JUDGMENT

Introduction

[1] The phrase 'social legislation' attached to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 ('HDA 1966') and its ensuing subsidiary legislation, ie the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulations 1989 ('HDR 1989') is not merely a fanciful label. In disputes between home buyers and housing developers, its significance lies in the approach taken by the courts to tip the scales of justice in favour of the home buyers given the disparity in bargaining power between them and the housing developers.

[2] The question then arises: what happens when the developers devise ingenious schemes to circumvent the law and when they are called out for it, turn around to say that it is the home buyers who seek to make a windfall under the guise of 'protection'? To our minds, this is the crux of these appeals.