Buildings Commission proposed for property management
The Star 23/8/2006

KUALA LUMPUR: Poor property management can be overcome with the setting up of a Buildings Commission, according to property developers and owners.

Real Estate and Housing Developers Association president Ng Seing Liong said a buildings commissioner adequately empowered would be able to quickly dispose of disputes between developers and owners.

He said the authorities should also consider ways to expedite the issuance of strata titles to enable owners to manage their properties sooner.

“In this way, transitional issues on the handing over and taking over of the management and maintenance of the property from one entity to another can be minimised,” he said after The Property Management Time Bomb forum at the Securities Commission Convention Centre yesterday.

He urged that the management of low-cost flats be jointly carried out by the Government owing to problems in establishing and operating a management company in the property sub-sector.

Bunga Raya Management Corp secretary S. Venkateswaran said that developers usually took charge of the management and maintenance of stratified properties pending the issuance of strata titles and the setting up of management corporations.

However, he said, many management corporations faced difficulties in collecting maintenance fees from owners who might not pay because they did not see benefits of the charges in terms of adding value to their properties.

“A buildings commissioner can undertake supervisory, regulatory functions as well as serve as an arbitrator by resolving disputes between developers, management corporations, management agents and other service providers,” Venkateswaran said.

House Buyers Associations honorary secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said that strata titles complaints were the most common since the non-profitable non-governmental organisation started compiling data in 2000.

He said strata titles complaints formed 29% of complaints last year followed by management and maintenance (23%), late delivery (14%), certificate of fitness (12%), abandoned projects (11%), shoddy workmanship (7%), and others.

Chang said many of the complaints could be addressed during the sale and purchase stage.

He said the agreement should be transparent and define clearly common property, boundaries and limited common property.

“Developers have to declare the number of units intended to be retained or unsold. The number of units retained by developers do have an impact on the formation of management corporations,” he said.