If you have recently acquired a strata titled property, the following information may be of interest to you…
The Building Maintenance & Strata
Management (BMSM) Act governs management of the common property of strata
titled developments in Singapore.
As a purchaser/owner of a strata lot (eg. an
apartment or shop unit) within a strata titled development (eg. a condominium
or commercial / industrial building), you are required to make an initial
remittance of six months maintenance fee upon collection of your keys to the
unit. The maintenance fee goes into
maintaining and managing the common facilities and amenities that is outside of
your unit but situated within the strata titled development. This is a
legislative requirement within the provisions of the BMSM Act. After the six months, the maintenance fee is
collectible on either a monthly or quarterly basis. The collection of the maintenance fee will
continue till a new management and sinking fund contribution rate is being decided
at the First Annual General Meeting of the Management Corporation.
When you
collect the keys to your unit, the Developer may request you to complete a form
highlighting the existence of any defects within your unit. You should carry out a thorough check
throughout your unit and highlight any defects on the form and return it to the
Developer accordingly. If you would like
the Developer to address the issues highlighted by you, it is important that
you return the form to the Developer before you commence with any renovation
works that you may intend to carry out.
Upon receipt of your form, the Developer will arrange for the defects to
be rectified. The “window period” by
which you may give your feedback to the Developer on any defects found within
your unit is twelve months from the date of your collection of keys to the
unit. This period is usually referred to
as the defects liability period.
All strata
titled developments are required to be constituted as Management Corporations
as is provided for by the BMSM Act. Upon
the constitution of the Management Corporation, the Developer is required to
convene the First Annual General Meeting within 13 months from the date of
constitution.
All owners of
the Management Corporation will be notified to attend the First Annual General
Meeting. At the general meeting,
decisions will be taken on issues relating to the management of the common
property. Owners present at the general
meeting will decide on the management and sinking fund contribution rates that
will be collected in the year ahead. The
establishment of the management and sinking fund contributions are required by
the BMSM Act. The rates are reviewed at each yearly annual general meeting.
If you are interested in contributing your time and knowledge to the common area management, you may choose to be elected to the Council of the Management Corporation at the general meeting. The election of council members is carried out at each annual general meeting. There are many aspects to common area management and some of which may involve various technical and legal compliance requirements. We will be pleased to share more with you. Send us an email and we will be in contact with you.
Thank you.
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