Water Meter Issue and Slow Defect Rectification

Any meeting among a group of peoples to resolve problems should be done in an open,  sincere and practical manner. It is highly disgusting to have one party who is learned and in the know to mislead other parties.

This instance occurred during a meeting with Sentosa Restu (TALAM) senior managers on the issue of individual water meter for all units. The Senior Manager of Sentosa Restu (TALAM) specifically told me that individual water meter is not permitted for serviced apartment. BULLSHIT. 

I have the letter from SYABAS to prove him wrong.. SYABAS has also sent me the procedures to migrate to individual water meter. The Management Corporation should handle this.

This issue was deliberated at length with the ex-Senior Manager of Sentosa Restu (TALAM), Mr. Michael Koh, Kinrara ADUN, Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya and Syabas. There is no issue of individual water meter for the entire Komplek Suria Kinrara, provided the Joint Management Corporation and all the owners/residents agree to individual water meter.  Why should the apartment owners/residents be compelled to pay water at commercial rate, if SYABAS is prepared to grant separate and individual water meters. On top of this, individual apartment owner in Selangor is eligible for the FREE RM20.00 water per month.

With the BULK meter, you cannot enjoy FREE water and residential rates.

For the information of the Management Corporation, in the event of non payment of water bill or for whatever reasons, the Management Corporation has no legal rights to disconnect the water supply to individual unit. This is the law and there is a legal precedent. The Management Corporation can be sued, if it acted otherwise.

The Management Corporation must take note of this to avoid any litigation. The Management Corporation should also free itself from the burden of billing and collecting water charges and focus on providing good services to the owners/residents. The level of services provided by the Management Corporation need improvement.

Bearing in mind that the owners/residents have every right to boot the Management Corporation out and appoint a new corporation to manage the property.

The second major issue facing the owners/residents is the defect rectification. Lots of promises were made by the Senior Manager of Sentosa Restu(TALAM), but little or very slow action is seen. They are simply dragging their feet. They are passing the buck. As far as the owners/residents are concerned, the responsibilities rest with the developer. FULL STOP. Many owners/residents have moved in and they have to live with the defects and the disruption to their routines, whenever the workman needs to enter their premises.  There is also the problem of owners/residents working and the place is locked during daytime on weekdays. So, is the developer going to carry out rectification work on week-end or at night?  If not, how do you expect the execution of the rectification of defects

This is the first project, out of the many developers that I have encountered, that took such a long time to rectify defects. Usually, defects are rectified between 14 to 30 days of filing complaints. This show how committed is Sentosa Restur(TALAM) in discharging their obligations and their degree of Social Responsibilities.

Resolution of Outstanding Issues with Talam 21 January 2011

Today we have a fruitful meeting with Sentosa Restu (Talam) management. We were very happy that four managers from Sentosa Restu (Talam) turned up for the meeting. Also present were two representatives from MS Elevator (the lift service provider). But there wasn’t any representative from IJM (the main contractor). Neither were there any sub-contractors.

How can a contractor fix this crooked
window frame

The main issues to be addressed and required immediate attention are:-

What kind of plumber can fix such shower head
with the flushing cap stuck 3/4 inches from
the wall?

See the depressions on the plaster.

1. Rectification of defects. Only 25 out of the 300 defect complaints attended to after the lapse of three months. 
2. Resolving the swimming pool problems of pump malfunctioning, algae growth and manhole cover with protruding hooks.
3. Electrical power surge that fused most of the corridor lighting, especially at night when the timer switch turns on.
4. The lift malfunctioning at Block C.
5. Installing air-conditioner compressor units at the non-designated area of the building.

The swimming pool
Is this what they mean by going GREEN?

Mr. Tan Bak Hai, the senior manager of Sentosa Restu (Talam) promised to get his managers to resolve all the above outstanding issues faced by the owners. We hope that he will honour his words.

On the part of the owners, we are working to get the Residents Association registered and start the ball rolling.

Don't show us your laundry.
We have better clothes than you

We also appeal to the owners and tenant to obey the house rules, in order to have a pleasant and liveable environment for everybody in this complex. A couple of owners/tenants are hanging their laundries along the corridor and outside the window. This looks like the low cost public housing scheme. Will the management corporation be very strict on hanging laundry outside the apartment?

The swimming pool was closed for maintenance last week due to greenish water. But the water turned totally green by mid-week. IJM representative and the swimming pool contractor was there to resolve the problem. Today, the pool water is murky and with a notice pasted on the wall “Pool Closed”  Yet, owners/tenants are still swimming in the pool. What is going on?

Air conditioner compressor hanged all over the places.
They don't know where is the designated place for
Air conditioner.

The management office and the security guard must be strict on enforcing house rules. If the management office does not start with the correct footing, this is the beginning of the end of the House Rules.  Otherwise , this place will become lawless or rule-less. Only the uncultured people will live here.

The person who made this manhole cover for the
swimming pool has no concern for the safety
of the pool user.

See how dangerous is this manhole cover.
I almost trip and fall by the protruding hooks.

The electrical power surge is a serious issue. If the contractor does not resolve this with TNB, owners/tenants who suffered losses due to damages to electrical appliances should file claim against the contractor (Damai) and TNB. The in-house chargeman found the voltage of the power supply reaching 253 volts. The standard voltage is 220 to 240 volts.

There are still about one hundred plus recalcitrant owners who refused to sign the supplementary agreement for the car park. The car park was given free of charge to the purchasers, as part of the consideration for waiving the LAD for the period between the S&P completion date and the court sanctioned completion date. We simply do not understand why some of the purchasers are reluctant to sign the supplementary S&P. These purchasers are myopic. They do not see the big picture. Sacrificing the RM250.00 for the supplementary S&P or not getting the Strata Title. Which is more crucial? Just think for a moment.

Sentosa Restu (Talam) not keeping their promise on defect rectification.

What a Shame? Two senior managers from Sentosa Restu (Talam) failed to turn up for a meeting with the Committee on 14 January 2010, to resolve outstanding issues affecting the owners of Suria Kinrara.

We were told to proceed with the meeting and they will join in later. But they did not show up.

One major problem is the contractor is not rectifying the defect complaints filed by the owners. During the last meeting, Sentosa Restu (Talam) promised the committee that all defects will be rectified by the contractor within three weeks. Failing which, Sentosa Restu (Talam) will appoint third parties to do the rectification job. One month has lapsed and nothing is done. Three hundred defect complaints still sitting in the Management corporation’s office.

Sentosa Restu (Talam) promised to give a list of all the owners of Suria Kinrara to facilitate the formation of residents’ association. The list was given to one committee member without any contact number (handphone or email). What can we do with this list?

Therefore, I appeal to all owners to help to gather as many owners whom you know to furnish the e-mail address or handphone number to my e-mail lpyeong66@gmail .com.

Other outstanding issues are:-

Card Access Control Door to be installed here

Another control door to be installed at the other side of the lobby.

1. The automatic car park access control system is installed but not working yet. Access card is not issued to owners.
2. Card access control system to the lift lobby is not install yet. So are the control doors at all lift lobbies. Owners who have contacts for such suppliers may submit quote to the Management corporation. We are looking at competitive bids.  
3. Exit control door to all staircases not installed yet.
4. Swimming pool maintenance is not satisfactory. Water is greenish in colour. That shows filtration system is not working properly. This is still under warranty by the pool contractor. If the contractor is not providing the required level of service, the management corporation should terminate their service after the expiry of warranty. 
5. Corridor lightings are not fully operational. Many light fused. The M & E contractor is giving lot of excuses.

Security is lax at the complex, especially for the apartment units. We appeal to all owners and tenants to take caution and keep an eye on uninvited “visitors” and also some tenants of African nationalities loitering around the complex. We deplore these desperate owners who let their premises to these unwelcome African. Most of these African are suspicious in nature and loitering around the complex. We just don’t know what are they up to.

Preferably, we should not have any African national living in this complex. We hope all owners will co-operate. The presence of these African is causing uneasiness amongst other owners and tenants. Hope those who let out their premise can be more sensitive to other owners and tenants. Their presence will also affect the value of the property and the rental rates.