Errant developers to answer in court

NST 14/11/2006

Developers who refuse to comply with decisions of the Housing Tribunal will be taken to court.

Housing and Local Government Ministry parliamentary secretary Dr S. Subramaniam said that under the amended Housing Developers Act, errant developers could be fined or jailed for refusing to comply with the Tribunal's decisions.

"Additionally, the developers may be required to pay a penalty apart from the amount decided by the Tribunal," he said to  a supplementary question from Lau Yeng Peng (BN-Puchong).

Lau had said the ministry was unable to compel developers to follow the Tribunal's decision and claimed that many house buyers were at their wits' end since unscrupulous developers ignored Tribunal decisions.

Dr. Subramaniam advised buyers who faced problems with developers to lodge a report with the ministry to enable it to haul them to court.

Among the options available to deal with such developers, he said, were blacklisting them, and not renewing their advertisement and sales permits.

Blacklisting would also apply to developers who failed to complete their projects within the stipulated period and those who refused to pay the Liquidated Ascertained Damage for units that were delivered late.

"The companies and their directors will not be allowed to apply for new developers' licence in the future," he said.