MANY condominium developers find it difficult to get along with residents' associations. Developers may view residents' associations as demanding lots, while residents see developers as only being interested in collecting maintenance charges without providing adequate services.

However, Ken Holdings Bhd managing director Tan Boon Kang sees things differently.

"We feel that residents' associations can contribute in helping to develop a good and closely-knit living community," he told StarBiz Tan Be in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.

"It will be in the interest of condominium developers and residents to have functioning resident's associations," he said, adding that this would enable developers to attend to complaints more effectively.

"If developers do not attend to legitimate grouses, unhappy residents might resort to vandalism to vent their frustration and drive down the value of the property.

Tan plans to help the residents of the company's up-coming Ken Damansara II condominium project in Petaling Jaya's SS2 to set up their residents' association.

"As a developer, we are accountable to our customers and must ensure we deliver products and services that they can appreciate.

"Developers will not have any problems getting residents to pay their maintenance charges if services and facilities were not neglected," Tan said.