Developers Of High-rise Buildings Can Seal Properties Of Tenants
14/04/2007 Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) -- The assets of owners and tenants of units in high-rise buildings such as condominiums, office buildings and shopping centres who refuse to settle maintenance charges can now be sealed.

Secretary-General of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail said the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007 or Act 663 which was enforced yesterday provided for such action.

"Previously, developers were faced with the problem of buyers or tenants refusing to pay the maintenance charges because there was no law which specified action that could be taken," he said.

He said this in a working paper entitled "Implementation of the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007 to Tackle the Problems of Maintaining and Managing Buildings and Common properties.

The working paper was tabled at the Conference on Enhancing the Government Delivery System and Services, here today.

The assets would be sealed if the Commissioner of Buildings (COB) appointed by the state governments gave the permission after receiving an application from the developer of a building, he said.

Meanwhile, Director-General of the Peninsular Malaysia Town and Country Planning Department Datuk Mohd Fadzil Mohd Khir proposed that the approval process for applications for land development be shortened to only four months.

"Priority should also be given to high-impact projects such as those involving foreign investors," he said in his working paper entitled "Enhancement of the Delivery System for Procedures and Processes as well as the Implementation of One-Stop-Centre for Development Proposals.

He pointed out that currently processing of applications for land development took a very long time, that is, about a year.

In addition, approvals between the local authorities also differed with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall taking between 30 and 120 days to approve building plans, the Subang Jaya City Council (30 to 145 days), Petaling Jaya City Council (30 to 60 days).

"It is proposed that the new method be implemented simultaneously throughout the country while the existing method is put aside to avoid confusion," he added.

-- BERNAMA