12/09/2009

CONDOMINIUMS: Stand firm on rights of owners

NST
2009/12/09

IT all started one day in 2001 in Taman Midah, Cheras. All Prisma Perdana apartment-dwellers, young and old, sick and healthy had to queue up at the management company office at 4am to get their second car park stickers on a first-come, first-served basis.

The manager of the management company, who was related to the company director, managed the place with an iron fist. We were treated rudely, our ideas and opinions ignored, overtime claims were high and utility bills went unpaid.Enough was enough. A group of residents revolted. A pregnant woman arranged a residents' meetings, a cancer-stricken resident and a former army camp manager gave their all, an insurance agent put his writing skills to good use, a meticulous secretary kept all files in order, and many others who felt we had to do something to get back what was ours also helped.

Apart from problems with the management company, our strata titles were in limbo. The developer had wound up, leaving all matters pertaining to the developer under the care of the official receiver (OR).Usually, matters related to a government agency take a long time to get processed. In our case, while the residents' association was trying to get the OR's approval to manage our apartment blocks, another party was trying to wrest control from us.

Some of the more vocal residents had their cars scratched, tyres slashed and wipers damaged as a scare tactic to make us toe the line.

In 2004, after many visits to the OR's office, we managed to wrest legal control of the management of our apartments.The manager and her cronies refused to hand over the office and closed the office on the handover day. We lodged a police report, bought a bigger lock and locked up the office. It was a stalemate that day... but we never saw the iron lady's face ever again.

The first day of the management takeover, we realised we were staring at a deep financial hole. The electricity bill of almost RM100,000 was unpaid. Water bills were another RM50,000. Other overheads were all unpaid and we discovered that bonuses were paid in advance to all staff members. We had no funds and were saddled with a RM200,000 debt.We received final-notice letters from the utility companies threatening to cut our water and electricity. We had to beg Tenaga Nasional and the water utility company to allow us to settle our outstanding dues by installments.

That was in 2004. Today, I am proud to say that Prisma Perdana Apartment Residents' Association has come through, thanks to prudent and transparent management, cooperation among residents, and help from legal experts and good Samaritans, who helped form our management company as required under the Strata Title Act.More than a third of the residents have obtained their strata titles. Through rigorous management of our finances, the committee moved from a RM200,000 deficit a surplus of RM800,000.

It is a success story not often heard of in this country. Not many apartment owners are able to form their own management corporation. Many face hurdles like ours and give up after much struggle.

I am a past committee member of the Prisma Perdana Apartment Residents' Association and I would like to record my thanks to the many people who helped the committee, including Chang Kim Loong of the National Housebuyers Association (NHA).

I would also advise residents of other condominiums and apartments facing a similar situation like ours to seek legal aid from the NHA so that they can exercise their rights as owners of a strata-title property.