Developer's Response

WE REFER to the article “Medan Putra residents rejoice” (StarMetro, Sept 23, 2009) and would like to rebut some of the claims made against us.

The High Court decision in August allowed the registration of the Medan Putra JMB (JMB); however, this matter is now with the Court of Appeal.

The High Court did not decide to the effect that “To put it succinctly, a developer must set up a JMB before forming a Management Corporation, otherwise it is considered illegal and a new JMB must be formed”, as published in the article, nor did the High Court make any decision to the effect that the Management Corporation (MC) is illegal, as alleged and published.

In fact, there is no dispute or challenge that the MC, as stipulated in the Strata Titles Act 1985, has the authority to, inter alia, manage the condominium. On the other hand, as the MC was formed earlier than the JMB, the JMB should not be in existence.

The claim that “the condominium when run by the developer for eight years was dirty, had poor security, faulty lifts and cracked walls” is false and misleading.

The maintenance repairs and services for the condominium were provided efficaciously for the period mentioned.

It was only recently, since 2008, that some unauthorised persons allegedly running the JMB started collecting service maintenance and other charges illegally and, at the same time, informed purchasers not to pay the charges payable to the developer.

Such acts resulted in the interruption of services.

The monies collected by the aforesaid persons were not used to pay for the services, like cleaning, and other outgoings, such as water and electricity charges.

The claim that “some developers tried to challenge the new Act because they refused to hand over control of the management to the residents because the money collected for maintenance was lucrative” is false in so far as the Medan Putra Condominium is concerned.

It is also contrary to the more usual scenario in most condominiums, where there is invariably inadequate collection to meet the regular monthly expenditure for service maintenance and utilities, as is the case for Medan Putra Condominium.

The notion that the persons allegedly running the JMB represent and are supported by all the purchasers in the condominium is false and misleading.

Police reports had been lodged to show that numerous residents do not support and do not agree with the actions of those running the JMB.

LIM KHOON ONG,

Director,

Debir Desa Development Sdn Bhd