Second meeting at the housing ministry



The second meeting at the housing ministry was a disaster. The developer was representated by a lawyer, an accountant and a senior executive. I do not know what the developer's rationale is in bringing a lawyer along. To intimidate us? On our side, we were representated by the chairman, myself, the secretary and three committee members.


The first issue raised was over the recognition of the R.A. as the association representing the owners of Prima Setapak. They insisted that they do no recognise us due to the fact we do not have the mandate from 770 owners of Prima Setapak. They merely recognise us as purchasers of Prima Setapak. Does our Prime Minister need the mandate of 22 millions citizens to govern the country ? This line of argument does not make sense. The ROS ( Registrar of Society ) recognises us as the sole association representating the owners of Prima Setapak but the developer doesn't.

Many questions were raised but there were no satisfactory explanations. The first question that I put to them was over the appointment of Dats Management Sdn Bhd. I asked them whether there was any official letter of appointment and what the terms and conditions are. I received no reply. We wished to know how much Dats Management is paid by Kumpulan Sejahtera in the letter of appointment if there is one because the money used to pay them is our money. Other issues raised were the huge deficit in the 2005 account, the increase in its management fee from RM 9 000 to RM 17 500, the final amount of sinking fund placed as a F.D. in the bank and many others. We were told that the final amount of sinking fund that we have is about RM 800 000. The chairman asked them whether they have the right to use our sinking fund to resurface the road without the consent of the owners. They said under the Deed of Covenants they have the right to do so. I asked them whether they are going to use our sinking fund to offset the deficit in 2005 and they said no. One funny question that I asked the lawyer whether she is paid by the developer or the management. She answered that it was confidential. I told her that if the money is paid by the management, it is our money. We were also told that the JMB for Prima Setapak will be set up by March.. To resolve all the other issues, another meeting will be held with the developer on the 5th or the 12th of January in 2008.

We were also told that all the issues raised pertaining to the account which cannot be resoved will be referred to the COB.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Dialogue session with the owners

The response to this dialogue session was quite encouraging. They probably turned up to hear what this JMB is all about. My chairman spoke at length in Chinese about the many issues that we are facing at Prima . Most of the isssues raised were pertaining to the accounts. He also spoke about how we had been ignored by the developer. He was also unhappy over the appointment of a new management company although he pointed out I had written an objection letter to the developer before the appointment. He just mentioned " fat chang siong tong goh te moi tou" I shall leave it to your imagination to interpret the cantonese saying.

After the speech in Chinese , it was my turn to address the crowd in English. I spoke mainly about how this JMB came about and why this JMB is so important to us. I told them that this JMB gives us the legal rights to manage our own properties. I told them that the developer shall give a written notice of the first meeting to all the purchasers not less than 14 days before the meeting. On the day of the meeting, the first thing that we are going to do is to elect from 5-12 committee members to form the JMC ( Joint Management Committee) . On the day, we shall also determine the amount of maintenance fees that we have to contribute to the Building Maintenance Fund. We shall also have to pass some resolutions to adopt the deed of covenant and to amend whatever rules in it which are against our interests. For example, why should we pay RM 40.00 for a damaged card when the cost of a card is less than RM 10.00. We can accept it if the management charges RM 30.00 for a lost card to serve as a deterrent. I also told them that one month from the establishment of the JMB , the developer must transfer any surplus moneys in the Building Maintenance Account to the Building Maintenance Fund which shall be controlled by the JMB and that is us. This must be excuted by the developer not later than one month from the establishment of the JMB. This is the most significant part of the Act simply because without controlling the account we cannot control anybody.


I also told the owners that the JMC is not going to manage the properties themselves but to appoint a licensed management agent at our terms and conditions. Any company appointed need to perform and not profit oriented. They have to be pro-active, do not wait for complaints to come to you, their people at the office have to be owners friendly and more diplomatic and the most important of all the company has to be sincere in managing our properties. We want them to add values to our properties. No more dark corridors, dark and dirty car park, dirty lobbies, broken showers points, dirty corridors , dirty lifts , dirty toilets, dirty walls, dirty roads and bad security services. We want to be a five star condo. Cleanliness, beautiful landscaping , good security services and a pro-active management make a five star condo. I may be dreaming but my main ambition for Prima is towards achieving that.

I ended my speech by telling the owners that we have to be united. There shall not be a team A and team B. We shall all work together and share the same objective of protecting our own interests. Prima Setapak shall be managed with transparency and accountability.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

A new management agent.



Dats Management Sdn Bhd is no longer our property manager. Hokawai and Assosciates which is a company registered with the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Malaysia has been appointed to be the new property manager. Before the appointment of a new property manager, we had written an objection letter to the developer. We told them specifically that a new management company should only be appointed after the formation of the Joint Management Body. The JMB should be the one to decide on the new management company and not the developer. The developer ignored us and went ahead with the appointment. They did not even have the courtesy to inform us. As I had said we are just toothless tiger.

Hokawai and Associates sent a high powered team to Prima yesterday to make an assessment of our place. I happened to bound into them so I took the opportunity to introduce myself as the vice-chairman of the R.A. They were actually quite friendly. I voiced out my unhappiness over the appointment and I asked them whether there is any agreement signed between them and the developer. I was told that they will be managing our place on a monthly basis. They will be responsible for the setting up of the JMB. I was further told that when the JMB is set up, the JMB will be the one to appoint them officially if the JMB is satisfied with their services. They will initiate a meeting with the R.A. in the near future.

This is an exciting time for the owners of Prima. The committe members will be kept busy attending meetings. Hopefully, we may be able to see some changes. HOKAWAI has to perform if they want to be appointed officially. You will see a new property manager by the name of Gary on Monday. Miss Lum and Alex will be around for two weeks to facillitate the handover. The owners will miss Miss Lum's loud line of argument. I wish her good luck and may god bless her. She is one tough lady.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Dialogue session with the residents

I wonder why I am not getting any comments for what I posted on the my blogs. Maybe, the owners are not my visiting my blogs anymore. It does not matter to me but I shall continue to post something every month. In my previous blogs, I posted the audited accounts for the year 2005 and 2006. If the residents care to study the accounts carefully, I would have expected them to scream but surprisingly, nobody made a fuss out of it.

The account for 2005 shows a deficit of more than RM 300 000 meaning that we were spending RM 30 000 more than we earn every month. Any company that does that would have gone bankcrupt by now but Dats Management is still going strong. The cash balance in the bank still shows a surplus of more than a million inclusive of the sinking fund. I don't really know whther our financial situation is still healthy or not. We need and accountant to look into it. The management increased our maintenance fee by 2 sen per sq feet in 2006. With the increase in revenue, I expected the audited acc for the year 2006 to show a surplus but to my horror, the acc still showed a deficit of more than RM 22 000. We did a study on the account thoroughly. We discovered that the mangement had increased its management fee from RM 9 000 to RM 17 500 in 2006. They had also increased our cost of security services to RM 32 000 in 2006 from RM 20 000 in 2003. No wonder we suffered a deficit every year. The chairman is very angry, I am angry and all the committee members are angry too.

We are bringing these issues to the attention of the housing ministry in our meeting with them on the 13th December. We want answers to our queries. We shall not let the developer got off so easily. They have a lot of explanations to do .

We are also holding a dialogue session this coming Sunday ( 9th December 2007 ) to brief the residents on the formation of Prima Setapak Joint Mnagement Body. It is very very important for all the owners to attent this dialogue session because they need to understand what this Joint Management Body is. To be brief, the setting up of the Joint management Body allows us to be the masters of our own properties. I had mentioned it in my previous blog. It is a reality now.. The Joint Management Body allows us to decide on how our properties should be managed,

Goodnight and have a nice day !