DO we honestly need new laws to purportedly “offer more protection” for house buyers when the existing ones are adequate? Do we lack laws or the will to enforce them?
So, would amending the Housing Development (Control &Licensing) Act, 1966 (Act 118) and their related regulations would really solve the problem of abandoned housing project?
In my view, there is nothing wrong with the current laws but the million-dollar question is: How many delinquent housing developers have been punished and prosecuted in the courts with so many abandoned housing projects “littering” Malaysia?
Why has Section 18A of Act 118 on criminalising abandonment not been invoked?
Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act, 1966 (amended 2015)
The current Act 118, was revamped on June 1, 2015 to plug some of its loopholes, rectified inadequacies, including even some questionable and grey areas that existed in the original law.
The procedures for control and licensing of housing developers have been made more stringent so that non bona fide developers would be marginalised.
Let me elaborate the fore-warnings under Section 18A that are currently in place under the act, especially on issues related to “project abandonment”.
Criminalising housing abandonment
The pertinent amendments to the HDA were on the issue of criminalising housing project abandonment. This new amendment (not so new now because more than six years have passed) makes it a crime for housing developers to abandon their projects, with jail sentences attached.
The new Section 18A states: ‘that any licensed housing developer who abandons or causes to be abandoned a housing development or any phase of a housing development which the licensed housing developer is engaged in, carries on, undertakes or causes to be undertaken shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine which shall not be less than RM250,000 but which shall not exceed RM500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both’.
Now here comes the question. How many delinquent housing developers have been punished or even prosecuted under this Section 18A of HDA, with so many abandoned housing projects?
Since its enactment in 2015, there has not been any news (not a single case) of developers being prosecuted under this new section, although cases of abandonment are abound.
Enforcement is still the key on whether the law is effective in protecting property buyers. It surely cannot be that the Housing and Local Government Ministry is shy of publicity.
Ornamental pieces
Our fundamental belief is that even the best of legislation to counter a particular situation would just remain as “ornamental piece” unless strict enforcement is carried out against offenders, without fear or favour, so as to instill into them the respect and fearful feeling that the law commands.
The housing ministry is the guardian of the housing legislation that was passed in the Parliament. Yet, how do we account for the surmounting problematic housing projects? It is not that the ministry does not have the laws; it is the sheer lack and lax in enforcement. – Feb 12, 2022
Datuk Chang Kim Loong is the honorary secretary general of the National House Buyers Association (HBA).
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
