Sunday, June 12, 2011

Resolving tenancy disputes (building issues)

The Sunday Star
by Roger Tan
In the interest of millions of stratified property owners, the Strata Titles Board needs to be set up and quickly brought into operation.

MILLIONS of Malaysians live and undertake commercial activities in strata sub-divided buildings these days. These stratified buildings can vary from low-cost apartments to high-end condominiums and from shopping complexes to commercial office towers.

But whenever there is a cluster of people living and undertaking business together as a community in one sub-divided building, and sharing the same resources and facilities, there are bound to be multifarious problems.

The most common problems involve stratified residential buildings, particularly in respect of the operations of management bodies and payment and collection of maintenance charges.

Currently, the Strata Titles Act 1985 (Act 318) and the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007 (Act 663) govern the maintenance and management of stratified buildings.

Acts 318 and 663 are respectively under the purview of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry (MNRE) and the Housing and Local Government Ministry (MOHLG).