Defective workmanship, late delivery top grouse list

14/12/2005 The Sun

KUALA LUMPUR: Defective workmanship and late delivery of housing units topped the list of complaints received in 2000-05 by the monitoring and enforcement division of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

Another major grouse was non-compliance of the Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA), Dr G Parameswaran, the division's director said at the "House Buyer's Protection" seminar organized by the National House Buyers Association (HBA) in conjunction with the Mega Malaysia Property Showcase recently.

"Our division classifies complaints and grievances of house buyers under three broad categories technical, non-technical and violations of the Housing Development Act and Regulations. The division will look into these matters and will not hesitate to prosecute the developers if they have flouted the law," he says.

The division's roles include advisory and consultation services, legal advisory services, computerized project monitoring system, mediation, regular site visits, prosecution, and discussions with the HBA on critical housing projects and public awareness programmers, added Parameswaran. He said developers are required to submit the Report 7F twice a year to enable the division to be updated on the development's progress. "This report will enable us to identify

which project is smooth-going, behind schedule or sick."

Speaking at the seminar, HBA honorary secretary-general Chang Kim Loong urged the ministry " Ito make public the entire list of abandoned projects nationwide, together with the developers that are involved. Currently, the ministry's website only contains the list ofdevelopers that have been prosecuted and fined.

Chang tells theSun the division has assured HBA that the list of abandoned projects would be made available next year. Referring to media reports highlighting the issue recently Chang feels that more drastic action needs to be taken.

"The ministry should share with the public the list of companies behind abandoned projects together with the board of directors and major shareholders. Currently the division is only providing figures. Once these individuals are identified, they should be blacklisted to prevent them from embarking on new projects via different companies."

Chang also acknowledges that the Report 7F is a good instrument to identify sick projects. "However, HBA urges the ministry to ensure that qualified staff is at hand to diagnose the problems in the report. The ministry should not downplay the statistics of complaints." He said HBA has their own statistics and these do not tally with those compiled by the division. This is mainly due to the different method of calculations.

Shahroni Sanusi, the legal officer at the Tribunal of House Buyers' Claims under the ministry, told the seminar that the tribunal is an alternative method for house buyers to air and resolve their grievances quickly and cheaply. ”All they have to do is file a report with a RM10 processing fee and each claim must not exceed RM25, 000," he says.

Shahroni cautioned house buyers that all claims to the tribunal must be filed no later than 12 months from the issuance of the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation or defect liability period as stated in the SPA. Upon filing the claim, the tribunal will assist house buyers in seeking compensation from the developer.

Albert Soo, a volunteer lawyer with HBA, touched on matter related to the SPA for building intended for subdivision and highlighted some key points for buyer to note.

He advised prospective buyers check the tenure of the strata unit. If it has leasehold status, the buyer has to check the expiry date of the land to avoid being misled.

Another point that Soo suggested is that buyers should pay the additional cost of engaging their own lawyers instead of relying on the developer's appointed pane of lawyers. This is to ensure that the lawyers would represent their interests in any dispute with the developer.