Shareda protests the move on strata title fees

Published on: Thursday, April 25, 2013 by daily express

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Housing and Real Estate Development Association (Shareda) is concerned with the requirement of 100 per cent upfront payment by the Board of Land Surveyors Malaysia prior to the process of any strata title or sub-divided title fees.

Its President Francis Goh said members of the Royal Institute of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM), Sabah branch, especially licensed surveyors, should give an indemnity to the Housing Controller that they will process and obtain the subsidiary title on behalf of developers and housebuyers instead of the government putting the blame on delay caused only by the developers.

"Professional licensed surveyors are like architects, he said.

"They are the rightful profession who should give such assurance to Lands and Surveys Department or Housing Controllers as long as Shareda members have fully paid up the premiums and surveying fees to the survey board," he said.

To this, he urged the Board of Land Surveyors Malaysia to provide some form of guarantee on the performance or services rendered by its professional members to fully discharge their duties and obligations.

He also said that RISM should play a more important key role in assisting the developers especially in property management, land and building surveying fields, valuation or appraisal of property and other specialised surveying consultancy.

With their wealth of professional knowledge, he said, RISM is the right body to provide updated advice to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing including its agencies and the Housing Controller on matters relating to property management and process of subsidiary titles or subdivided titles.

He said this during a courtesy visit by Sabah RISM led by its Deputy Chairperson, Catherine Yen to the new office bearers of Shareda last Tuesday.

Goh and his Council Members welcomed the delegates who are looking forward to collaborate closely with Shareda members so as to encourage more active involvement by RISM in property development.

He also addressed several concerns on the roles and responsibilities of surveying professionals involving property development particularly land and building surveying and property management.

Yen stressed that RISM will provide more training syllabus and programmes to its members in order to meet the needs of the industry.

Presently, the shortage of qualified licensed building surveyors in the construction and real estate fields will affect the efficiency of the professions, she said.

"A competent licensed surveyor is expected to monitor and coordinate every aspect of building and development work and acts as a vital link in the project between affiliated professions included architects, engineers, planners and builders," she said.

To this, she said that both Shareda and RISM will co-ordinate and constantly engage the members with better knowledge on organising more talks, meetings and dialogues.

It is expected that more high rise condominiums and apartments will be completed in the next few years. In view of this, Goh urged RISM to play an active role in property management.

Most developers prefer to pass the management task to the professional property manager after the title is issued, he said.

"So, it is critical for property managers to discharge a higher professionalism and ethical standards by providing competent and quality services to their respective clients such as maintenance of building and equipment, collection of rental income to ensure optimum profitability and sustainable income to the property management," she said.

Meanwhile, Liaw Lam Thye thanked Shareda for accepting the invitation to be one of the speakers in the 6th Sabah Surveyors' Congress organised by RISM, Sabah Branch.

The two-day annual Congress will be held on May 14-15 at Pacific Sutera, Kota Kinabalu with the theme this year "Economic Turbulence: Survival or Opportunities?".

Several speakers from overseas countries and Peninsula Malaysia are invited to present their respective papers during the congress.

Dato' John Chee Shi Tong, who is also Shareda Vice President will be presenting a paper entitled "Supply Chain In Sabah Construction Industry" at the second day of the congress.

Also present were Deputy President, Chew Sang Hai, Vice President, Dato John Chee Shi Tong and John Tan, Secretary-General, Ben Kong and council members Ronnie Ang Guo Wei and Chua Soon Bing while RISM delegates comprised Yen, Samuel Chong, Liaw Lam Thye, Peter Yapp, Sunny Kelvin and Executive Secretary, Noryzan Kelim.  

source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=85127