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Sabah to have
its own House Buyers Tribunal
11/07/2003 New Sabah Times By MICHAEL TEH
KOTA KINABALU: The state government will amend the existing state laws governing
the housing development in the next State Legislative Assembly sitting to provide
for the setting up of the state’s very own House Buyers Tribunal.
Disclosing this yesterday was Minister of Local Government and Housing, Datuk
Salleh Said Keruak, during a news conference held at his office after meeting
with Christina Liew, the deputy chairperson of Parti Keadilan Sabah.
“We have already agreed in principle on the setting up of the House Buyers Tribunal
in Sabah, except for the details on its mechanism,” he said.
He also said the ministry would look into the various proposals on the tribunal
proposed by Christina earlier.
Presently, such tribunal does not exist in the state as the Housing Development
Act (Control and Licensing) does not cover Sabah and Sarawak.
Speaking to reporters earlier, Christina said that there was a need for Sabah
to set up its own housing tribunal to better protect house buyers in the state,
especially in view of the rampant victimisation of the house buyers by some
unscrupulous housing developers.
She also said the state government should avoid some of the flaws in the House
Buyers Tribunal in Peninsular Malaysia when it set up its own tribunal.
She cited that the federal House Buyers’ Tribunal would not accept any cases
where the sales and purchase agreement was signed prior to 1 December 2002 -
when the Housing Development Act (Control and Licensing) came into effect -
if the housing project was carried out by co-ooperatives, societies or statutory
bodies.
Christina added that such condition was unfair to the house buyers, citing the
case of Taman Inanam Laut Phase II which was jointly developed by the Sabah
Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA) which is a statutory body.
“It is absolutely unfair that the house buyers are not protected just because
they buy the house developed by a statutory body,” she said.
She thus urged the Minister to subject all licensed housing developers under
the jurisdiction of the future Sabah House Buyers’ Tribunal, regardless of whether
they were a registered society or a statutory body.
“The limitation period in which a home buyer can file a claim to the tribunal
should be increased to six years instead of only 12 months from the date of
issuance of the Occupational Certificate (OC),” she added.
Christina also suggested that the Controller of Housing be given the discretion
to oversee the conduct of the consultants engaged and the sales and purchase
agreement prepared by the developer’s solicitors.
She stressed that this was important as house buyers were often under-represented
by their own lawyers and they were relying on the free legal services provided
by the developer’s solicitors (who are to represent the developer’s interest
naturally).
“And we are not sure whether the terms and conditions are fair to the purchasers.
Therefore, we recommend that the Controller of the Housing is empowered to vet
through all the sales and purchase agreements especially if the housing projects
are handled by statutory bodies,” she said.
She also proposed the abolishment of the progressive payments by the buyers.
“Buyers should instead be required to pay 10% of the purchase price upon signing
the sales and purchase agreement and the balance of 90% to be paid upon completion
of the project.”
Meanwhile Christina also stressed on the need to educate the public on the function
of the tribunal when it is set up eventually.
She cited for example, the homebuyers needed to know the type of problems or
claims that were under the jurisdiction of the tribunal - the amount of claims,
the time limit for them to file their claims, among others.
Christina also suggested that preferably members of the tribunal should be from
the legal or judicial sector and not those from the commercial or trade sector,
in order to prevent possible conflict of interests.
Apart from this, she also called on the state government to prosecute those
developers who have contravened any of the provisions to the Enactment as provided
in clause 24 of the Housing (Control and Licensing of Developer). |
