Housing and Urban Development Co (Pte) Ltd v Mah Kok Weng and Another

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Wee Chong Jin CJ
• Judgment Date: 03 April 1984
• Neutral Citation: [1984] SGHC 10
• Docket Number: District Court Appeal No 18 of 1982
• Date: 03 April 1984
• Year: 1984
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Plaintiff Counsel: J Grimberg and D Daniel (Boswell, Hsieh & Lim)
• Citation: [1984] SGHC 10
• Defendant Counsel: Tommy Neo and Ong Mung Pang (Mak, Ong & Partners)
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Subject Matter: rr 9A(1) & (2) Housing Developers (Amendment) Rules 1967,Housing Developers Rules 1965,Contract,Whether omission contravened Rules,Sale of land,Omission of words 'or the Management Corp established under the Land Titles (Sub-Strata) Act' in agreement,Land

The Housing and Urban Development Co (Pte) Ltd (HUDC as it is more commonly known) has as its principal object to develop and maintain housing for the middle income group. One of its earlier developments is Laguna Park which comprises five high rise blocks of flats and two blocks of walk-up apartments, construction of which began in 1975 and completed in 1977.

Housing developers are subject to the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act 1965 (the Act) which was enacted to protect the public by controlling the forms of contract into which licensed developers might enter with purchasers.

In exercise of the powers conferred by s 21 of the Act the Minister for Law and National Development made the Housing Developers Rules 1965 (the Rules) and the Housing Developers (Amendment) Rules 1967. Rule 9A, so far as material, provides as follows:

(1) An agreement for sale between a housing developer and a purchaser shall be ... in the case of a flat in the form prescribed in Sch B to these Rules.

(2) No amendment, deletion or alteration to any such form shall be made except with the approval of the Controller.

Rule 11 provides as follows:

Any licensed developer who contravenes any of the provisions of these Rules shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine ... or to imprisonment ...

Section 21(2) of the Act gives power to the Minister to make rules providing for:

(e) the conditions, which if used in any contract between a licensed housing developer ... and a purchaser, shall be void.

In April 1975 HUDC sent to the Controller of Housing a draft agreement for sale and draft lease for the Controller`s approval in respect of its Laguna Park development which contained a clause (cl 12) which is not prescribed in Sch B of the Rules. The material provisions of cl 12 read as follows:

The Purchaser who has taken possession of the said flat before the date of completion of the sale and purchase herein shall pay to the Vendor a monthly maintenance and service fee of approximately $50 per month for the first year of possession; and the Vendor or the Management Corp established under the Land Titles (Strata) Act shall be at liberty to revise the maintenance and service fees herein upon giving three months` prior notice in writing for the Vendor ...

On 22 May 1975 the Controller approved, with some immaterial alterations, the draft agreement for sale.

On 19 March 1976 HUDC entered into a sale and purchase agreement with the respondents, a married couple, to purchase a flat in Laguna Park. Clause 12 of the agreement of 17 March 1976, however, was not in the precise terms approved by the Controller in that the words `or the Management Corp established under the Land Titles (Strata) Act` do not appear in cl 12 of 17 March 1976 agreement.

The...