MIRI: Current trends and issues affecting the housing sector led to the improvement of the 1993 Housing Developers Ordinance and the 1998 Regulations.
This also resulted in new laws like Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Ordinance 2013 (HDO) and Housing Development (Control and Licensing) (Amendments) Regulations 2015 (HDR) to be introduced, Assistant Minister of Housing Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said.
“It is to update and improve the previous ordinance and regulations taking into consideration the development of laws and regulations on housing at the federal level and the current trends affecting the housing sector in Sarawak.
“The trend involves the change of housing trend and lifestyle including market for service apartment, condominium, modern building as well as other high-rise skyscrapers,” he said during the awareness seminar on the new ordinance and regulations recently.
Thus, he said, the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Ordinance 2013 was enacted by the State Legislative Assembly in November 2013 to replace the 1998 Housing Developer Ordinance, which was subsequently repealed.
Abdul Karim said the new ordinance was passed by the assembly with three main objectives.
“First, it is to check abuses in the housing industry. Secondly, it is to regulate the activities of housing developers and, third, the new ordinance is to protect house buyers.”
He added that strict licensing, enforcement and compliance mechanisms in the new ordinance are effective in ensuring that the housing developer’s licence is only issued to financially capable and reliable developers or contractors.
“At the same time, more comprehensive mechanism on developers performance would help to mitigate problematic projects at their early stage of development so that appropriate steps can be taken by the ministry and other relevant authorities,” he stressed.
He assured that the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulations, 2014 was formulated and approved by the state government.
“The new regulations were further amended and improved early this year particularly on the Third Schedule involving progress of payment by house purchasers in a housing development,” he added.
Abdul Karim also said it is of utmost importance that these housing laws are established to protect the interest of house purchasers as well as to help promote a vibrant and orderly growth of the housing sector in Sarawak.
“With the enforcement of the new ordinance on November 1, 2014 and the amended regulations on March 20, 2015, the key challenge for the government is to develop and apply enforcement strategies that would help to achieve the desired public outcomes.”
At the same time, he added, it would also keep regulatory costs and administrative red tapes as low as possible amid the rising costs.