ALOR GAJAH, Fri. — The Cabinet will get to scrutinise in a fortnight the draft of the Housing Development Bill which seeks to bring about a win-win situation for both developers and home-buyers.

A salient feature of the draft bill is a provision for the establishment of a housing tribunal to hear buyers' claims of not exceeding RM25,000, the Housing and Development Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said.

He said the Attorney-General's Chambers was going through the draft bill which, if and when passed by Parliament, would entirely replace the Housing Developers Act 1966 last amended in 1989.

"The proposed bill will be more balanced in catering for the interests of both the developers and buyers and will rectify weaknesses in the existing legislation.

"I can assure developers and buyers that both their rights would be taken care of," Ong told reporters after opening the operations room of the Macap Baru volunteer fire-fighters' association near Selandar yesterday.

Ong expected that upon securing Cabinet's approval of the draft bill, the Ministry should be able to table it during next month's sitting of the Dewan Rakyat and possibly enforce it early next year.

According to him, the bill also seeks to enhance the penalty, both the quantum of fine and the jail term, on violators.

When it started drafting the bill last year, the Ministry found several weaknesses in the existing legislation which required rectifying urgently given that the current law has not been amended for the past 11 years, he said.

"Now that the society is increasingly sensitive and abreast with progress, flaws in the law would have to be corrected to bring about a win-win situation for both developers and buyers," Ong added.

In Kuala Lumpur, Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Datuk M. Kayveas, speaking on the new bill, said there were many complaints against developers from disgruntled buyers on issues like defects, late delivery, lack of water and
electricity supply and breach of the Housing Developers Act 1966. A total of 1,823 complaints were received last year of which 66.54 per cent or 1,213 were settled.

"There is no need for buyers to go to court and institute civil proceedings against developers. Court action is time consuming and expensive," said Kayveas when launching the Merdeka Home Ownership Campaign 2001 at the Putra World Trade Centre today.

"Buyers with claims not exceeding RM25,000 can complain at the Ministry and the case will be heard by a tribunal presided by Government officers" He said unlike courts, matters coul be resolved early, sometimes within a day. He added that house buyers will also be exempted from legal charges.

"Judgments by tribunal officers are recognised and can be registered at the lower court. It is enforceable as a valid judgement" Kayveas said claims exceeding RM25,000 will be under the jurisdiction of the Sessions Court. Buyers can also seek advice from the Legal Aid Clinic which is open every Saturday at the Ministry.

On incentives for foreign house buyers, Kayveas said foreign buyers can purchase properties from the ceiling price RM150,000 and above and not the previous RM250,000 under the foreign investment committee guidelines.

He said previously it was compulsory for the committee to approve the transaction but this could be dispensed with now.

The Merdeka Home Ownership campaign period will start from Oct 11 to Dec 31. A four-day exhibition will be held at the PWTC from Oct 11 to 14.

Properties which will be featured at the upcoming campaign include new projects at Bandar Sunway, Ampang, Shah Alam and Kajang. These properties range from RM42,000 to RM1.5 million per unit.

Also present were SK Brothers Group chairman Datuk Dr Yahaya Ibrahim, SK Brothers Realty chief executive officer Charlie Chan and Dewan Perniagaan Melayu senior council member Shahiruddin Shamsuddin.

Chan said the last campaign on home ownership in April this year achieved RM250 million in sales. The target sales for this campaign would be RM500 million.

For further information, contact 03-79817355.