HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said the impact of the Act, which came into effect today seven months after the nation went under the movement control order (MCO), has been “largely blunted by now”.

“First, the Covid-19 Act has a form of contractual protection, a statutory force majeure of sorts for inability to perform contracts. This protection expires on Dec 31.

“But it does not affect contracts already terminated or sued upon before the Act came into force. Hence, this protection is weakened by now. It will only create more disputes,” he said in a statement today.

Chang said there would be housing development issues such as liquidated ascertained damages and late payment charges since the protection for these matters had expired in August.

He had previously said the extension allocated in the Covid-19 Act through modifications to Section 34 and 36 of the Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act 1966 should have been automatically prolonged to Dec 31.

“The Covid-19 Act now requires parties to apply for an extension. Developers and purchasers would have moved on since then, going into dispute or going out of business.”

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and law) Takiyuddin Hassan yesterday announced that the Act would be gazetted today after receiving the royal assent. It will be in effect for two years from Oct 23.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA