Buyers Liable For Unauthorised Works

A couple paid 5% deposit for a $1.18m 1-1/2 storey house at Lor 105 Changi Rd, only to discover that extra storey was an unauthorised structure while the paperwork was in process.

They wanted the sellers to put it right and pay for the alterations, but the High Court threw out their application for damages with costs, as BCA's reply to the buyers' lawyers of the unauthorised A&A came after the S&P contract was signed. Moreover, the buyers did not have any special clause to cancel the deal should any unauthorised works was found. The risk of a property passed to the buyer once the option was exercised.

In a similar case in 1993, the Court of Appeal held that so long the BCA had not issued a notice, the unauthorised works did not constitute defects in title.

* AsiaOne-A&A *