Understanding abandoned housing projects in Malaysia and the protection for home buyers

Abandoned housing projects is considered as one of the most common and serious issue afflicting the Malaysian housing industry given the numbers of housing projects involved. This situation is a nightmare as it affects the home buyers in particular. Among the initiatives put forward by the government to cater this issue is by the enforcement of provisions enacted through the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act in 1966. The Act provides control and licensing guidelines for the housing developers particularly on houses under construction in Peninsular Malaysia to protect the interests of the home buyers. In addition, the Act also introduced Tribunal for Homebuyers Claims under Section 16B as an avenue for the affected home buyers to claim for damages and compensation from the irresponsible housing developers. However, abandoned housing projects remains to be the subject of debate as the rights of the affected home buyers to own a house is seized and abandoned housing projects numbers are still recorded high in the statistic. This study aims to discuss the roots and impacts of abandoned housing projects towards the home buyers as well as the available protection for home buyers of houses under construction in Malaysia. Hence, this study adopts conceptual analysis of relevant literatures and a doctrinal legal research method. The authors also highlight certain lacunas in the existing protection and recommendation to strengthen the protection of home buyers in the event of abandoned housing projects in Malaysia