Ministry to come down hard on errant developers

KUALA LUMPUR: Housing and Local Govern­ment Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung has vowed not to be lenient on developers who abandon projects. He said with the passing of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) (Amendment) Bill 2011 in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, all errant developers would be taken to task. “In the past, some local authorities were slack in the inspection of housing projects and some projects were carried out without approval of the ministry or relevant government agencies,” he said after the launch of Rimbun by Amphil Corporation Sdn Bhd’s website here yesterday. He added that there were 195 cases involving unlicensed housing developers due to this reason. Another milestone: Chor launching Amphil Corporation Sdn Bhd’s new website in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Looking on is the company’s chief executive officer and director P. K. Poh. So far, 54 errant developers have been taken to court. Chor hoped the amendments to the Act would serve as a deterrent to developers seeking to make a quick buck by collaborating with professionals and bankers to cheat house-buyers. “Some bankers simply issued loans, before the certificate of completion, without checking properly the necessary documents and this allowed some developers to run away with the money without completing their projects,” he said. He said bankers who provided the financing should only disburse funds based on actual work completed on site while project consultants should only certify payments when real-time work had properly been carried out. It was reported by The Star recently that as of Nov 15, 1,308 developers and 4,703 directors of the companies concerned had been blacklisted by the ministry. These developers were involved in offences that fall under four categories – failure to pay compound fines, abandoning of projects, involvement in “sick” or problematic schemes and non-compliance with the judgment of the Tribunal for Homebuyer Claims. Chor said that previously, developers were allowed to ask for discount when they were fined but this would become “a thing of the past” with the amendments to the Act. “Previously, those who made genuine mistakes would be gi­­ven discounts but they will now have to pay the full amount,” he said. - The Star