Lee Swee Seng JCA:

[1] No one and certainly not the plaintiff in the High Court below, would have thought that after paying the full purchase price for a house in a development undertaken by Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd ("SPNB"), he would be shockingly awakened to the reality that the title to his house for which he had taken possession, is now the subject of a charge created over the property in favour of a moneylender by the developer.

[2] After all, one would expect a developer who had entered into a joint venture with SPNB to develop the master titles into a housing estate to have the decency to abide by its contractual obligation under the statutorily prescribed Sale and Purchase Agreement ("SPA") in the form of Schedule G of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulations 1989 ("the Housing Regulations"). That obligation included not to encumber the property upon an SPA being signed with the purchaser, and more importantly to undertake as required under the statutory contract, to deliver an unencumbered title to the house after completion and the payment of the full purchase price.

[3] Upon discovery of this horror, the house buyer sued SPNB as the 1st defen