MIRI – Authorities in Sarawak have been urged to thoroughly upgrade the state’s housing laws to give much-needed consideration for the rights of home buyers, and prevent any undue favouritism towards developers.
Stampin MP and Padungan assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen said the laws are now unfavourable to buyers and offer less protection to the ordinary people compared with similar housing legislation in Peninsular Malaysia.
He attributed this to Sarawak having a different housing ordinance from the peninsula’s.
“Sarawak has housing laws that are more in favour of housing developers,” he said.
“For example, in the peninsular states, housing developers are required by law to deliver completed housing units to the buyers within a specified period from the date the developer collects the booking fees from the buyers.
“However, this is not the case in Sarawak,” said Chong, who is state DAP chairman, in a statement today.
It is understood that he is largely referring to laws provided for under the Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Regulations 2013.
“Under the state housing ordinance, housing developers in Sarawak are only required to deliver completed units to the buyers after they sign the sales-and-purchase agreement with the buyers.
“This signing can take months to be done, and house buyers would have already been compelled to pay the booking fees months before SPAs are signed. This is unfair to the buyers.
“It favours the developers in the financial sense,” he stressed.
Chong said the loopholes in the state housing laws need to be plugged now as they are outdated.
The ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak government needs to get rid of these unfair practices by upgrading the housing laws to the same level as those in the peninsula, or be even better, he added.
Sarawak has autonomous control over matters pertaining to housing and local councils. – The Vibes, March 28, 2022
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