Developer: 15 buyers received late delivery charges
16/06/2004 The Star

FADASON Holdings Sdn Bhd has paid the compensation awarded by the Housing Tribunal to 15 Taman Fadason housebuyers for late delivery of their units.

The developer is waiting for a judicial review in another 41 cases.

Commenting on a report on Thursday in the Star Metro, Fadason Holdings finance manager Ramalingam Doraisamy said out of the eight housebuyers who were awarded by the tribunal last year, the developer had paid the compensation ranging between RM1,440 and RM4,043 to five and had referred the remaining three to the High Court.

This year, the tribunal had awarded 63 housebuyers.

Ramalingam said 10 of them had received their compensation while another 38 house-buyers' claims were referred to the High Court.

Four housebuyers had to pay back Fadason Holdings the outstanding dues given by the tribunal, the payment to three housebuyers were not due yet and Fadason Holdings was in the process of paying the awards to the remaining eight buyers, he added.

"Contrary to the report, Fadason Holdings had paid the award to 15 housebuyers of Taman Fadason units," he said during an interview on Saturday.

He added that the first award given by the tribunal was dated May 26, 2003.

The report quoted Kepong MCA public service and government affairs bureau chairman Yee Poh Ping as saying that although the tribunal had awarded the compensation for late delivery in March last year, they had yet to receive the award from Fadason.

Ramalingam said Fadason Holdings had filed its defence in the 41 cases taken to court, which contained two main points.

"One is that the manner of calculations on liquidated ascertained damages (LAD) claimed by the housebuyers for late delivery does not reflect what is said in the sales and purchase agreement. The tribunal said the calculations for LAD should start from the date the purchaser paid the deposit and not the date the agreement was signed.

"Another point is that the purchaser should get consent from their banks before they initiate action in any court or tribunal because when you sign the deeds of assignment for borrowing money from a bank, you assign to the bank your rights to recover or take any action.

"Therefore, we say that the housebuyers have no locus standi," he said.

"We have also settled 354 cases out of the tribunal. There are another 70 waiting for hearing dates to be fixed by the tribunal," he added.