Projected bill to obligate housing companies to join association

AMMAN — The Cabinet is currently studying a draft law that obliges housing companies to become members of the Jordan Housing Developers Association (JHDA), the syndicate’s president, Fawaz Hassan, said Wednesday.

Hassan recounted an incident in which a person opened an office and “scammed people who bought houses through him”, urging the public to make sure that the housing companies they deal with are registered with the JHDA. 

The association currently encompasses 2,700 companies, he told The Jordan Times in a phone interview.

When a housing company is a member of the JHDA, the public can be protected, Hassan said, as the association, in cooperation with the Jordan National Building Council at the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, will have the authority to hold housing companies accountable for any negligence or violation of standards when implementing housing projects, Hassan explained in a statement.

In the statement, he stressed the importance of abiding by residential properties’ blueprints and building parking lots in the basement instead of turning them into housing units.

Hassan also renewed the JHDA’s demand to amend the by-law regulating construction in Amman by allowing a fifth storey in new buildings to accommodate additional apartments instead of having basement flats in the spaces designated for parking.

Article 9 of the by-law governing residential buildings Amman limits them to four storeys.