Many condominiums in Malaysia are badly maintained because of late payers and defaulters of Condominium Service Fee.
Why buy a condominium unit instead of landed property and get to pay Condominium Service Fee?
The main reasons for living in a condominium are security and amenities such as swimming pool, tennis court and gymnasium etc. Owners save on expensive club membership fees
Why is the Condominium Service Fee so important?
Simple, if landed properties need to be maintained, so does a condominium and its amenities.
The cost of providing security services and maintenance of amenities (especially the swimming pool and landscaping) is high. This cost has to be shared among the owners, hence, the Condominium Service Fee. The Condominium Service Fee also covers quit rent, sinking fund and the buildings’ insurance policy.
If management corporations do not have enough funds to upkeep the condominiums, then the condominiums will have a host of maintenance problems. Some of the problems are:
- Lift break-downs
- Dirty swimming pool
- Neglected landscaping
- Unpaid water & electricity bill
- Poor security services
- Poor building maintenance
When a condominium has sufficient funds and is well taken care of, the value of the condominium will increase and units will fetch high rental. This is what every condominium unit owner wants and is also what every owner in Country Towers wants.
Do we have defaulters in Country Towers Condominium?
Yes, we do.
As reported in the 2010 AGM, we have 2 defaulters and 5 “uncontactable” owners who have long overdue accounts.
Although the 2 defaulters are having difficulties, they understand the importance of the condominium fee and are co-operating with CTMC by making monthly installment payments to CTMC. The monthly amounts pay by them covers current condominium service fees with a small remainder going towards offsetting their overdue accounts.The 5 “uncontactable” is a challenging problem and our lawyers are advising us on the various courses of action to take.
What if there are difficult defaulters?
In the 2010AGM, the owners have given consent to CTMC to take firm action against the unco-operative difficult defaulters. Some of the actions laid down are:-
- Withdrawal of utilities and services
This action will be taken after reminders are being sent.
- Invalidate Access Cards for (i) the use of amenities and (ii) vehicle entry. To be fair to the good paying owners, defaulters will be barred from using the condominium’s amenities until they pay the service fee.
Currently, our computerised accounting system automatically invalidates defaulters' Access Cards and bars defaulters from the gymnasium, common toilets (steam rooms) and ground floor calling buttons for the lifts. They are also not allowed to reserve the tennis court and multi-purpose halls for use.
P/s. Our computer system has been further upgraded to bar defaulters' vehicle access cards from entry to the condominium's compound to use the sheltered car parks. They will be directed by the guards to park their vehicles at the visitors' car park until they pay. (This upgrade will be activitated soon.)
- Reporting to the authorities
The final resort is to report to the authorities - COB (Commissioner of Buildings)
Under Malaysian law, defaulters can be fined RM5,000 upon conviction and RM50 daily until payment is made. If an errant property owner has owed the maintenance fees for over six months, the COB can issue a warrant of attachment on his apartment. If he still refuses to pay up within a given time, the assets within his property can be auctioned.
The law governing high rise living will be revised further in 2011 and will have more stringent rules and heavier penalties against defaulters.