Not paying maintenance fee? Owners must still be allowed to access their unit.

Not paying maintenance fee? Owners must still be allowed to access their unit.

I do think it makes logical sense for owners to be allowed to still have access to their units even if they have unpaid maintenance charges. This is also as per Court of Appeal’s latest ruling that JMBs cannot bar owners from their own units even if they have unpaid maintenance charges. JMBs could however deactivate the defaulters’s access cards so maybe, just maybe it will be much more inconvenient for them but it’s not to the extent of denying them access into their own units.

In fact JMBs can also suspend the defaulters from using common facility (which is typically accessed via the access cards) but it does not ‘authorize exclusion.’ Please read the article below on the latest ruling.

Article in malaymail.com. Joint management bodies (JMBs) cannot bar owners from their own units over unpaid maintenance charges, the Court of Appeal has ruled, news outlet Free Malaysia Today reported.

The regulations let a JMB deactivate defaulters’ access cards, require them to sign a register when seeking help to enter or leave the building, and suspend their use of common facilities and services, but the court found nothing in them that lets a JMB keep an owner out of his or her own unit.

“The sanction it authorises is an inconvenience and a record. It presupposes entry. It does not authorise exclusion,” Justice Ong Chee Kwan, who delivered the broad grounds, was quoted as saying in court yesterday.

The ruling came in an appeal by SL Land Sdn Bhd and Foong Wei Ching against the JMB managing the Sentral Bazar shopping mall in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, which had refused to let the company’s directors and authorised agents into their units. Please read full article here: Article in malaymail.com.

I would hope maintenance fees are paid yeah

If I own a unit at a development where a lot of the people do not pay maintenance fees, I would definitely decide to sell the place and move elsewhere yeah. Do note that when many people do not pay the maintenance fees, the JMB would not be able to effectively maintain the place. They may not have the money to hire proper security guards, the garden and the grasses are not trimmed, lifts which broke down are not fixed on time and even light bulbs along the corridors could no longer be replaced when needed.

How many love to walk back to there units in unlit corridors? Or even a swimming pool which has turned green as there were no proper cleaning? So, before we buy any unit, please look at the outstanding maintenance fee. If the number is high, then it’s better to avoid the place for now.

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