Card Access System and the Sinking Fund



The card access security system should be stable by now. Most of the hiccups should have been removed by now. I have not received any complaints from the residents. There is a possibility that most of the complaints were directed to my chairman. Sometimes, I don't really understand the attitude of some of the residents. They sometimes leave the doors open without making any effort to shut them. We know very well that if we push the doors to 90 degrees, they will not shut by themselves. Maybe, they are still angry with the system and they just leave the doors open deliberately. As for the residents of Block A, they should have nothing to complain about. The usual congestion at the lift lobby during the peak hours is a thing of the past now. I think it is fair to them. You exit and access at your own blocks.



The management is making preparation to replace all the car and the motorbike stictkers. I think this is a good move. Most of the owners have changed their cars but the stickers still remain the same. For other condos, they usually renew their car stickers annually. We are also expecting to see some new security guards on the 1st August. Some of the senior guards will be around for awhile to guide the new guards and eventually these senior guards would have to go too. The new security company will take over completely in a month or two. I would not know how these new guards will perform. We have the responsibility to monitor their services. If you think they are notup to the mark, by all means make a complaint to the management. You have every right to complain because they are actually paid by us. I shall look forward to the new security services.

One of my commentators proposed that the contribution of the sinking fund be abolished. He further commented that the interest earned from the fix deposit placed in the bank is able to sustain itself in the years to come. I don't think this is a wise proposal. In the years to come, our buildings would have gone through a lot of wear and tear. Many things need to be replaced. The lifts may need to be replaced and this may cost hundreds of thousands of ringgit. You can rest assured that the ex-chairman will not get himself involved in the tender exercise. The building may need a new coat of paint or else it may turn into a run down flat. Values of the properties will drop. The rental values will follow suit and owners will start to default on their maintenance fees which will further deteriorate the services rendered. To keep the buildings in good condition, we need ample fund. This is when the sinking fund will come in very handy. Sinking fund is a very important fund for any condos. Condos without sinking fund are condos which are badly maintained.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

The card access system



One of the commentators wanted to send me back to Genting Court for the inconvenience caused to him and another claimed that the system is already a white elephant. I do not wish to go into an argument with these commentators. When you have been inconvenienced, natuarally you would react negatively towards the system. I don't really know whether these commentators are tenants or owners. Anyway, this is a free country and they are free to comment regardless whether the criticisms are inmature or irrational . One of the weaknesses of the the system is that during the peak hours, the system is not able to stop intruders from sneaking in. But then for Prima, all the break-ins did not occur at peak hours. They occured at the time when the place is very quiet.



Today is only the third day the system is running. As I 've said earlier, there are bound to be some hiccups along the way. The people at the management are working hard to solve all the problems. I received a few calls too. One was complaining that his children could not go to Block B for tuition because they are from Block C. The tuition teacher has to come down to receive them. Another complained that they had problems visiting their relatives from different blocks because all the cards do not share the same codes. I brought their concerns to the management. I was told that if they need to access other blocks frequently, they can write in to change the codes in the cards to enable them to go to other blocks. The system allows the management to do so but they will only deal with genuine cases.

I had a drink with the chairman and some other committee members last night at the mamak restaurant. We had a friendly discussion. One of the issues brought up was regarding this very rich old man who had converted some of the penthouses that he bought into mini hotels. He complained that he failed to get the required no of cards for his tenants. By creating partitions to increase the number of rooms to let, he has actually caused inconveniences to other residents. He has also caused more wear and tear to the lifts. The waiting time for the lifts has also increased. The worst is that those owners who live at the penthouses are not able to lock the lift lobbies leading to their units. I told the chairman that under no circumstances that we should make any exemption for him to get more cards. He could have violated the rules in the Deed of Covenant by creating partitions in all the penthouses that he bought.

I also told the chairman that we have not received the audited acc for 2005 and 2006. Without the audited accs , we don't really what is happening to our fund. We should give them a dateline to produce the accs failing which we shall lodge a complaint with the enforcement deparment in the housing ministry. I also suggested that we carried out a site inspection of Prima to understand our place better and to identify the areas that require our attention. The chairman is keen to see that Prima is well maintained and he is trying his best to see that it does. The chairman has my full support. With his business background and my experience in property management, we hope to do our best to see that the value of Prima properties will be maintained.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Activation of the card access system

There was a little confusion over the use of the cards. I went down to the ground floor at Block A to carry out an observation. Before that, I carried a test on all the cards that I possess. All seemed to be working well. I noticed that some residents were still not aware that the system will be activated today. How ignorant can some residents be although notice had been pasted on all the doors and individual notice had been distributed too. A guard was stationed at the ground floor ( hopefully they will be there permanently ) to facilitate the implementation.

On the part of the management, I felt that the preparation made before the implementation was insufficient. The functions of the cards are not clearly spelt out. For example, the residents were not told that they must touch the cards when they go out and when they come in, failing which they may not be able to go out or come in. There isn't any signs on the doors to indicate whether you have to pull or push the doors. Colour strips are not pasted on the glass to serve as a warning. People may knock into the glass. It may take some time for the residents to adapt to the new system. Hopefully, there shall be no more hiccups in time to come.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Replacement of the security guards


My suspicion was confirmed, the security guards are going to be replaced. The notice was already pasted on the notice board. There was no indication on the date of the replacement. I really don't know whether the change is for the better or the worse. It was a known fact that the quality of the security companies in Malaysia is very bad. Their main objective is to maximise their profit margin and they have the reputation of providing bad security services for the simple reason that their guards are underpaid compare to the in-house guards provided by UOA. I really don't know what to expect from the new security guards. It's quite easy to tell whether the new guards are able to perform or not. You just have to look at the way they are dressed. If they are shabbily dressed, it would only mean that we are throwing our money into the drain. The image of the guards will tell whether they are from a good security company or a mediocre one. Another factor that determines the quality of the guards is how much we are paying for the guards. Security company usually charges by the hourly rate. If we pay about RM 7.00 per hour, we expect to get to get some good quality guards but the total cost incurred would be very high. But, if we pay about RM 4.50 per hour, we expect to get guards similar to those from Sri Pelangi or Genting Court. Eventually, we need to have our own guards, we can't rely on UOA guards forever. The change may bring some improvement to the security services. We just have to hope for the best.

By Monday, the card access security system will be fully enforced. The notice was already out. Our movement may be restricted. Many residents will curse me for causing them the inconveniences. We just have to get use to the new security system. We need to carry our cards at all time. We don't have much choice. Any enhanced security system will cause some kind of inconveniences. As for Prima, we have to live with it. Hopefully, it will act as an effective preventive measure for break-ins.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Meeting with the management

I felt the urge to write again. I promised to write something every month and here I am. I received a sms from the asst secretary informing me the agendas of a meeting with the management. Issues to be raised were the no of cards purchased and allocated to the residents, finalised the cost of the cards, the total cost of the implementation of the card access and the CCTV and the fund used to repair the crack wall. The date for the meeting was not given so I asked for the date and I was told the date was tentatively set on a Wednesday which is a working day and I received the sms on Tuesday. I askedthe secretary who could attend the meeting since it was a working day. He told me to ask the chairman. The week after, I received a call from the chairman asking for the keys to the notice board. He told me that he wanted to put up the minutes of the meeting with the management on the notice board. The meeting was held without confirming the date with the committee members. Besides the chairman, another two committee members ( I assumed them to be, identities not known ) attended the meeting with the newly appointed building supervisor for Prima named Robert Yee. I told the chairman that such an important meeting should be held on the day whereby most of the committee members are able to attend. I am sure there are committee members who have some issues to raise with the management. More heads are better than less. I do not wish to comment further or else I may be accused of sabotaging the chairman.

I received some information from reliable sources that the management is going to outsource the security services. The date was not confirmed . The last time when they wanted to do that, we objected strongly by carrying out a signature campaign. We succeeded in stopping them. I gave the chairman a call and told him about it. I told him to call the management to find out whether there was such a move on the part of the mangement. It's better to stop them before they take any action to replace the guards. He told me that they would terminate Dats Management as the management agent if they replace the guards. I was thinking under which Property Acts which gives the Residents Association the right to terminate Dats Management Sdn Bhd as the management agent for Prima. I do not wish to argue with him. He is after all the Chairman.

Goodnight and have a nice day!