More than 5,000 cases related to developers settled by tribunal

KUALA LUMPUR (June 17): A total of 5,851 out of 6,534 cases of housing developers who did not abide by the sale and purchase agreement since 2013 to May 31 this year have been settled by the National Housing Tribunal, Bernama reported yesterday.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government minister Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan (pictured) explained that the cases involved technical claims such as defects in the workmanship or the failure to comply with specifications and non-technical claims such as delays in handover to purchasers.

Over the same period under review, 1,012 cases of complaints over the failure to comply with the award were submitted to the National Housing Department, with 297 developers prosecuted and 20 sentenced, Abdul Rahman said.

"Each award not complied [with] by the housing developers, the ministry through the tribunal will register the case in Magistrate's or Section Courts for law enforcement," he explained during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Negara yesterday.

Abdul Rahman was replying to Senator Datuk Yahaya Mat Ghani who requested for details about developers who failed to follow the decisions and orders of the Housing Tribunal, those not prosecuted and the number of developers sentenced by the High Court for refusing to abide with the Tribunal's decisions and the government's efforts to protect the rights of buyers.

Abdul Rahman said 302 developers including 1,255 members of the board directors of the companies who did comply with the award had been blacklisted, Bernama reported.

He explained that blacklisted developers cannot apply for housing licence and advertisement sale permits.

To avoid problems, Abdul Rahman also asked property/home buyers to conduct background checks on developers.

"Most of the problems arise when customers buy a house from inexperienced or poorly managed developers," he explained.

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