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PRESS RELEASE
PS100903JR
For Release 10 September 2003
HBA APPLAUDS MINISTER OF HOUSING & LOCAL GOVERNMENT’S ACTION TO APPEAL
RULING ON HOUSING TRIBUNAL
National House Buyers Association (HBA) applauds the announcement by YB Dato’
Seri Ong Ka Ting, Minister of Housing & Local Government in conjunction with
the AG’s Chambers, to appeal against the decision of the High Court on the
jurisdiction of the Tribunal for Homebuyer Claims.
We are delighted that the Minister has continued to show compassion on the
suffering of the affected house buyers. This is in line with the judicial
reforms that had been put in place in the Government’s efforts to protect
the house buying public who have suffered too long without a special court
to seek redress.
A house is the most expensive and important purchase in most people’s lives,
and if it goes badly due to negligent or deceptive practices on the part of
the housing industry players , the result is often devastating. The last thing
any house buyer want is to be further involved in any legal entanglement with
his financially strong and well-connected housing developer. Filing a claim
in court is more often beyond their financial capabilities, especially after
having spent their life savings on the purchase.
In an article titled “Towards successful housing development in Malaysia”
dated April 2001 posted in the Ministry of Housing & Local Government’s website,
we quote:
“ 4.3.2 The Ministry has received numerous complaints pertaining to projects
being abandoned, poor workmanship, delay in the issuance of certificate of
fitness, delay in handing over vacant possession, refusal of developers to
pay compensation of late delivery, interest being charged by the developers
for late progressive payments and perennial problems associated with the payment
of maintenance charges.”
4.3.3 After having lengthy discussions with the various parties concerned,
the main amendments being proposed to the Housing Developers Act to address
the shortcomings of the existing act are as follows:-
… vi. setting up a tribunal to look into the problems faced by homebuyers
known as the "Tribunal for Homebuyer Claims". It is envisaged the tribunal
would save costs and unnecessary delays faced by homebuyers at the present
moment;
In order to overcome the problems, it is envisaged and expected that the
above amendments to the Housing Developers Act would bring much improvement
to the housing industry at large and offer greater protection to individual
homebuyer.”
As quoted above, the setting-up of the Tribunal was spurred by the countless
numbers of complaints brought up by the present housebuyers. Even then, the
jurisdiction of the Tribunal is limited to complaints related to completed
projects. There are numerous projects left uncompleted that the buyers have
little avenue to seek redress apart from the civil courts. which we reiterate
is time consuming.
We think that this is time for the Government and the industry players to
work together to create orderliness in the housing industry in the long term.
House buyers in Malaysia should be spared the hazards associated with the
purchase of a house. After all, the philosophy of the tribunal is to provide
effective dispute resolution in an informal setting. The Tribunal provides
a level of protection for housebuyers that has not existed before. The scale
of justice is not fair to the man-in-the-street and the Act is there to balance
it.
We urge the government to look into increasing the jurisdiction and scope
of the Tribunal to include projects that have breached the scheduled date
of completion, purchases from unlicensed housing developers (cooperatives,
state government), as long as there is a sale and purchase agreement signed.
HBA is hopeful that the Minister would contend that the Tribunal would serve
the public without undue impediments and that he would take stern actions
to ward off all attempts to frustrate its functions.
Chang Kim Loong
Secretary General
National House Buyers Association
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