Housebuyers win landmark RM4.6m suit
Published on: Saturday, January 29, 2011
Kota Kinabalu: Forty-six house owners at Taman Bukit Saujana near Iramanis, here, who sued the developer for negligence and breach of contract in the construction of their homes, were awarded about RM4.6 million by the High Court here.Judge Datuk David Wong awarded Lim Chon Jet and 45 others, RM305,681.67 in liquidated and ascertained damages, RM4,148,793 in damages for breach of contract and RM137,989 in investigation cost, bringing it to a total of RM4,592,372.67.In a landmark decision, Friday, Wong held that the building industry must embrace its social responsibility of ensuring it is respected by society at large and that this can only be done by not being driven by a mindset of "profit at any cost".
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"Housing developers in the State or in the country must realise that the majority of purchasers are first home buyers and they use their life savings to realise their dreams of owning their house."In doing so, they enter into a lifelong commitment of repaying the housing loan. They purchase their houses relying on the representation of the developers that the houses will be built with good workmanship and materials and the last thing they expect is to take possession of houses which are defective and requiring massive remedial works."In this case, legal action had to be taken which made the situation worse for the plaintiffs, said Wong. The plaintiffs had, on May 5, 2006, filed their writ of summons against the developer, Yusen Jaya Sdn Bhd.In their claims against the defendant (Yusen Jaya), they sought a declaration that they are entitled to liquidated and ascertained damages under Clause 18 of the Sale and Purchase Agreements made between the plaintiffs and the developer.
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They also sought damages for breach of contract, breach of statutory duty, negligence, distress and inconvenience, loss of amenity value of the houses and or the diminution value of the houses and the maintenance costs throughout the life span of the houses.In supporting their claims, they said that after the issuance of the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation, defects due to defective materials or workmanship that were not in accordance with the agreements and or approved plans appeared.
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They also claimed the developer breached its contractual duty by carrying out non-conformance works and or defective work not in accordance with the agreements and or using inferior and unsuitable material.The house owners were represented by counsel Alex Decena together with counsel Christina Liew and Wilson Lai while Yusen Jaya was defended by counsel Ronny Cham and Grace Chow.Meanwhile, the houseowners' spokesperson, Dr Krishna Kumar, told reporters outside the court that they were pleased with the judgement."It is one giant victory for all the house buyers assembled here and should serve as a precedent for all future cases that developers can never play around with house buyers."It is one blow for the developer and all developers concerned in Sabah. In future most of the developers will have to be a little concerned about delivering properties to house buyers and house buyers stand a good chance of getting a better delivery system from the developers. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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