Abandonment is a crime

The Star 16.11.11

Abandonment of housing projects to be deemed criminal offence

KUALA KUMPUR: All licensed housing developers who fail to complete a housing project or cause the abandonment of the project shall be deemed to have committed a criminal offence under the amendments to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966.
Upon conviction, such a developer is liable to a fine of not less than RM250,000 and not more than RM500,000, or to be jailed up to three years, or both.
This is provided under a new section in Clause 9 of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) (Amendment) Bill 2011.
The new section is among several amendments made to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) 1966 (Act 118), which will provide more protections and rights to house buyers and to prevent the occurrence of abandoned projects

I would be interesting to find out how they are going to investigate and prosecute errant house builders. And I wonder if this is going to work, the fine seemed so little if compared with multi million house projects that have been left abandoned. 

And what about abandoned government projects? Is it not a criminal offense to waste our tax money? 

In any case, to my entrepreneur friends who are building houses, please take extra care, especially with the supplies, costing and financing. And keep good records because if I am not mistaken, you need 'mens rea' and 'mala fide' bad intention to qualify as a crime. If the abandonment was due to someone else's doing, have the records ready as your defense.

Work smart everyone

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