Enforce show unit rules so buyers don’t get shortchanged, says group

 

Show unit rules similar to those in Singapore will ensure buyers get what they had bargained for, says the Property and Real Estate Lawyers Association. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The government should pass a law covering display models or show units by property developers so buyers are not misled by misrepresentations, the Property and Real Estate Lawyers Association said.

Its president Pretam Singh said such legislation would go a long way to ensuring that purchasers got what they had bargained for.

“It will bring certainty and avoid misrepresentation,” he told FMT, in response to a recent Federal Court verdict which held that a housing tribunal could only decide on disputes between purchasers and developers as expressly stated in the sales and purchase agreement.

The court said it could not be based on the buyer’s expectation that the unit purchased would correspond to the display model at the developer’s showroom.

Pretam Singh.

Johor-based property developer Country Garden Danga Bay Sdn Bhd (CGDB) had successfully appealed against a compensation award of RM50,000 to a buyer of a RM1.6 million condominium apartment who said it had delivered the premises without a sheltered balcony.

Ho Chee Kian, a Singaporean, was handed the keys to the apartment in 2017.

The housing tribunal in Johor Bahru awarded Ho compensation of RM50,000 in 2018 although he had renovated his property.

CGDB applied for a judicial review but lost in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

However, in a landmark ruling earlier this month, the Federal Court allowed CGDB’s appeal, saying housing tribunals could only decide on disputes between buyers and developers as expressly stated in the SPA.

Pretam said this case again illustrated the issue relating to display units which were the norm in the sale of new properties.

He said the representations contained in show units were not binding on the developer as provisions in the Housing Development Control and Licensing Regulation 1989 gave a narrow interpretation to the word “advertisement”.

“Therefore, there is an urgent need to have provisions relating to show units similar to those found in the Singapore Housing Developers (show unit) rules 2015,” he said.

He said the rules in the Singapore law clearly spelled out to what extent these “depicted show units must be a mirror reflection of the proposed building project”. - FMT