KUALA LUMPUR: The Housing Tribunal has no jurisdiction to adjudicate cases in which the sale and purchase agreements were entered into before Dec 1 last year, the High Court ruled in a test case yesterday.

Justice Datuk Md Raus Sharif said this after allowing the application of two housing developers, Puncakdana Sdn Bhd and Westcourt Corp Sdn Bhd, seeking a judicial review against the awards given by the tribunal in favour of six housebuyers who had made claims for alleged late delivery of their houses and failure to complete the common facilities.

The tribunal was established via amendments made to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1996 vide the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) (Amendment) Act 2002.

The amended Act was given Royal Assent on Jan 23, 2002 and came into force on Dec 1, 2002.

The application, allowed with no order as to costs, nullified the awards given earlier by the tribunal in favour of the housebuyers.

In his 15-page judgment, Justice Md Raus said he found that there was no clear indication in the amended Act for a retrospective application of Part VI, relating to the establishment of the tribunal.

Lawyers for the developers had argued that Part VI of the amended Act did not expressly provide for retrospective effect, hence the tribunal could not hear and determine disputes arising from sale and purchase agreements signed before Dec 1.

Counsel for the housebuyers, on the other hand, submitted that the clear words of Parliament indicated that Part VI of the Amendment Act was to operate retrospectively.

The judge said: “If it is true that Parliament intended the tribunal to have retrospective jurisdiction over sale and purchase agreements entered before the appointed date of coming into force of the amended Act, it would have said so in clear words.”

He added that there was no indication in the amended Act that Parliament intended the amendments to affect sale and purchase agreements entered into before Dec 1, 2002.

Later, outside the courtroom, National House Buyers Association secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said they would be appealing against the decision.