Condo owners worried over cracks on walls

The Star 13/8/2004 By BAVANI M

OWNERS of the Danau Impian Condo in Taman Danau Desa Kuala Lumpur are worried about their safety.  

After fighting for seven years for their strata titles, of which they have yet to receive, they now face a new and dangerous threat. 

Cracks and holes have started to appear all over their building, water tanks are overflowing and water has started to pool in various parts of the condo. The residents are worried that things may get worse if nothing is done to rectify the situation.  

President of Danau Impian Owners and Residents Association (DIORA) Lam King Chun said the developer had recently patched up a number of cracks in the walls of the condo. 

“However it was done in a shoddy manner. Patching up cracks in this manner is a complete waste of effort and money, unless the cause of the cracks is established and rectification measures are taken to prevent further cracks.  

“Some of the cracks have been patched up several times over the years and they reappear within a matter of hours or days after the patching up work.  

Lam (right), Kok and two others looking at the patch-up work done by the management of the condo to hide the cracks on the wall.

“The car park area is one such example where some parts of the walls are clearly cracking up,” he added.  

Resident Katherine Mok said many of the bathrooms were leaking, causing water to seep into the walls and creating cracks.  

Mok’s husband Peter Clarke, who is an architect, said if nothing was done to get to the root of the problem, the building would ultimately get what he called “concrete cancer”.  

“There is no point in patching up the cracks without finding out what’s wrong,'' he said.  

According to Lam, the developer is also in breach of the Strata Titles Act.  

He said the deadline for the developer to apply for strata titles was July 31 but they had so far failed to do so.  

“By right they should have done so seven years ago, and now they have clearly missed the deadline given by the land office,” he said.  

Unable to get a response from the developers on any of the issues, DIORA recently sought help from Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.  

After visiting the condominium and inspecting the defects Kok assured residents that she would personally look into the matter. 

“I will be writing to City Hall soon and I have already seen the director-general of the land office regarding the issuance of the strata titles. We will follow up on this.”  

“This project is a joint venture between Faber Union and Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and one at least would expect City Hall to comply with the law,” she said.  

Roslan Manap, assistant manager of Faber Union Sdn Bhd which is the property developer for Danau Impian, said an application for strata titles had been submitted to City Hall last week. 

“We have made all the necessary payments and right now all we need is the land owner’s signature,” he said.  

However, Roslan declined to comment on the defects.