Buyers happy but developers brace for problems

The Star 02/12/2002

PETALING JAYA: The changes to the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) (Amendment) Act are consumer-friendly and will benefit both housebuyers and developers, said National Housebuyers Association (HBA) secretary-general Chang Kim Loong. 

In lauding the amendments which took effect yesterday, Chang said HBA was pleased that Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting had taken a firm stand in carrying out the amendments. 

The association looked forward to more positive changes to the Act, he said when contacted yesterday. 

The amendments, among others, would enable housebuyers to terminate their sales and purchase agreements and seek refunds from the developer if they could prove that they could not get financing for the purchase. 

Buyers will also get a 21-working day deadline to settle the progressive payments instead of the previous 14-day period. 

However, Penang Real Estate and Housing Developers Association immediate past chairman Datuk Ong Gim Huat said developers would face cash-flow problems with the longer deadline.  

The developers, he said, would be hard-pressed since buyers would wait until the last minute to pay the instalments. 

“We (the developers) are also borrowing money from financial institutions to implement the projects. When housebuyers drag the payments, we will have to pay more interest on the loan,’’ he said yesterday. 

He said there had been cases where housebuyers gave excuses that they were unable to pay the progressive instalment within the deadline as the money had been placed in fixed-deposits. 

However, he said that the housing tribunal, which would be set up under the Act, was the developers’ main worry as they feared it could lead to buyers bringing up “petty issues.”  

He said it was important that the Government picked a tribunal chairman who was unbiased.