ALL gated and guarded developments in Selangor will have to adhere to new guidelines starting next month. 

State Housing, Building and Squatters Management Committee chairman Datuk Mokhtar Dahlan said the new guidelines would provide developers with a clear set of rules and regulations for this type of housing developments.  

”We want all new gated and guarded developments to adhere to the new guidelines to ensure their applications will be processed accordingly. 

He said the guidelines were drawn up by the state Housing and Real Property Board based on the Strata Titles Act, 1985 amendment.  

Mokhtar told reporters this after launching a briefing on The Implementation of Gated Community Development in Selangor on Thursday (March 15). 

The half-day event, held at Carlton Holiday Hotel and Suite, Shah Alam, was organised by the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA). 

Among those present were Shah Alam mayor Datuk Ramlan Othman, Selangor Housing and Real Property Board executive director Datin Paduka Alinah Ahmad, MBSA councillors, representatives from residents associations, developers and consultants.  

Mokhtar said the new guidelines, which would be applicable throughout the state, featured comprehensive rules on gated developments.  

“Previously there was no clear guideline for developers to follow and there were many grey areas which eventually led to problems. 

“With the implementation of the new guidelines, we hope to be able to solve problems related to gated and guarded developments,” he said. 

He said the briefing also provided a platform for those involved in the industry to exchange ideas and find common solutions to problems faced. 

He hoped the event would result in a win-win situation for the residents, developers and the authorities. 

Mokhtar said more people, especially in the Klang Valley, had made safety and security at their residential area a top priority. 

He said with the rise in crime, especially house break-ins in residential areas, many property hunters were now drawn to developments with additional safety and security measures, thus causing a higher demand for gated and guarded development. 

Grilled windows are no longer sufficient to ensure safety and it is common for a residential enclave to have security guards.  

“This is a sign that we are entering the second phase of development. 

“Previously, we were fulfilling the demand for affordable homes for everyone and now there is demand for better housing conditions. 

“We have received many applications for gated and guarded development by developers throughout the state,” he added. 

In general, said Mokhtar, the gated community referred to an enclave residential development where main roads accessing the area were guarded by security. 

He said several developments in the state had long called themselves gated and guarded communities. 

Some were built as gated and guarded by the developers while others were turned into such a state by the residents who built guardhouses and hired security guards to screen traffic and patrol the area. 

Although it sounds like an ideal solution to keep residents safe, the gated and guarded development has its own problems. 

Several unresolved issues have been raised over gated communities.  

These include the public’s right to access the area without screening, legal rights of management corporations to the common areas and service charge collection. 

Alinah said the access roads to the residential development were usually blocked to allow access to residents only. 

However, the access roads that were blocked do not belong to the residents living in such housing schemes. 

She said once the developer applied for the titles for the individual homes in the area, the access roads had to be handed over to the local authority concern. 

“The problem will arise when the application is made for individual titles for the houses in the area as the title was released without the access roads and other common areas being handed over to the local council. 

“That means the local authority can not go in and maintain the road and provide service to the residents,” she said. 

With the new guidelines, those staying in existing gated and guarded developments might see some changes in the implementation of their security system to ensure that residents get their services by the local authority without sacrificing the security and safety they wanted.