New housing law, regulations take effect Nov 1

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Abang Johari (seated centre) shows reporters the new housing ordinance.

KUCHING: Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Ordinance 2013 and Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulations 2014 will come into effect this Saturday.

Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the new regulations, which repealed the existing Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Regulations 1998, was formulated following consultations with key stakeholders, including Housing Developers and Real Estate Association Sarawak (Sheda), and Sarawak Advocates’ Association.

“The inputs from Sheda, in particular, were taken into consideration, and some were incorporated into the new regulations,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

He said some of the key reasons for the new regulations were to better protect house purchasers’ rights and interests and also to address current issues facing the housing sector, such as mitigating abandoned housing projects.

“It ensures that the regulations remain relevant in the face of rapid changes in the housing sector. The new regulations also provide more flexibility to determine the amount of deposit for housing developers’ licences and improvise features of the forms for licensing, advertisement, and sales permit applications.

“From housing developers’ perspective, the new regulations are a step towards simplifying housing regulatory procedures and further trimming of red tape.

“This will reduce both the cost of doing business and compliance cost. In formulating the new regulations, the state government was mindful of the need to balance the interest of house buyers with that of the developers in an equitable and fair manner.”

Abang Johari said under the new regulations, all new housing development applications submitted beginning this coming Saturday were required to use the new Sale and Purchase Agreement (Form B and Form C) with their house buyers.

“All housing developers and their staff are urged to fully familiarise themselves with the new regulations, procedures, and requirements to ensure these are complied with to avoid compound or penalty.

“The banking and financial institutions, consultants, advocates, and other lending institutions should also comply with these new regulations, including the use of the new Sale and Purchase Agreement documents for all new housing development projects.”

He said interested parties and individuals who wished to know more about the changes and improvements contained in the new regulations could get copies of the ordinance and regulations from the Housing Ministry’s website http://minhousing.sarawak.gov.my or from the State Attorney General Office’s website http://sag.gov.my.

The new application forms for the housing development licence and for the sale and advertisement permit can also be downloaded from the ministry’s website.

Also present at the news conference were Assistant Housing Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and senior Housing Development Corporation (HDC) senior officials.