Developer demands fee arrears before handover of strata title

The Star Metro 19062013
 http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2013/6/19/central/13221927&sec=central

Stories by JADE CHAN
jade@thestar.com.my

PROPERTY owners of Pusat Perniagaan Desaria 2 commercial centre are unhappy that the developer wants them to pay their fee arrears before giving them their strata titles.

However, most owners of the project located in Seri Kembangan said they had not paid because the developer had not fulfilled its responsibilities to carry out maintenance work since they moved in a decade ago.

Pusat Perniagaan Desaria 2 comprises four blocks of apartments and shoplots.

“The developer has not carried out any maintenance work since handing over the properties in 2002. The maintenance duties still come under the developer as a joint management body was never formed,” said apartment owner Derek Liew.

“In May 2012, we were informed that the strata title for our properties had been issued by the Land Office but the developer demanded that we settle all outstanding payments before transferring the strata titles to us.

“The arrears range from RM7,000 for an apartment to RM10,000 for a shoplot,” he said, adding that the developer had not made any attempt to collect the monthly maintenance fees of RM60 per apartment and RM90 per shoplot.

“We feel we should not have to pay as the developer did not carry out its responsibilities,” he said.

“Our commercial centre has not been cleaned and no other maintenance was carried out.

“Streetlighting was a problem at one point, until we highlighted the matter to the then Balakong assemblyman Yap Lum Chin and Kajang municipal councillor Eddie Ng who helped us to get the issue sorted out.”

Liew said the property owners had sought the assistance of the Kajang Municipal Council’s (MPKj) Commissioner of Buildings (COB) and Balakong assemblyman Eddie Ng to resolve the issue.

“The developer has also been imposing storage fee charges on property owners due to the delay in issuing strata titles,” said Ng.

“However, during an October 2012 meeting, the developer was informed by the Housing and Local Government Ministry representative that they were not allowed to collect any storage fee as it was collected only by the Land Office, as stated in Section 90 (3) of the National Land Code.

Ng said he would bring the issue to the attention of Selangor state exco for housing, building and urban settler management Iskandar Abdul Samad.

Meanwhile, Ng said the COB would be filing a suit against the developer for failing to produce the audited accounts for Pusat Perniagaan Desaria 2.

“The suit will be filed via the Selangor Housing and Property Board, and the developer will be sued under Section 21 (1) of Act 663 [Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007].”