Lee Swee Seng JCA:

[1] The problem we are about to narrate is thankfully rare. A developer found itself in a bind after having built a house on a piece of land according to the pre-computational plans, layout and building plans approved by the local authority. The size of the land as stated in the first Sale and Purchase Agreement ("SPA") between the developer and the first purchasers was 340m² and is the corresponding Qualified Title. The first purchasers who subsequently became the registered proprietors of the land ("Previous Proprietors") sued the developer for damages arising from fact that the final title when issued showed that the land was less by 51m². The developer was quite certain that it was a typographical mistake of the Land Office that issued the final title.

[2] However at the trial the court decided that the final title is everything with the result that the developer was ordered to pay damages to the Previous Proprietors for the shortfall in the size of the land of 51m². The developer paid RM473,444.43 together with interest of RM193,839.82 to the Previous Proprietors under protest.

[3] There was however a problem brewing - part of the structure of the house