The contractor's termination of the contract was unlawful as no payments were outstanding, and the plaintiff was entitled to damages reflecting additional costs incurred due to the breach.

Introduction

[1] This is yet another dispute between a developer and a main contractor.

[2] Both parties point fingers at each other alleging the other had breached the contract.

Background Facts

[3] The Plaintiff company is a developer and the Defendant is the contractor.

[4] On 24 April 2019, the Plaintiff appointed the Defendant as the main contractor to construct houses on two pieces of land.

[5] The houses were to be constructed on PTD 61070 HSM 9052 and PTD 61072 HSM 9054, Jalan Parit Hup Soon Kang, Mukim Simpang Kanan, Daerah Batu Pahat, Johor.

[6] Two separate contracts were entered into for the construction works on the two pieces of land. The first contract will be referred to as PTD 61070 and the second contract as PTD 61072 based on the land title number.

[7] The total value of contract PTD 61070 is RM 3,099,780.00. The commencement date was 1 October 2019 and the completion date was 30 September 2020.

[8] The total value of the contract PTD is 61072 RM 3,171,280.00. The commencement date was 1 September 2019 and the completion date was 31 August 2020.

[9] The Defendant accepted the appointment, executed the contract and commenced work. However, the evidence does not indicate when precisely the Defendant commenced work for both contracts.

[10] For contract, PTD 61070, documentary evidence in the form of progressive claims indicates that Defendant submitted three progressive claims to Plaintiff. One was submitted on 29 May 2020 and two on 12. 6.2020. Whereas for contract PTD 61072, Defendant submitted eight progressive claims to Plaintiff on 26 October 2019, 27 November 2019, 28 December 2019, 22 January 2020, 25 February 2020, 16 April 2020, 29 May 2020 and 12 June 2020. Some of the dates for these progressive claims do not tally with the date of submission.

[11] About eleven months later, Defendant stopped work and left the project site on 27 July 2020.

[12] Plaintiff claims Defendant stopped work and abandoned the site. Thus, according to Plaintiff, Defendant breached the contract.

[13] On the other hand, Defendant claims they did not receive payment for three progressive claims from Plaintiff for contract PTD 61070. As for contract PTD 61072, they make a general plea that Plaintiff failed to honour their progressive claims without specifying any details. Therefore, Defendant contends Plaintiff had breached the terms of payment under the contract, prompting Defendant to terminate the contract vide their letter dated 27 July 2020 and leave the site.

[14] Thereafter, Plaintiff sourced new contractors to take over and continue with the construction works yet to be completed by Defendant.

[15] The Plaintiff obtained one tender from SKBP Construction Sdn Bhd However, they decided to appoint another contractor called Harmony Building Construction ('Harmony'), whose quotation was much lower than that of SKB Construct