Developing contract clause for malaysian housing sales and purchase agreement (SPA) during the defect liability period (DLP) / Mohd Saufi Bin Mohd Redzuan

Faculty of Civil Engineering Technology

Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al Sultan Abdullah – 2025

Includes bibliographical references

The recent trends show increased numbers of homebuyer complaints regarding house defects and developers response quality. Several published journals have identified the types of defects and common issues associated with housing development. However, there exists a gap in bridging the house defects to the complaints and satisfaction of homebuyers regarding this issue during the Defect Liability Period (DLP). Homebuyers often faced house quality issues and disputes with developers starting from Vacant Possession (VP) until the end of DLP which resulted in negative financial impact and frustration. This study aims to investigate the underlying issues that homebuyers face during DLP and develop a house sales and purchase contract clause to better suit the current housing issues. To achieve that aim, this study investigates the complaints by homebuyers in Malaysia and the response quality by developers towards these complaints during DLP using mixed method approach. The collected data are then subject to statistical analyses, including normalized mean analysis, Kruskal-Wallis H test, factor analysis, and fuzzy synthetic evaluation to assess data reliability, evaluate agreement, and rank the criticality of complaint factors. Analysis from Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) indicates that the factors that greatly influence homebuyers’ complaint are “end-product”, “developers’ response”, and “guideline”. In addition to this result, development of house sales and purchase (SPA) contract clauses are developed together with reference on other developed countries contract clause and validated with housing industry and legal specialists. The clauses developed include extension of DLP, shorten developer response period, and defects type description. This paper does not only bridge the gap from previous studies by offering new insights from homebuyers’ perspectives but also stands as a pioneering effort in studying and modelling the relationship between critical complaint factors and homebuyers' complaints during the DLP. This study is the first to quantitatively investigate factors leading to homebuyers’ complaints during DLP. The study findings could produce significant additional factors towards homebuyers’ complaints during DLP and offer a new perspective for policymakers in the development of housing regulations and legislation.