One-third of recent abandoned housing projects in Selangor: Minister

KLANG: Nearly one-third of all abandoned housing projects in the country since 2009 are in Selangor, said Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar.
He said that the high amount abandoned projects in the state was due to the increased fees imposed by local councils on contractors to complete the projects.
According to the statistics obtained from the ministry, Noh said Selangor recorded 81 abandoned housing projects involving 29,134 units and 20,640 house buyers between 2009 up to Wednesday.
"The statistics in Selangor represent 32% of the total 253 abandoned private housing projects in the country.
"Worst still, 148 housing projects in Selangor have been found to be operating without advertising, permit and developers license (APDL) from the ministry," he said in his speech during the handover of house keys and certificates of fitness to residents of Taman Tradisi Indah at Pulau Indah, here, yesterday.
Without the license from the ministry, Noh warned house owners of the risk they faced should the project get abandoned.
"The ministry is only able to revive abandoned projects if it had the license, or else the task becomes very difficult or impossible," he said.
As such he advised local government authorities to ensure housing developers obtained the licenses prior to launching the housing projects.
Noh said while there is no provision for the government under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1996 (Act 118) to revive abandoned housing projects, it remains committed to ensure that issues affecting the people are solved effectively.
"As such, from 253 abandoned projects nationwide, the ministry has since settled and negotiated 186 projects while 18 projects are in various phases of settlement.
"The remainder 49 projects are in the initial stages of settlement," he said.
The ministry, he said, spent RM204.779 million to complete 31 from the 186 projects including Taman Tradisi Indah project which has since benefited 5,008 house buyers.
In a bid to avoid potential house buyers from suffering due to the project abandonment by developers, Noh advised them to be aware of the laws under Act 118 and enforceable with Strata Management Act 2013 (Act 757) and Strata Ownership Act (Amendment) 2013 (Act 318).
"Under the law, house buyers have the right to terminate the Sale and Purchase Agreement (S&P) at any time if there was no progress in construction of the project for six months continuously or more after signing the agreement.
"This is possible with the condition that a written acknowledgement from the Housing Controller and a written agreement from the financiers is provided," he said.
He added that action can be taken against housing developers should they be found guilty of leaving a housing project unattended for six months consecutively or causing the housing project to be abandoned.