Pay up or risk being charged, developers told
NST 15/02/2004  By Chow Kum Hor

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14: Pay up immediately or risk being charged for contempt of court — this is the Government’s message to 33 housing developers who defied a Court of  Appeal decision ordering them to pay RM1.278 million in compensation to 104 housebuyers.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said the compensation, awarded to the buyers by the Housing Tribunal, should be paid without delay.

The ministry's monitoring and enforcement division would be issuing notices to the developers to pay up, he added.

"We will not hesitate to prosecute these developers. "We will charge them for contempt of court if they don't pay up. The interest of housebuyers comes first," Ong said at the Housing Tribunal office.

He said the Court of Appeal had last December made it clear that the tribunal had jurisdiction over cases where the sales and purchase agreement was signed before Dec 1, 2002.

Under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966, offenders face a maximum fine of RM5,000, or two years' jail, or both.

A fine of RM1,000 per day will be imposed for each day of failure to pay compensation.

Since its inception in December 2002 until yesterday, the tribunal had heard 4,060 cases, of which 1,138 cases had been resolved.

The tribunal has awarded compensation worth RM4.33 million to 809 housebuyers, 87 per cent of which has been paid out.

Ong said most of the cases where compensation had not been paid out were heard after the Sept 4, 2003 High Court decision which had ruled that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear cases where the sales and purchase agreement was signed before Dec 1, 2002.

"These developers thought they need not pay up. But now, the Court of Appeal has overturned the High Court decision," said Ong.

Ong today also presented letters of appointment to tribunal members Haini Hassan (deputy chairman), Zamani Ibrahim, Datin S. Jaya-lakshmi Ramachandaran, Ng Seng Kiok and Asmadi Hussein. Another member, Wong Cheng Kiat, was not present.

The ministry, he added, was also looking into increasing the number of tribunal members due to the rising number of cases and also the possibility of hearing cases outside the Klang Valley.

"Over the past 10 days, the tribunal has heard 158 cases, of which 144 have been resolved. "The tribunal is moving very fast in hearing the cases."