Respect Tribunal's decisions
29/03/2003 NST-PROP By Jennifer Gomez

Developers asked to abide by the decisions and not seek judicial review

To date, more than RM330,000 has been awarded to 28 house buyers since the newly set-up Housing Tribunal began hearing cases late last month.

Developers are given 14 days to pay up the sums awarded to house buyers or face a fine of RM5,000 or a jail term of up to two years, or both if they do not comply. Some developers, however, have found a way to get around the jurisdiction to seek judicial review of the dispute.

This state of affairs has incurred the ire of the National House Buyers Association (HBA). HBA secretary-general, Chang Kim Loong said: "The Housing Tribunal is a deliberate act of Parliament to accord house buyers a speedy and affordable alternative to seek legal redress against developers instead of undergoing a costly and lengthy court process."

Chang stressed that for this objective to be realised, the rulings of the Tribunal must be respected as final.

"Otherwise we will be faced with a situation where financially rich and arrogant developers will deliberately appeal all rulings made against them, not for anything, but to buy time and further frustrate complainants of their entitlement," he said.

Chang pointed out that under the Housing Development Act, only the chairman can appeal to the High Court on a question of law.

Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk M.Kayveas said he would look into the matter of developers asking for the Tribunal cases to be referred to judicial reviews.

"By doing this, they are just making enemies of house buyers and this cannot be good for them because they need to sell more houses in the longer term," Kayveas said.

He also mentioned that of the 103 cases filed with the Tribunal so far, 93 are related to the issue of late delivery. Another point Kayveas highlighted was that the company directors themselves should be present at the Tribunal hearing.

"I also urge developers to act on valid claims made by house buyers immediately so that the matter does not even come to the Tribunal," he said.

In another issue, HBA said it was happy to note that owners of high-rise residential units will soon be able to pay their quit rents individually, instead of through developers. This would eliminate problems caused by developers failing to settle quite rent, resulting in delays in the issuance of strata titles.

This will be facilitated by amending the Strata Titles Act, 1985 and the National Land Code, 1965.

Chang, however, questioned the manner in which the procedure is going to be implemented.

"All this while, the quit rent is paid based on the master title, but since unit owners are going to pay for their individual units, how do you determine the size of the unit before the certificate of fitness (CF) is issued?" he asked.

Chang suggested that developers apply for strata title at the same time when submitting their building plans for approval.

"This will allow the strata title to be issued simultaneously with the CF. This way the exact built-up of the unit can be confirmed and owners will not have to pay based on an estimated amount." he reasoned.