Developers ordered to pay RM228,455 for late delivery of property

KUCHING: Sarawak Housing Purchaser’s Claims Tribunal has ordered three developers to pay a total of RM228,455 to six individuals for late delivery of properties.

Its president Robert Elone Sireng said four cases were brought against a developer for delay in handing over properties with the exception of a 55-day Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed on March 18 last year from the calculation of Liquidated Ascertained Damages (LAD).

“There is also another period called the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) from May 13 to Aug 31 last year, which the developer can apply for from the Ministry of Local Government and Housing so that the period is added into the days the developer is supposed to pay for the delay,” Robert told a press conference after the proceedings yesterday.

However, the developer did not apply for the exemption period under CMCO, and thus, the Tribunal did not take the exemption into account in their calculation.

The developer was ordered to pay RM97,872 to the four claimants with the highest being RM26,670.

For the second developer, Robert said the developer must ensure that roads and other facilities must be completed about the same time as the building itself, and it should not be used as an excuse for the delay in handing over the property to the purchaser.

“For this developer, there is a problem in getting the road certificate approved so there is a delay. But we do not take that into account because those are things that are within the purview of the developer.”

Robert said the developer had delayed in handing over the property for over 600 days and the Tribunal decided to award a claimant a total of RM17,374 in LAD.

The third developer was ordered by to pay RM113,209 to a claimant for the delay in the completing the property and the common areas.

“We also took into account the date the purchaser placed a booking fee for the property (in our LAD calculation), with the person providing evidence to the tribunal that he had paid the booking fee earlier than the sales and purchase agreement.”

Robert said the Tribunal would then use the date of the booking fee being placed as the date to start calculating the award for the delay in handing over the property.

“For the sixth claimant, the date of the sales and purchase agreement was on July 27, 2016 while the booking fee was made on April 24, 2015.

There is more than a year of delay so we took that into account (in our calculation) and the handing over of the unit itself was delayed by 593 days.”

Robert said the developers have 45 days to rectify all defects identified by the claimants after the award from the Tribunal is received, while officers will be sent to see that the defects are properly rectified by the developer.

The proceedings were held at the old State Legislative Assembly in Petra Jaya here.