House buyers advised to lodge complaints with Housing Tribunal on SPA breach

suppadmin | March 29, 2022

House buyers who faced issues pertaining the breach of Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) are urged to lodge complaints with Tribunal for House Purchaser Claims.

Deputy Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government II Michael Tiang said this would ensure their rights as buyers would be protected.

According to him, there were many times when the buyers engaged lawyers to handle SPA agreement when purchasing a house, the lawyers usually acted for both developers and buyers.

“Most of the time when the buyers faced the defects of the house or breaches of the SPA, they would be advised not to lodge a complain with the Tribunal but to continue to communicate with the developers.

“Because of that, many times, it caused their claims to fall outside the claim period,” he pointed out.

The Pelawan assemblyman explained that the Claim filed in Tribunal shall be not later than 18 months from the date of issuance of Occupation Permit (OP) or before the defects liability period end as specified in the SPA.

He hoped that more buyers are aware of this Tribunal for House Purchaser Claims to ensure that their rights are being protected.

He said Tribunal for House Purchaser Claims was enforced on May 1, 2010 to provide an alternative to settle housing dispute other than court.

It will hear and adjudicate housing purchaser claims such as Liquidated Ascertained Damages (LAD), Defects of Workmanship and noncompliance of specification as stated in SPA.

All claims filed shall not exceed RM150,000.

Tiang also said that for the past three years, Tribunal had settled nearly 300 cases for the whole Sarawak.

Claims can be filed to the Tribunal via online system homeapps.sarawak.gov.my

A fee of RM50 will be charged for every filing. Tribunal office can be contacted at 082-312507/312517 or email ttprs@sarawak.gov.my or visit the website at mphlg.sarawak.gov.my.

During the hearing session, the claimants must be present and no legal representatives including the developers, are to be allowed in the Tribunal court.