Questions:
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) how many errant interior renovation contractors have been taken to court over renovation disputes in the past three years; and (b) what regulations are in place to prevent errant contractors from setting up a new company to continue their misdeeds.
Written answer:
Renovation disputes may pertain to unfair practices. The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA) protects consumers against unfair practices by retailers of goods and services, including renovation contractors. The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) received consumer feedback on about 400 renovation contractors annually from 2013 to September 2016, or about 6% of renovation businesses 1 in Singapore. CASE successfully helped the majority of these consumers to resolve the disputes through negotiation and mediation. CASE did not file any injunction application with the courts against renovation contractors over disputes related to unfair practices under the CPFTA. Separately, about 160 consumer cases 2 filed with the Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) each year were disputes on renovations.
CASE has worked with the Singapore Renovation Contractors and Material Suppliers Association (RCMA) on the CaseTrust-RCMA accreditation scheme. Renovation contractors who are CaseTrust-RCMA accredited provide prepayment protection, and offer consumers a CaseTrust standard renovation contract which provides consumers with cost transparency and accountability on deliverables.
MTI regularly reviews the CPFTA to ensure that it remains relevant and offers appropriate protection for consumers. The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) (Amendment) Bill was passed in Parliament on 13 September 2016. The amendments strengthen the measures that may be taken against errant retailers, including renovation contractors, who persist in unfair practices. This includes appointing SPRING Singapore (SPRING) as the administering agency with investigation and enforcement powers, and additional measures that the courts may impose on errant retailers, such as requiring them to publicise injunction orders, and notify SPRING of changes to their employment status and business entities. This enables SPRING to monitor businesses and individuals who are under injunction orders to ensure that they comply with the orders, and SPRING will take timely action against them if they do not. The changes will come into effect by end 2016.
1On average, there were 6,550 renovation businesses in Singapore from 2013 to August 2016.
2SCT is not able to provide the number of unique businesses which have had cases filed against them.