Plan for legal aid clinic for house buyers

NST 14/09/1999 By Eirmalasare Bani

The Housing Developers Act 1966, currently reviewed by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, may include several regulations that could benefit future house buyers.

Its secretary-general Datuk Khalid Husin said the ministry plans to set up a "Legal Aid Clinic" under the Act to serve as a platform for consumers to seek clarification on some clauses or terms used in sales and purchase agreement.

"The sales and purchase agreement is based on Contract Law and some buyers did not really see or told of the content of the agreement."

"The ministry can educate the public on their rights and at this point we are thinking of the possibility of getting the lawyers involved in the signing of the agreement to advise the buyers of their rights," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He said the ministry will approach the Bar Council into setting up the "Legal Aid Clinic" as part of its social services. There is also a possibility of extending the Legal Aid Bureau services, which currently focuses on domestic violence, for the purpose.

The Housing and Local Government Ministry set up a committee in July to review the Act to control the housing industry following the surge in complaints from consumers.

The review of the Housing Developers Act 1996 is expected to complete in a year's time.

The ministry received 1,135 complaints last year compared with an average of between 500 and 600 complaints annually before.

Among the complaints were poor quality of houses, damaged houses, late delivery, cheating, misleading advertisements and delivery of houses with no certificates of fitness.

"The review can lead into replacement (of the Act), at this point we have not decided on anything... it can lead to some extensive amendments and on the other hand it can also lead to a replacement. Whichever, the Act is reviewed to give a better protection for consumers or buyers.

"Basically, the existing Act is enough to protect the house buyers but its enforcement may not be as strict as it should be," he said.

The review committee is headed by Deputy Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui. Other members include Khalid, the ministry's head of enforcement division, and heads of the relevant departments dealing with housing.

The ministry will also seek cooperations of experts in housing laws and professionals bodies for their views, to assist the committee in reviewing he Act.

Khalid also said the ministry will announce the "ratings' of housing developers on October 4, in conjunction with World Habitat Day.

The housing developers are rated according to colours such as white for excellent performance, grey for those who have problems in delivering good jobs and black for those who fail to completer their jobs.

There are more than 2,000 housing developers in the country and as at July this year, 23 housing developers were blacklisted by the ministry.