Dewan Rakyat passes Limitation, Arbitration bills

KUALA LUMPUR (April 4): The Dewan Rakyat yesterday passed the Limitation (Amendment) Bill 2018, which extends the time limit of up to three years to house buyers to lodge a complaint over latent defects in their properties, Bernama reported.

“It is unfair that at present day, when constructing the building, particularly during the piling work phase, unscrupulous contractors may use low quality materials and it will cause defects.

“The time limit given under the amendments is beneficial to the consumers, and the study that we carried out also found that it also implemented in other countries,” Bernama reported deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Razali Ibrahim as saying when winding up debate on the bill yesterday.

He said the amendments to the Limitation Act 1953 (Act 254) was meant to look after the interests of property buyers and consumers.

Razali also explained that under the amendments, once the date of the accrued action exceeded 15 years, no party is allowed to initiate court action.

“This provision takes into account negligence cases involving latent defects in construction, when the damages cannot be found through general inspection and those who are responsible cannot reasonably or be expected to know about the defects,” he said.

The amendments are supposed to cover ownership of homes and other buildings.

The Dewan Rakyat also passed the Arbitration (Amendment) (No.2) Bill (2018) to enhance Malaysia’s profile as a safe place and an arbitrary-friendly jurisdiction, Bernama reported.