
promoting a house owning democracy in the country, there must also be an
equally responsive feeling or responsibility and awareness within the developers
to build quality homes which the house buyers would proud to own.
Quality homes with beautiful landscapes are not only a
captivating sight to behold and to be admired by sightseers both local and
foreign but they are also a boom and a credit to the building industry of
the country.
The House Buyers Association in its endeavours to realise
its objectives would envision the building of homes of contemporary and
futuristic designs in Malaysia so as to be compatible to those in advanced
countries.
The House Buyers Association is a non-governmental organisation
that is neither commercially nor politically oriented. The formation of
the Association for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor as a forerunner for future
branches in all the States was promptly motivated by the innumerable complaints
of dissatisfaction arising from disgruntled house buyers who found their
developers deviating from the terms of their contract.
The skilful connivance of the developers had caused much
anxiety and displeasure and to some extent untold miseries suffered by house
buyers who had to deal with run-away developers, leaving behind incomplete
and abandoned projects. Other related problems also become the bone of contention
between the feuding parties such as developers, conveniently and deliberately
ignoring their part of the bargain, not complying with approved plans, failing
to obtain Certificate of Fitness and blatantly delaying application for
strata titles, the documents as proof of ownership to condominiums purchasers.
The House Buyers Association welcomes with much fervour
the move by the Ministry of Housing and Local Govt. when it announced sometime
early this year that a new Act purportedly to provide sufficient protection
to the rights of house buyers would soon be brought to Parliament to replace
the existing Law that is considered to be bias to house buyers. The Association
would urge the Ministry to speed up the Act in view of the lapse of time
resulting in much damage had already been done by the Developers and the
purchasers morale had feverishly declined in the futile expectation of solving
their problems.
With the advent of a good law favourable to both sides,
the house buyers and the developers, there is still the need to enforce
it by keeping tabs on all ongoing projects. In order for the law to be meaningful
anyone who violates it must be brought to book and prosecuted. Any amount
of laws will be insufficient and thus becomes a mockery if it is not enforced.
The Association would also call the Ministry to reconsider
the quantum of disputed claims between house buyers and the developers to
be dealt with by the Tribunal to reflect a positive and realistic approach
to the problems rather than arbitrarily limiting it to RM25,000.00 considering
that houses built by developers for sale to the public exceeded beyond the
range of RM500,000.00 each. What will a compensation of RM25,000.00 constitute?
It is hardly enough to buy a good set of furniture for the house let alone
repairing it to its original plan that was not adhered to through no fault
of the house buyers.
With a slogan "striving for buyers rights and interests"
the Association represents the house buyers in their search for solutions
to their problems. It sets watchful eyes on the building industry and the
laws governing it. It will conduct research and disseminate information
on the systems of house purchase in other countries for purposes of comparison.
The Association feels that although there is a nominal
increase in the price of petrol, there should not be a consequential effect
on the price of a new house. Price of houses should be maintained affordably
as low as possible so that people would have the means to buy them rather
than they become white elephants for no takers. Developers should also be
encouraged to look for designs of houses with the cost-saving factor in
mind and build them without sacrificing quality for the benefit of house
buyers. They should think that building houses is a social obligation to
the people and by adopting this attitude they are indirectly contributing
in a long way towards the well being of the nation and a good image for
the country in the eyes of the world.
Thank you.
HOUSE BUYERS ASSOCIATION
