Heftier fines for developers
The Star 12/9/2006

PETALING JAYA: Property buyers will benefit when the penalty ceiling for not complying with each clause in a Sales and Purchase agreement is doubled to RM50,000 after the Housing Development Act is amended.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said in his keynote address at the National Property and Housing Summit 2006 on Tuesday that some housing developers continue to run foul of the law by delaying their projects but they will be facing tougher action.

Ong said this was because some developers continued to show disrespect to the Homebuyer Claims Tribunal that was set up in 2002.

"The tribunal was set up to provide an avenue for disputes between buyers and housing developers to be heard where no lawyers are present and where facts are plain to see," Ong said.

Ong said some developers refused to comply with the tribunal's order to award house buyers - which is an offence - and that these developers only start taking action after the ministry decides to drag them to court.

"The developers then come to the ministry and beg us to withdraw the charge saying that they had paid whatever was necessary to the house buyers," he added.

Ong said that the ministry would not give in to such demands as it was not fair and would be sending out the wrong message.

"Since the tribunal was set up, 16 housing developers have been prosecuted in court for non-compliance of the award," Ong said.

He said developers would be blacklisted if they had delayed projects, were fined more than RM10,000 or were repeat offenders.

"Adding to this, we will strictly enforce existing laws, monitor the housing development account, the architect's certificate, the developers' half-yearly statement as well as their audit statement.

"This is because it has also been found that some architects had been forced or arm-twisted into signing certificates acknowledging that construction had been completed."

Ong added that maximum fines for convictions with regards to non-compliance to certain sections of the Act were increased by as much as five times during the last amendment in 2002.

"However, the Government will also facilitate and not frustrate the efforts of the responsible developers by improving approval processes."

Ong said this move had already started with the establishment of a one-stop centre to cut down bureaucracy and expedite applications for development projects.