Court affirms housing tribunal’s RM20,000 award to couple over defects

 The High Court says the procedure adopted did not deny the developer a fair opportunity to know and answer the case against it.

The Melaka High Court has upheld a house buyers’ tribunal award ordering developer Jun Cheng Development Sdn Bhd to pay Nur Amira Samsudin and Arief Rosali RM20,110.50 in compensation for the defects. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 A developer has failed in its bid to overturn a housing tribunal’s order requiring it to pay over RM20,000 in compensation to a couple for defects in their home, after the Melaka High Court dismissed its judicial review.

Judicial commissioner K Raja Segaran ruled that Jun Cheng Development Sdn Bhd had not shown that the tribunal acted beyond the jurisdiction granted under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966.

“I further hold that the applicant (Jun Cheng) has failed to establish illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety, insufficiency of reasons, or any other reviewable public law error in the impugned award”, he said in a judgment released earlier this week.

Raja Segaran said the tribunal was entitled in law to obtain and rely on a technical inspection report as part of its fact-finding process.

“On the record before this court, the procedure adopted did not deny the applicant a fair opportunity to know and answer the case against it,” he said.

Raja Segaran said the tribunal was also entitled, after noting the continuing state of the defects, to conclude that compensation, rather than additional time to carry out the rectification works, was the proper remedy.

He also ordered the developer to pay RM8,000 in costs to the tribunal and house buyers, Nur Amira Samsudin and Arief Rosali.

The couple had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with the developer on March 30,2023 to buy a house in Taman Kota Sungai Rambai in Melaka.

A dispute later arose, and on May 28 last year, the tribunal awarded the couple RM20,110.50 in compensation for the defects.

The developer sought to have the tribunal’s award quashed via judicial review.

The tribunal’s decision was based on a report prepared by the technical unit of the home buyers’ tribunal.

In their submissions, the couple contended that formal defect notices were issued to the developer, with repeated opportunities for rectification.

They said they had communicated with the developer, arranged for inspections, and received assurances that the defects would be rectified, with extensions of time granted for the works to be carried out.

Raja Segaran held the tribunal was entitled to take evidence, make inquiries, conduct a technical inspection and draw up a report, for the expeditious determination of the claim.

He said both parties were invited to be present during a site visit and an inspection was conducted transparently, with both parties being granted equal opportunity to observe and comment.

A copy of the report was furnished to the parties before the award was issued.

Raja Segaran said the existence of defects was assessed based on the condition of the premises as observed and verified in the technical report.

He said the developer did not put forward any competing technical report or expert evidence to counter the report and the developer was essentially asking the court to revisit the technical merits of the report without any evidential basis. - FMT