In a fix over condo unit titles

From STAR METRO: http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/12/25/central/2690592&sec=central

By PRIYA MENON
priya@thestar.com.my


RESIDENTS of Heritage Condominium in Jalan Pahang, Kuala Lumpur, are bedevilled by a host of problems.

Apart from lack of maintenance and security, they are also facing difficulty in obtaining individual titles for their units.


Kirpal Singh: Questions the lack of security at the condo.
Chairman of the residents’ pro tem committee Khong Kin Hai said when the developer of the condominium was declared insolvent, the court hired a liquidator who is demanding a 2% fee of the purchase price to produce titles for the property owners.

“Before the liquidator was appointed by the court, we had collected money and managed to get the titles on our own but they were left at the land office.

“Why must we pay so much for something we have already managed to get? Is it so difficult to get the titles from the land office?” asked Khong.

To add salt to the wound, their condominium is in a sad state of disrepair. There are three blocks of condominiums and each has four lifts. However, only one out of four lifts is working.

“It is dangerous for us to use the condo facilities. We have complained before but no action has been taken, The condo does not even have a certificate of fitness,” he said.

Another resident Fatimah Reynolds, a retired teacher said: “The buttons in the lifts are also missing and we are afraid of being electrocuted every time we stick our finger into the button hole,” she said.


Ugly: The tennis court looks far from inviting.

She said the management office had been turning a blind eye to the problems even though it was still collecting maintenance fees every month.

“The squash court is termite infested; the pool needs tending to and the tennis court flooring has to be replaced,” said Reynolds.

Evidently even security is lacking as two men managed to walk into a sundry shop and robbed it on Nov 25.

“Packets of cigarettes worth RM1,500 were stolen and we lost RM1,300 in cash. How can this happen when we have guards and a checkpoint,” asked another resident, Major (Rtd) Kirpal Singh.


Press at your own risk: The cover of the lifts’ buttons are also missing.

All these residents want now is to have their titles returned to them without having to pay an exorbitant fee.

“We hope the problem will be resolved quickly and we definitely want to elect our own management committee to ensure that we do not have maintenance problems in the future,” added Khong.

The developer, however, dec-lined to comment on the issue for the time being.

Season's Greetings

Here's wishing all a BLESSED CHRISTMAS
Remember the True Meaning of CHRISTMAS.....that of love and care and giving...

Tenant Control....Yr Condo turning into a Hostel?

Mr Chan wrote:



I'm in the JMB-Ken Damansara III and thankfully, it has been fairly smooth going on the management of the condominium.

I have a question on what I would term as "Tenant control". I have heard that some condos have set in place a policy to discourage owner-investors from renting out their units to certain groups of people. I'm interested to know how this is implemented effectively and within the law.

Is it enough that the JMB calls for an EGM in order that the owner-residents vote on this new rule to be included in the House Rules? What sort of majority vote are we looking at? 51% of owners?

As there is a new shopping mall coming up next door (anchor tenant possibly is GIANT) and Carrefour opening soon at Tropicana Mall nearby, the owner-residents are quite worried that some units in the condo may end-up as workers' hostel.

Presently, we have units which are rented out as hostels to students from nearby colleges and 1 unit as workers' hostel for Carrefour. It's clear that we need to nip this problem in the bud before it gets out of control.

Appreciate advise and comments on this matter.

ACT 663 - The Voice of the JMBs

The All Petaling Jaya Residents' Association Coalition (APAC) in collaboration with the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) is organising a forum titled:
AKTA 663 - Suara JMB

at the MBPJ Auditorium, Petaling Jaya
on Tuesday 23rd December 2008
time: 5:00pm to 7:00pm

All Residents Associations and JMB/MC's (especially in PJ) are invited to send representatives to the forum and be heard!

3 Working papers will be presented:
The Roles of Residents Association in High Rise properties under LA21

The Roles of JMB - COB

JMC - Management Problems...

For further information and confirmation please contact:
YM Tengku Nazaruddin - 012 284 9146
or
Mr Liew Wei Beng - 019 332 2073
or
Mr Peter Chong - 012 905 9948

Please also inform your neighbouring properties.

Thank you

Some Useful INFORMATION - SOP

Nicholas wrote:

I was just browsing through the archives and one issue caught my interest – SOP. I would like to share our experiences and our ideas that may help other JMCs or MCs.



Last year, there were many complaints by some owners regards the conduct of the MC in Kiara Green Townhouses (KGT) pertaining to approvals of expenditures and external renovations.

We then secured 25% petitions from owners and the CoB’s directive to that MC to convene an EGM. The result – I became the Chairman of the new MC and one of our tasks was the formulation and implementation of SOP as a check and balance as well as guide future council members as to their functions, responsibilities and effective management of KGT. By the way, we could have sued the previous members for certain irregularities but we realized that most of them were just ignorant and unaware and thus we let the matter be.



Our is probably a unique structure whereby the council members appointed at the EGM and future AGMs are separated into the Executive Committee(Exco) and an Oversight Committee (OS). The Exco is responsible for the day to day operations while the OS acts as the watchdog. All minutes and decisions will be forwarded to OS for their information. We also allow any owner/resident to attend any council meeting as observer, provided sufficient notice is given. Major issues, like expenditures over RM10,000 or critical decisions will trigger the OS to sit in and deliberate. If all are in agreement, the decisions are finalized there and then. If there is no unanimous decision, an EGM will be convened to decide the issues.





The SOP have served us well and we also insisted that the appointed property manager adheres to our procedures. By the way, any amendments to the SOP will firstly require the agreement of the OS and any other serious amendments will require the approval of all owners either at AGM or EGM. Our next AGM is around the corner and I have no qualms about handing over to others.



I hope you will find this worthwhile sharing with others.

Calling all parcel proprietors in the State of Selangor.

FORUM TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS RE: ACT 663

DATE : 7th DECEMBER 2008

TIME : 2 pm

VENUE : P J CLUB, (next to A & W )

There will be guest speakers & VIP observers, to enlighten and share ideas and experiences.

COME, PARTICIPATE, SUPPORT

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

WE MUST EMPOWER THE AUTHORITIES TO ACT FIRMLY & URGENTLY.

Note : Please confirm your interest to attend to Jimmy Teo (jimmytwt@gmail.com) before 5th Dec. 2008.
( For proper planning on seating, food & drinks )