Form management body or be fined
07/05/2007 The Star By David Tan

DEVELOPERS who do not form a joint management body with residential high-rise property owners can be fined from RM20,000 under the newly implemented Building and Common Property (Management and Maintenance) Act 2007.

Jelutong MP Datuk Lee Kah Choon said the Act also allowed for the setting up of the commissioner of building (COB), headed by the president of the local council, to ensure that the joint management body was formed.

“A joint management body has to be formed under this new Act for all high-rise residential properties before they obtain their strata titles.

“This means once vacant possession of the unit is handed over to the buyer and maintenance fee is collected,” he said.

Lee spoke after officiating a seminar on high-rise living at the state Gerakan headquarters in Penang.

“The new Act also allows the joint management body and COB to take action against owners of high-rise units who fail to settle their maintenance fees.

“The new Act empowers them to apply for a writ of seizure from the state land and mines department to confiscate the properties in a high-rise unit that owe maintenance fees.

“The confiscated properties will be auctioned off to settle the outstanding maintenance fees,” he said.

Lee added that there were about 455,000 residential high-rise units in the country with about two million dwellers.

“COB and the joint management body are the proper channels to which they can forward their complaints should they encounter management and maintenance problems,” he said.