Note: The experience is shared by one of our collaborators. It does not reflects the views of antonthestreet.
I own a few properties, which I have accumulated during the property market bull run days. Most of them were being rented out for tenancy and of course it invite a series of issues, which I shall not elaborate here. I of course live in one of the properties that I own and it's a strata titled condo in Kuala Lumpur area.
Background
During one of the AGM, after missing a few of them due to notifications not forth coming by management (I suspect it's due to management's strategy of trying to have less audience for easy management), I was invited to join as a committee member. And surprisingly during the first committee meeting, I was again asked to be the treasurer as I offered a few solutions and queried a few things which could be done better. I took up the offer as I sincerely hoped that I could offer a better solution and improve the place.
By the way, my main motivation was to revive the place I am living in as it's getting worse and maintenance were not up to par (things were breaking apart faster than being repaired). Naively, the subsequently year, I took up the Chairman position with the condition that I have full support from the committee members. I naively believed that I could do what is right for everyone without much of political interference but the views were quickly quashed. That is a topic for another day I suppose.
However, by putting your fingers in a strata community, especially leading the 'board of directors' or 'cabinet ministers' team as the committee member's chair, I observed a lot of similarities in human behaviours in local communities vs country's politics.
What I Observed?
1. People are naturally selfish.
Examples:
a. Water blockage happened at Block 2, Block 1's committee will ask: Oh gosh, will that happen to us here in Block 1 as well? Can management (run by Property Management company) please do something?
b. The person upstairs throw rubbish to my unit. Since I am committee I want actions taken, no matter there is any evidence or not.
c. Noise issue only happen at Block 2, it has nothing to do with Block 1. The particular person will say: This is none of my problem here, we don't have noise issue. I wonder why your block has this issue?
2. No one is concerned about what is happening behind the scene, not even the committee members.
Examples:
a. When a staff claims Overtime regularly (since it's manned up by Property Management company), no one bothers and just signed the cheques. Overtime costs were approved for years as Committee Members think it's "everyone's money".
b. When pumps are broken, pipes bursts and residents' units got affected, everyone will make noise. However, when the Property Management company does not ensure all services are being maintained properly, no one cares, not even the committee members.
3. You think that Management knows everything and will do the needful to resolve issue? NO, you're wrong! It's very scary to think about this: All owners pay maintenance fees to Management. When there are issues, the management knows what to do. In actual fact, they don't! In many incident, things were left there waiting for a major event to happen. In strata living, you must always trust your gut feel that if something is wrong and the management is not doing anything, you may lodge an official complaint to Commissioner of Building, hoping that the management will be forced to do something. However, if that does not work out and you feel endanger, move out.
Examples:
a. The likes of Highland Tower in Ampang or Puchong's landslide incident.
b. Management think that cracks between floor slab or main building and walkway is not important.
c. There are major breaches by of fire fighting equipment (i.e. Fire-rated doors, hose reels)
4. You believe that Management will make decision that benefits all residents. Nah, it is not always true and sometimes it's benefiting a certain group of people only. In my group, I was the one with the most knowledge related to property and property management. The Property Management companies that we worked with always tried to take short-cuts or find an easy way out. Since the Building Managers, Technicians take a fixed salary, they are not keen to do more to make things right.
Example:
a. Car park at common areas opened up for visitors - it's actually to suit one of the committee's frequent visiting friends.
b. Noise issues were left unattended because the persons playing there are related to the committees.
c. Rubbish bins, notices etc can be repositioned or removed because the persons complained are related to the committees.
d. Certain neighbours are allowed to park at restricted areas because they have connection to committee members.
5. Management is going to be truthful and straight-forward in sharing information - again NO! What I learn is the Management companies are a lazy bunch of companies. They want to do the minimum. When I was the Chairman, I was told by this senior manager of the company that "to manage the residents, we share minimum info. If they need anything, they can come down to the office".
Examples:
a. There are plenty of dengue cases at my areas. I have been complaining for years and asked them to do something but nothing was ever done. DBKL came and put up banners warning the residents. When I ask management office, they just tell us - they are doing regular fogging and nothing else. I asked why no sharing of info on new dengue cases and they responded by saying there isn't a need.
b. COVID19 cases - the management will not share anything not unless it's mandated by the law. It's only when they are forced to, they will share.
6. House rules are literally rubbish and Management are 'chicken' in issuing fines. Every place has their own house rules but they are always not being executed. When you press the management, they will tell you that they have spoken to your neighbours etc whenever there is a breach. In actual fact, it always never happen (unless you call the police in for noise issue etc). In almost all house rules, it's written that Management are allowed to issue compounds/fines to residents for not complying to the house rules.
Examples:
a. Clothes over the walls are never taken seriously until something happen. Management always never bothered to take actions.
b. Air conditioning outdoor unit installed at areas other than A/C ledge. This again is an eyesore and for older condo/apartments there are so many cases of this happening.
c. Throwing of rubbish and items from upstairs. A very popular issue that management didn't quite manage to resolve.
7. Lots of Bias. You can say the Americans had a lot of issues between the whites and blacks. You can safely say that it happen here as well. If the committee team is manned up by mostly one single ethnic group, they will normally hire people from the same ethnic group. When I was holding positions, I had always tell the management that we live in a multiracial country hence it's always best to have a mix, not only for racial sensitivities but also for reliefs when someone is on leave for festivity. Not only the bias in manning up personnel, there are also a lot of bias (i.e. strategic car parks, shop lots given to friends of management staff or even committee). I was once told by the Building Manager that since you're the Chairman, the guards will not clamp your car - I responded by saying that this is wrong and if I park temporarily for duties related to running the management, I can be forgiven. Else, I should be treated as any ordinary resident. While you can't escape bias in reality but I must say it's pretty serious sometimes in property management.
8. Commissioner of Buildings (in City Councils) couldn't care less. We always think that going to the Police, CoB or any local authorities help but however it doesn't do much most of the time. They receive a lot of complaints everyday and for most cases they will just park it aside and forget about it. However, lodging a formal complaint will definitely be important so that in the event of an incident (i.e. fire or landslip), the person can show proof that it's due to negligence by someone and there is a basis for further actions.
