Buyers: Impose tougher laws over strata titles

The Star 16/04/2001 By Lim Ai Lee

PENANG: The newly-registered Housebuyers Association (HBA) wants the Government to impose stricter laws to compel developers to apply for strata titles for high-rise units.

The association also proposed the setting up of a one-stop centre or Strata Titles Department to reduce red tape in the processing of strata title applications.

Currently, applications are processed by departments such as the land office and the Mapping and Survey Department, which are among the reasons for delays.

Association secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said yesterday the HBA had received many complaints from condominium and apartment owners who were still waiting for strata titles five to 10 years after their units were completed.

"There are about five projects in Kuala Lumpur where housebuyers are stranded because the developers had either wound up or absconded without applying for strata titles,'' he said.

Chang was commenting on a Bill on the proposed amendments to the Strata Titles Act 1985 which is expected to be debated in the Dewan Rakyat this week.

He said developers should be made to settle payments such as surveyors fees, premiums and processing fees prior to the completion of the building.

The Act now allows a developer to apply for strata title six months after a project has received the Certificate of Fitness.

Chang said the association, which represents over 600 buyers mostly from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, had prepared a seven-page memorandum on the bill and met with 10 MPs last week to present their views.

He said the association also wanted more protection for house buyers on the management of maintenance fees and sinking fund account under the control of developers.

"Huge sums of money are collected by developers and there is a need for these accounts to be properly managed and made transparent to unit owners,'' he said.

The association also called for a review of the 1985 Act to suit prevailing conditions.

Chang noted that the legislation owed its origin to the Conveyancing (Strata Titles) Act passed in New South Wales in 1962 which had since been replaced by the Strata Scheme Management Act 1996.