Protecting house buyers against late delivery of vacant possession: a case of Malaysia

One of the main duties of the housing developer in Malaysia is to complete the construction of the house on time. Schedules G and H of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 provides that the period of completion and handling over vacant possession for landed property is 24 months and for sub-divided building is 36 months. However in practice, some buyers did not get the keys to their houses on time as a delay in completion of project has become common phenomenon in the housing industry. Unlike other construction projects, any problems with housing project will affect many people due to the significant nature of housing project to public at large. A delay in delivering the house to the anxious buyer may mean delaying his right to one of human basic needs. A late delivery may also cause financial, social and emotional problems to the buyers just like abandoned projects but perhaps with less degree of hardship since finally they got keys to the house. Adopting a qualitative research methodology of content analysis and a case study, this paper aims to examine the adequacy of law and housing policy in Malaysia in ensuring the residential houses to be completed on time as delay may lead to more serious problem of abandonment of the project. The study also explores house buyers’ experiences with regard to the problems of late delivery including various issues and challenges faced by them in claiming damages for late delivery of vacant possession. The findings revealed that lack of enforcement of housing law and policy as one of contributing factors of project delay and the house buyers are not adequately protected under the existing law and practices. Ultimately, the study provides insights to practitioners and policy makers on further improvements of the law and policy to minimize or prevent the delay in completing the housing project as well as to protect house buyers’ interests in the case of late delivery of vacant possession in the housing market in Malaysia