HOUSING PURHASHER CLAIMS TRIBUNAL
BY AINA AZIZAH YEO & ALVERDTEKOSTER ANYAP
KUCHING: Two housing developers were ordered by the Sarawak Housing Purchaser Claims Tribunal to rectify all defects and delays in handing over vacant houses of six complainants on Thursday (Sept 16).
The cases were handled by panel president Robert Elone Sireng together with two panellists Simon Woon Ta Meng and Alhadi Ibrahim.
According to Robert, the overall cases on average involved delays in the submission of vacant possession and defects in the quality of work by home developers.
The first case involved five complainants and Ikram Suria Sdn Bhd regarding the delay in submission of vacant possession and several defects to a single-storey terrace house measuring 102 to 300 square metres, located at Taman Pasir Pandak, here.
The case was between Tan Huang Khen, Tan Lee Fong, and Kejana Sdn Bhd regarding the delay of issuing vacant permit and work quality defects on two double storey intermediate terrace houses each measuring 211.20 square metres, located at Kong Ping III, Sublot No. 2, Parent Lot 1375 & 1378 Block 226, KNLD Kuching.
Based on the court’s decision on the first case, the five complainants involved were entitled to claim against the Ikram Suria Sdn Bhd, which each claim up to RM6,000 to RM8,000 respectively.
“It is due to the failure to clarify evidence and reasonable grounds on issues. The company also stated that the bad weather factor is not a reasonable and considerable reason for the source of delay in the delivery of a home to the buyer.
“Therefore, the developer also failed to show strong evidence through the documentary to deny the demands requested,” Robert said regarding the first case in a press conference, here at Old State Legislative Building, on Thursday (Sept 17).
As for the case between Tan Huang Khen, Tan Lee Fong, and Kejana Sdn Bhd, the court cannot penalise the developer as Kejana claimed to not being able to contact the buyer, thus there was a delay of two months after the permit was issued to the actual date.
“There was also a claim of defects from the complainants, such as water sipping and some other things,” he continued.
Robert also revealed that the court had suggested the developer, the buyer and an independent team of engineers to undertake a joint inspection to determine the defects on the buildings.
Moreover, he also added that both developers must rectify the claims and the defects of houses within 45 days, as the court received a letter within 14 days about the defects.
“We decided to send independent engineers to check whether some of the defects are original or the defects were caused by renovations by other contractors.
“Any defects that are apparent from the original construction, we will ask the developer to rectify those defects.
“If it was not caused by the developer, the three parties will have to agree what were the defects caused by other contractors,” he added.
He also mentioned that if they do not agree with the decision made, they can make an appeal for judicial review to the high court.
Failure to comply will cause the developers to be penalised not more than RM5,000 or charged RM1,000 per day depending on how many days of late work, or not more than two years imprisonment.
