This should be a good news to strata owners, the good ones. For the bad ones; the ones who does not bother to pay their maintenance fees on time, beware… For the developers who still have unsold units but does NOT bother to pay their contributions on time, beware… Now, there’s no need for a lengthy process via the courts. Today, it’s extremely efficient and the offences could be compounded by the Commissioner of Buildings (COB) under the Strata Management Act 2013 (Act 757) or its subsidiaries.
By the way, without sufficient maintenance fees, the maintenance of facilities will suffer and in the end, the property prices for that particular development will fall and this will affect all owners, including the good ones who pay on time. Without regular maintenance, the replacement cost will be extremely high. We need to ENSURE everyone pays on time so that everyone benefits, not just those who pay on time.
Article in themalaysianreserve.com The Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) Deputy Minister Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad said that the regulation to empower the Commissioner of Buildings (COB) to compound offences under the Strata Management Act 2013 (Act 757) began on May 2019.
The offences that are compoundable under Act 757 include developers’ failure to pay charges and contributions to unsold units; joint management bodies’ (JMBs) failure to dissolve the body and hand over to management corps (MCs); and parcel holders’ failure to comply with the notice demanding payment of the amount due within 14 days of the notice date.
Meanwhile, the offences compoundable under the Strata Management (Maintenance and Management) Regulations 2015 include JMBs/MCs/sub-MCs’ failure to provide proof of amount of money paid, failure to have the first general meeting, and management agents’ failure to submit bonds to COB.
However, seven offences which are not compoundable include offence of collecting any charges or contributions before opening the account; failure to comply with the award decided by the tribunal; and obstruct, host, detain, delay the COB or any authorised officer in his/her duty. All the compounds are to be paid to the state government. Do refer to the full article here. Article in themalaysianreserve.com
I hope the COBs are effective and efficient. Any new Act will only work with fast and quick action. Else, very soon this will be forgotten and we will be back to the same as when the COBs do not have any authority to compound offences. Do share this news with all potential buyers, especially those buying for investment and thinking that they do not need to pay the maintenance fees until the day they sell the property. At that time, they just use their profit to cover for the unpaid maintenance fees. Happy complying yeah.
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