Houseowners should seek help of tribunal

The Star 09/03/2001 By V.K. Chin

The decision of the consumer tribunal to order a businessman to compensate his client RM5,000 for unsatisfactory work on an extension to his house could have far reaching consequences on the industry.

This was supposed to be the first case of its kind and there is a possibility that other house owners facing a similar situation may go the the tribunal to claim compensation for shoddy renovations to their premises.

It has become a ritual these days for housebuyers to renovate their new homes even though the properties may be fit for occupation without such extra work. Some of them are prepared to pay tens of thousands of ringgit to renovate the houses according to their liking

There is therefore a flourishing business for such small time contractors as the demand for their services is very high. It is sometimes quite difficult to get the contractors to do the job because they have too many orders on hand.

One popular renovation is to extend the kitchen right up to the edge of the fence as most housewives seem keen to have more room in their favourite corner of the house where they tend to spend a lot of time preparing meals for the family.

In view of this, it is strange that the developers have not taken this fact into consideration as almost all the new houses have very small kitchens. They do not seem to care that a sizeable kitchen is a good selling point where buyers are concerned.

If the female folk want a bigger kitchen, the men will have no choice but to oblige in order to have some peace at home. So maybe it is time for the developers to use this to ensure good response to their schemes.

There are many horror stories about shoddy workmanship in both the new housing units as well as in the renovations. This tops the list of buyers' complaints to the housing ministry and the housebuyers association.

When it comes to renovations, few owners are prepared to take their cases to court because the amount involved is just not worth the expense of hiring lawyers to do the job.

Many owners will not think of suing the independent operators who specialise in such repair work. But with the recently formed consumer tribunal this may now be possible.

The tribunal has the authority to handle cases below RM10,000 and the unhappy owners can present their cases in person as lawyers are not allowed to be present to help their clients.

But in order to do this, the complainants must first be able to trace the address of the contractors, many of who are just fly-by-night operators and thus they do not even have an office.

Instead of being bullied or cheated by some of these unscrupulous operators, the house owners should not hesitate to make use of the tribunal to get back some of their money.

Many house owners have suffered enough at the hands of these small time contractors, some of who are foreigners, and it is time for them to stand up for their rights.