They're not all rogues, says Rehda
NST 19/11/2005

While welcoming the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s naming of developers that have flouted the housing development law and regulations, the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) said it is not fair to brand all companies in the list as "rogue developers".

Its president, Datuk Jeffrey Ng Tiong Lip, said earlier this week that while Rehda supported efforts by the Enforcement and Control Division to strictly enforce the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966, there should be "a distinction between the majority (that) were compounded for slight technical offences and the very few that committed serious breaches against house buyers".

The ministry in the middle of last month posted the names of 695 developers on its website (www.kpkt.gov.my), against which action was taken for various breaches of the law, or against which action in court is pending.

Five lists have been posted. One names 213 developers that have been fined RM1, 000 each (and another company filled RM2, 000) between 2003 and September this year for breaching conditions or restrictions related to advertising in their housing development licenses. Among them are a number of better-known developers.

A third list reveals 304 developers, prominent compares included, that have been fined RM10, 000 each, also between 2003 and September this year, for failing to submit biannual reports on the progress of their developments.

These reports are required by the ministry to diagnose the status of housing projects and to consider the action to take if there is indication that a project may fail or be abandoned.

The other lists name 15 firms that were prosecuted for failing to comply with awards handed down by the Tribunal for Homebuyers Claims, and five others that had been fined, or against which court action is pending for offences ranging from illegally using the term "housing developer" to failing to provide information required by the Controller of Housing.

Ng said releasing the names of offenders in the website is "clear indication" of the seriousness of the ministry in ensuring compliance on the part of developers in order to protect the interests of house buyers.

However, he said it is "unfair to brand the majority of these (firms) as 'rogue' developers, especially when the offenders listed include those that have been publicly recognized and awarded for successfully completing thousands of houses to buyers' satisfaction".

"Listing them in public for offences of such nature casts unfair aspersions on their reputation, implying that they have caused harm to house buyers in the process," he said.

Ng added that while Rehda fully supports the ministry in its efforts towards a transparent system of enforcement,” public censure of offences must discern between minor technical infractions as opposed to those that have caused major hardship and detriment to buyers".