Once amended, any cases of fraud will be prosecuted in court and offenders will face a prison sentence of three years, a fine ranging from RM250,000 to RM500,000, or both, said housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming.

The amendments are to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act, Bernama reported.

Nga said the government would take stricter preventive measures and the ministry would strive to protect the rights and interests of home buyers, while also upholding the professional image of the housing industry.

“Buying a home may require someone’s lifetime savings, so developers should be more sincere in enhancing the country’s real estate market reputation. We have many professional and world-class developers, but there are also ‘black sheep’ in this industry,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said the government has learned from Australia, Dubai and Singapore to expand the scope of the Act by forming a contract that is fairer, more reasonable and transparent.

In a related development, Nga said a ministry task force had salvaged a total of 351 “sick projects” with a value of RM33 billion, involving about 43,000 home buyers.

“There are developers who misuse buyers’ hard-earned money for other purposes, causing negative cash flow and leading to the abandonment of projects,” he said.

“A good administrative system must have clear rewards and punishments. We will penalise those who tarnish the industry’s name, while at the same time, we must also give recognition to those who perform excellently,” he said.