Condo residents unhappy over management issue

KUALA LUMPUR: A tussle is brewing between the residents of Pangsapuri Waja in Cheras and their Joint Management Body (JMB) over the validity of the body and alleged discrepancies, to the extent that residents are being barred from accessing certain facilities.
Several residents have filed official complaints to the Commissioner of Building (COB) in Kajang Municipal Council over the validity of their JMB, and have formed an action committee to resolve the matter.
The JMB has allegedly not held annual general meetings (AGMs) and has not presented the financial statements for almost four years, which is a clear violation of the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007.
"We do not understand why COB is not responding to our complaints," Waja Action Committee spokesman Fauzi Ismail told theSun.
"After residents raised their concerns, the group of people holding office held an Emergency General Meeting in February," he added.
He said, however, an EGM cannot be used to re-elect the same office bearers as the JMB committee members after three years.
Fauzi said a JMB member can only serve for three years and it must conduct an AGM to elect a new committee.
"They have yet to show us the accounts for the money they have been collecting in the form of maintenance fees from the residents," Fauzi said.
Yeop Arbi, who is also part of the action committee, said under the law, the JMB and Residents' Association (RA) should be independent of each other and should not have the same people as office-bearers.
However, he said this is not the case in Pangsapuri Waja.
"Those in the JMB are also the same people in the RA committee and this is not right as there would not be a check and balance between the two groups.
"Majority of the residents here have expressed their grouses and are fed-up with the lack of response from the JMB and also the COB," Yeop said.
Some of the residents have also decided to protest against the allegedly illegal JMB by not paying maintenance fees until proper accounts are shown for the funds of previous years.
This has led to the JMB barring residents from accessing certain facilities, like denying entry to residents' cars and not allowing them to use their parking lots.
Ahmad Sharibi, who is also part of the action committee, said this is also an inappropriate move as no notice was served prior to its implementation.
"How can the JMB bar residents from entering the residential area?
"We have no confidence in this group. They should stop all these actions and step down from the committee," he said.
It is learnt that some residents have lodged police reports against the JMB for barring entry into the compound.
The COB, however, is yet to respond to theSun's questions on the validity of the JMB and COB's action to resolve the matter, despite repeated emails and phone calls over several months.
When pressed for a reply, a COB officer admitted that upon checking they found that the JMB had not conducted AGMs for "a few years" and have issued a letter asking it to conduct an AGM soon.