I refer to the the two Viewpoint articles from the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) and House Buyers Associaton (HBA) in Property Times of Jan 29 and Feb 5 respectively.

ACEM is a professional body of engineers whereas HBA is a non-profit, non-governmental and non-political organisation run and managed by volunteers - some of whom are professionals as well - for the benefit of all house buyers.

It is therefore illogical and unfair to expect HBA to have at least 50 per cent of all the house buyers in the country as its registered members in order for it to be accepted as the authority to speak on behalf of house buyers - as ACEM has argued.

The fact that HBA has been vociferous about the predicaments faced by buyers, regardless of whether they are HBA members, is commendable. It should be pointed out that there are hundreds of thousands of buyers in the country who faced countless problems, ranging from abandoned projects to units with serious construction defects and claims for late delivery compensation.

The fact is that the majority of these unfortunate house buyers are not even aware of the existence of HBA, let alone be its members.

HBA's call to maintain the existing regulations that require the local authorities to issue Certificates of Fitness (CFS) is justified and worthy of support. It is only appropriate and expedient that Government agencies be empowered with this task.

If we accept ACEM's argument that local authority officials could abuse their powers for personal gain in CF issuance, by the same token, there is also the strong possibility of consultant engineers favouring developers in the process leading to CF issuance, since they also serve as construction engineers or may have personal interest in a housing project.

HBA's sincerity and frankness in highlighting the provisions of the relevant sections of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act, which empowers the Minister of Housing and Local Government to take various actions to safeguard the interests of buyers, is indeed laudable.

The Act is aimed at helping buyers who are affected by the abandonment of projects or completed houses that have serious construction defects.

As a buyer who is facing never-ending problems because of the abandonment of a project in which I bought a house more than seven years ago, I am more inclined to agree with the "build-then-sell" concept as mooted and supported by many people in authority. It will definitely bring much benefit to future house buyers.

S.R.Nathan
Petaling Jaya