Friday, December 28, 2012

year 2013, vision, expectation, challenge...

3 more days to go, then entering yr2013.

we still having the same ambitious to make vista a real condo by end of yr2013, but we the difficulty is actually much higher than what anticipated one year ago.

the reason is even though we expected developer won't be so kind to release our sinking fund immediately to us soon, but then we must say looks like it will drag much longer than what we expected, the best hope maybe the end of next year, or even later than that...

another big financial source, gov't fund, also won't be arrived anytime soon, i have read from online news today, the EXCO member YB Wong Hun Woi is urging the federal gov't to release the money to those apartments which have sent their application, well, let's see...

few months ago, we did share in this blog that even if sinking fund & gov't fund are not soon be available, then we must activate our own plan (plan B, huh?), to set up our own sinking fund (without taxing our residents) to address matters like lift upgrade, water tank lining & building wall painting, so this new sinking fund account will be open with public bank in January 2013.

our situation now is our monthly collection on service charge is good enough to administer those regular & needs we encounter each month, even got spare to do some upgrade on the facilities, WITH THE CONDITION THAT AVERAGE COLLECTION RATE HITTING 80%, so the office staffs & security will take to task if this standard can't be maintained.

so we are depositing the car park rental (abt RM2000 per month) into the vista condo new sinking fund, so in 10 years' time, we should be able to either paint the building or upgrade the lift, pls don't be discouraged by "10 years" time, we are talking abt worst scenario, that is if no sinking fund & gov't fund in the coming 10 years, but we can get both matters attended to, if either gov't or developer kind enough to release the money :):):)

so in yr2013, the main task is still make sure the collection rate is at (or above) 80% and we should see some upgrading happen here & there, perhaps gym, beautify the swimming pool, play ground like facility for kids, lift touch & go system, etc. do have rough idea on the blue print, but if it's big project, will get residents to approve first.

hopefully can see great break through in yr2013, happy new year to all our beloved residents!!!



Friday, December 21, 2012

scary incident on 20/12/12

on thursday, we have came to know abt a case in blk j, where abt 5.30am in the morning, when 2 ladies residents step into the blk j lift, found a guy already in the lift holding a knife-like material in his hand....

few lessons we can learn this incident...

1) do not proceed if got doubt, after these 2 ladies saw this guy holding a knife-like thing in his hand & still wearing his helmet, they immediately went out from the lift & wait for another lift, thank God we have 2 lifts each block, it's good to play safe to minimize the risk of being robbed.

2) call guard immediately, after they step out from the lift, they informed the guard on duty immediately, this is something we expect our residents to do but many times residents didn't do it as they don't keep the number. For this incident the guard check the cctv immediately but the guy have already left the lift, so he immediately checking on those people going out through the entrance, but at the end still can't find the suspect...:(

3) alert other residents too, the 2 ladies somehow also took the initiative to inform other residents, this is good for letting other residents know abt any abnormality so that they can be more watchful, after being informed of the case, MC & management get in touch with the guard's boss, and he too get information from the night guard & prepare to make police report if necessary, pending on our finding through CCTV.

4) make use of CCTV, MC members & residents checked the CCTV records on the same night, we traced from 4.30am in the record, because need to find out where this guy come from & at which floor he entered the lift, and most importantly if he is outsider then how did he manage to come in? After spending nearly an hour checking the record, we found out actually the guy is one of our resident, who we know him personally, with clean record, he need to report to his office early in the morning almost everyday due to his job nature, the knife-like thing in his hand is actually is his motorbike key....

5) communication, we ring up the lady who reported the case, explain to her the finding, she feel relieve & more secured for taking lift in early hour as she need to do so on regular basis, it's important for all of to feel safe to stay here in Vista Condo.

no wonder the guard didn't see anyone suspicious when he check on those people passing the entrance after receive the report, because the guy is also holding the active bike key tag, but we also want to thank the lady who reported this even though the guy is not a robber because it's better to be cautious than regret.

thanks.



Friday, December 7, 2012

some precaution steps taken now...

recently few incidents happened in some apartments in Penang & other northern region, make us even more alert & taking extra precaution steps.

just last week a project in Penang hit by a fire incident, more than 35 bikes were in total damage in the said incident, it also affected another abt 30 bikes, more than this, the heat & the smoke also caused other damages to residents unit & common facilities, police still investigating the cause of fire, their residents also urged their management to install CCTV to prevent similar incidents from happening again, as for Vista Condo, even though we do hv CCTV to cover most of the bikes parking & the bikes barrier to prevent outsider (biker) to come in without reason, we did instruct the guard & supervisor to keep their eyes on those peoples who claim to come in to visit our residents or doing renovation.

last month it also been reported in the nearby apartment, a biker went to apartment lift & molested a lady resident, and in fact it was captured in their lift CCTV, but somehow the culprit managed to escape & now police are looking for him. According to the report before he drive his bike into the apartment compound he cheated the guard that he was looking for unit there for rent, and the guard didn't suspect him & allow him to go in without record his identity...., our management & guard company were informed of this case & urged to tighten up the security, which they did but it also resulted a resident went to confront the guard because his relative's bike was denied an entry so he got upset, see, we do have residents among us still caused hindrance to the measure which bring benefit to most of residents.

another accident was abt a kid (should be a boy) drown in the apartment swimming pool, also last month, outside Pg island, well, this is something i think Vista Condo parents need to be more careful, we still see many kids swimming in the pool without adult around, yes no doubt these kids are already (or almost) reached their teenage & make it difficult for the guard to chase them home as they claimed that they know how to swim, so what the guard did is only chase those smaller kids to go home & only allowed to swim if their parents accompany them, for the bigger kids we only can advice them & make it clear to them that they have to swim on their own risk, hopefully nothing unfortunate will happen.

we welcome residents to inform us for incidents like this although it happened in other places, so that we can take prevention step, as we always believe prevention is better than cures.

thanks.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Religion matters in Vista

religion matter is something we try not to interfere, and if possible try not to get involved in vista condo, but yet, could not run away from facing it...:(

must say it here, this article have no attention to offend any resident in Vista, but just merely pointing out some observation, if accidentally causes any hard feeling then would like to apologize first....

religion, as many of us agree, is something personal, is in between the person with his/her God, the belief, the conviction, the practice, & others.

also the way the worship & prayer being carried out are varied from one religion to another religion, some worship/pray in temple, some worship/pray in church, some worship/pray in mosque, also some regularly or periodically worship & pray in their house.

some worship through praying, some through chanting, some through burning incense, some through offering of food, drink & other things....

some worship in quietness, some do produce sound, and here we do not want to comment on how quiet is quiet & how loud is loud, for one person may think the level of loudness is acceptable, but for another person may not think so, then as we have 275 unit in vista condo, and from time to time different kind of worship or prayer will be performed by different residents from different kind of religion background, so how to address this issue...???

again, would like to carefully present this suggestion, perhaps to exercise "golden rule" will be helpful in our apartment..., let's see what Wikipedia talk abt "golden rule"...

The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity is a maxim,[1] ethical code, or morality[2] that essentially states either of the following:

(Positive form of Golden Rule): One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.[1]
(Negative form of Golden Rule): One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated.


hope it helps, thanks.

Friday, November 16, 2012

new sinking fund?

don't be scared by the post title..., don't worry, we are not going to collect extra money from residents, everything still the same, RM100 per month for the service charge :):):)

well, as we mentioned in the last post, we will look into ways to save some money for the future, especially for the lift upgrade, building wall painting & water tank lining replacement, we need to plan for this as we foresee the gov't fund & sinking fund won't be soon available.

at the moment our regular expenses cost abt RM23k per month (TNB 7k, Guard 4k, PBA 1k, cleaner 2k, management 3.3k, lift service 1.4k, pool 800, phone allowance 320, electrical 700, various kind of repairs abt 2500, so total abt 23K), and our average monthly collection is in between 25K to 27K, which is inclusive of car park rental as well.

we plan to deposit the car park rental into new sinking fund account starting January 2013, which means if everything go smoothly then next year whatever amount we collect for the car park rental will go directly into the fixed deposit account of new sinking fund.

for info, we have abt 40 residents' cars renting the lots, RM50 per month per lot, which will bring in average abt RM2000 per month, or RM24K per year, or 240k in 10 years time.

we have to make it clear that this money will only be used for major break down or upgrade for lift, water tank & wall painting, it should not be touched for general items like changing bulb, water tap, changing minor lift parts...

we see this steps is a must or else those money we collected every month will be all spent but left nothing for the above mentioned major project, so, even if we need to wait for 10 years for the sinking fund & gov't aid (just in case), we are still able to upgrade at least 2 lifts if it's needed, especially the blk k lifts.

the challenge now is to make sure the collection rate of the service charge will consistently hit 85% so that we will have abt 23K (monthly) from the service charge collection to be spent for the regular expenses, we are confident this can be achieved with the cooperation from residents, management staffs & guards, but we also can foresee some defaulters will react as their cards will be blocked.... :(

other challenge...??? hahaha...!!! hopefully nobody will say that we are taking the money for our own use :P












Friday, November 9, 2012

waiting is torturing....

waiting is big part of the job in the service as committee members...

waiting for the daily report to be sent to our email, waiting for the monthly account to be updated so that we will see clearer our finance status, waiting for the vendors to get the equipment up in the breakdown cases, waiting in anxiety especially if it involved lifts & water pump, waiting for the phone calls from the bosses if their staffs didn't turn up in vista condo....

but these waitings are the short duration ones, can be ranged from few hour to few weeks, what really torturing are those long term ones, up to months, or even years, it will consume your patience & eventually if your patience is up & the projects will need to be called off.

2 projects now facing testing period are the sinking fund & government fund, as developer has been liquidated & now we can only approach liquidator for the money (although court case still on), it seems this will be a long battle, but can u see if we would just give up then who will be the happiest person???

of course there are many reasons why we should just give up on pursuing the sinking fund, just like many other apartment do..., sometimes thoughts like why should we care as we face accusation on money matter, or why should we be busy body as other residents don't even contribute a bit in this effort of taking back the sinking fund, or other untold-able statements by residents which really make us think that our effort is not worthwhile.

but at the end of the day, we understand that as we have started it, it's only right we finish it well, we still have faith that thru God's divine intervention we will see the money, not just the sinking fund but fund from government too, but we really have no idea when, 2012 is almost end, how abt 2013? or 2014? or beyond it....?

once awhile we also strike by the thought that if the sinking fund won't be back soon then where should we get the money for lift upgrade, building painting or water tank lining replacement...? all these jobs must be done in this coming 5 years due to their conditions....

do have some plan for new sinking fund, especially now as we have settled (or settling) some urgent matter which involve big money like TNB deposit, pump replacement, lift rotor, will share next week.

thanks.



Monday, November 5, 2012

vista condo & animals

animals like to visit Vista Condo, and most of them are not really welcome...

we have dealt with dogs, cats, monkeys...., not sure did anyone see monitor lizard, but the latest one is definitely scary...a snake, small cobra.

so far the most headache one is monkey, because they tend to bring damages, particular the number plate & side mirrors of cars, this animals come & go, still remember abt half a year ago abt 6 of them hung around at the rental parking area happily playing with residents' cars, & eventually at least 3 of them shot dead by jabatan haiwan officer, the others ran away, but once awhile we received report that residents do see them at the fencing area.

dogs, also for a period of time 3 dogs appeared at the end of blk k area, like to make a lot of noise at midnight hour, have concert or party? for that animals, we got our cleaner to thank for, as they managed to entice them (with food) & locked them in the toilet, then authority were called in to bring them away.

the problem of cat not completely solved yet, coz this animal very hard to catch, few stubborn residents still insist to feed them, despite many times we urged them not to, to make the problem worse, some of the cats actually are belong to residents, so what can we do jz advice their masters to make sure their pets don't cause problem to others, well, so far still ok lah.....

now got to deal with snake pulak...., in fact this is 3rd time snakes were sighted & caught, remember 2 years ago found one abt 2 ft long near the foyer, guard killed it on the spot, 2nd time if not mistaken was last year, at the same place, and 2 days ago, a small cobra, less than 1 ft was sighted near swimming pool fencing near blk k & the day guard came catch it, he keep it in the mineral bottle & still thinking what should be done on it...

most likely the snakes were from the jungle area along the main road, there's no way we can go there to kill all the snake, so we only can try to prevent them from coming in, we have arranged with staffs to buy a lot of sulphur & put it along the fencing area along the boundary, the problem of this is the rain water will flush it away, if any resident have experience to deal this kind of situation pls do share with us.

our advice is, when you are walking in the common area at ground floor, pls be more watchful of the floor, especially if with little kids.

thanks.

Friday, October 26, 2012

challenge of keeping the momentum

if you ask what is the most challenging part in this task of being MC committee member, we would say not a financial problem, not resident's issue, not facility matters, but is to maintaining the momentum to serve the Vista Condo.

someone said to scale a great height is difficult, but to stay there even tougher! in our context here in Vista Condo will be, to improve our Vista Condo is difficult, but to maintain the higher standard (assuming have been archived) will need greater effort to see it happen.

give a example here, at the moment we do hv abt 80% residents paying their SC regularly, it is a good improvement compare to yr2009 which is only abt 60%, but how to maintain the 80% collection rate is actually more difficult compare to how to increase from 60% to 80%.

to increase from 60% to 80%, all we need to do is implement the T&G card for both cars & bikes, then after the early resistance had been overcame (some residents always hv their good reason why they should not or can not pay SC) then you should have 80% collection rate in the first few months after T&G system enforced, but the real challenge is how to make sure for many many many months to come, the 80% still there.

in fact it's quite a tough job to maintain it, few reasons, well, you will hear office staffs living in fear because intimidated or harassed by some of the defaulters, threaten to beat them, also some will say not even have money to buy food, where to get money to pay SC? others will say something like poor management service & lift always down so no need to pay SC, and Chinese new year or Raya or other festive season can be excuse too...

so MC members got to regularly urge the staffs & guards to make sure residents pay SC or else bar the cards after grace period had been given..., we hv done the calculation, almost every 2 months we need to check on this matter or else collection will be dropped to 60% again...

we don't blame the guard or staff because human nature will make them choose the easier & non confrontative path. of course the ideal situation will be they will have so much initiative to monitor the payment status & bar accordingly, but as we know well that the ideal thing very seldom happen.... :(

well, we just quoted the case of T&G system, how abt other area like guards, management service, pool, lift, cleaning service, electrical, pest control.....? these ares too, needed constant monitoring & reminding from the MC to see that the standard will be maintained by various vendors.


at the moment our momentum still ok, hopefully it can last long long while...


Friday, October 19, 2012

general updates...

few things to update our beloved residents,

1) we are in the midst of transferring TNB meter to be under vista condo, instead of developer, for which blk j has done last week, involved 12K as deposit, will do the blk k next week, expect to spend another few more thousand, so now pocket a bit tight, but we still keep abt 15K in bank account, for real emergency cases. (all the project need to freeze at the moment until have more money...)

2) we have replaced few more rubbish room window frame at blk j, for safety reason, coz few week ago some of them fell on the ground of ground floor, the rotten frame together some glass, thank God it didn't hit anyone, it happened at abt 10.30pm during a very thunder rain & very strong wind, now we inspecting all other window frame, very soon will do for the blk k.

3) abt the sinking fund, besides continue to nag to the director of developer company abt the money (include further court action), we also try to contact the receiver for our sinking fund, so far haven't got his reply, just last week we visited our lawyer, will wait for another 2 weeks then will consider what to do with the receiver.

4) haven't submit the application to the COB for the fund for building painting, lift upgrade, water tank lining as some of the document (especially the quotations) hasn't our hand, but again, expected date to submit will be on the Tuesday.

5) at the moment we have 3 insurance claims still waiting for the compensation money by the insurance company, they are lift rotor repair, T&G system replacement, blk k water pump replacement..., normally this kind of claim will take few months, we expecting total can claim abt 10K, or more...., now got new case, 2 weeks ago another resident langgar the incoming barrier, & it eventually broke, have informed the insurance company earlier, now waiting for their reply.

6) pithole at the main entrance sink again....due to excessive rain water, have contact IWK to look into it as it's connected to IWK manhole, at the same time getting our contractor to do our part.

thanks.






Friday, October 12, 2012

small breakthrough abt earliest S&P

since a week's ago, MC members again busy talking to lawyer, MPPP (COB) & vendors over various matter, but we would say all the discussion are done in the happy atmosphere.

one simple reason, we are almost get the complete copy of the S&P which carry the purchase price of RM80k.

we manage to get a resident's cooperation to send us his 1st owner's S&P, not in full set but the schedule, & it's clearly stated that it's 80K, so now this resident (also committee member by the way) is talking to his bank to produce a full set of document, we expect to see it next week :):):) thank God for His divine help.

so we waste no time, started getting vendor to quote us blk J & blk K common area painting, lift upgrade, water tank lining replacement..., hopefully we can get the application submitted by the end of next week.

well, we do not want to give false hope to our residents, to submit the application doesn't mean we will sure get the fund from the gov't, but at least there's hope because now we are qualified to apply, unlike before where we had tried many times but all kena tendang balik because we couldn't show them we are Low Medium Cost apartment.

(for those who are new in this blog, let us briefly explain, now we are applying fund from federal gov't & state gov't for these major projects, but they only accept application from low cost & low medium cost apartment, which are 42k & 80K or below respectively)

how long should we wait? not sure...., we do have some good connection with some gov't officer, & as election is near, hope these factors will make our chance bigger & hasten the pace of fund to to be channeled to us, but let's pray for God's further help.

abt the sinking fund, still a tug of war with the developer, latest news, as developer have been liquidated by one of his creditor, & the creditor appointed a receiver for the liquidation, we are now approaching the receiver to seek opportunity for the money to be returned to us, will update residents once got feedback.

well, some residents asked this question, since developer under liquidation, so should they collect money from residents who wish to collect their strata title, actually the answer is quite obvious (for those who have experience in company, legal & account matter), but at the moment the best person to answer this question is the lawyer who help you to do the strata title transfer....:)

thanks.




Wednesday, October 3, 2012

info needed - earliest S&P of Vista Condo

we are still negotiating with the gov't dept for the fund to paint the building & upgrade all the old lifts..., some residents may ask why take so long, like it or not, this kind of matter really test your patient, we call it running a marathon, some of these matters will take up to years to see the breakthrough...., the same apply to the sinking fund as well, it has been 6 months since we sued them, so looks like still long way to go before we see the money.

the latest development (on applying fund) will need residents to help, especially those earliest batch of residents moved into vista condo & staying at the lower floors, because at the moment the gov't only consider application of fund from those low cost & low medium cost apartment, to define this, low cost is for (or below) 42K, low medium cost apartment are those 80K & below, not the current market price, but the price they paid when get the unit from developer.

we have heard that vista condo at abt 16 years ago only sell at abt 79k or 80K (the BASE price), but charge RM500 more each floor higher & those facing swimming pool will need to pay few thousand ringgit more...., can the earliest residents verify this? if it's true then based on the calculation those 1st floor unit (not facing swimming pool) will only need to pay abt 80K, we hope it's true & really really really hope that someone can show us the S&P of it, and we will immediately knock at gov't dept's door to chase them for the money....

we have approached some unit at 1st floor but too bad most of them not the 1st owner & don't have a copy of developer S&P, but they willing to search their old file if by chance they do keep a copy of it....., we pray they will found it. at the same time just in case if you are reading this & have S&P show that the price is somewhere near to 80K pls contact us thru the email...many thanks in advance.

hope to see the developer's 80K S&P soon...., God pls help us.... :)

Friday, September 21, 2012

answer to those questions (part 3)

some residents who have came to know abt our situation, ie being questioned & confronted by ppl because of financial/account matter do tell us a very interesting thing, which at first we thought is impossible, but after give it a thought then it's better to clarify here.

they said, the reason why some residents do hv doubt over our account is, a member of MC recently sold his 2 old cars, then purchased 2 newer used cars..., can this be an issue? he used his money (bank loan & company loan, plus the money get from selling of old cars) to pay for the cars, he & his wife both working & have reasonable income to support the 2 used cars (total value less than 45K, then minus the selling of old car abt 10k, so monthly installment are for 35K in 6 years), we hope this won't make residents think that MC members hv been happily helping themselves with management fund, will be very very very sadden & silly if got residents think that..., which we don't really think that buying cars will make us look suspicious, but to play safe, we just want to clarify, for in case.

financial is always sensitive issue, especially if u are handling public fund, for like it or not, no matter how careful or "clean" u are, u are still subject to the doubt of abusing the fund, another word, makan duit....

want to defend the MC here, yr2010 while this group of MC (was JMC then) took over in somewhere may/june, we inherit a huge amount of debt, abt 55K in the management account, of course together with some facilities problem like water tank, wall leaking issue.., but in 2 years' time we managed to pay all the debt, repair default facilities, install new facilities, & even have some good balance in the bank, as per last month abt 20K, to be fair, if MC are greedy & putting residents money into our own pocket, then these thing will not happen as mentioned!

MC members do fairly well in their career, 3 have their own company, 1 is company regional manager, 1 is organization administrator, 2 are senior ranking engineer in their factory..., we do not need to take money from the management fund, for our income is more than enough to administer our needs & desires, we serve our residents in the MC capacity is because we were chosen earlier, & since we are entrusted this task, then it's only right for us to do our level best to improve the things in vista condo, but now as have been labelled as "makan duit" will make us consider all these effort & sacrifice worth or not?

the time & strength we give to MC job not just the Wednesday night MC meeting, but is a daily burden of making sure staffs & vendors do the jobs right, residents' needs can be met (although sometimes can be quite difficult), some of us everyday need to stand at our own balcony to make sure all the corridor & staircase light (of another block) are ok, also check if anyone climbing staircase which can due to lift problem then call lift vendor immediately, inspecting semi-circle structure every floor for the mosquito larva, our daily prayer include lift & other facilities are always in good conditions, & developer will return our sinking fund as well..., pls believe it's really a daily burden.

well, sorry for being long winded, but for those who have doubt, pls be more patient, as we are chasing the auditor to get the audit report ready & EGM will be called, the baton will be handled to u, for we really looking forward to the days where we can be like other ordinary residents, to enjoy our peaceful life with our family & not to be troubled by those management & facilities issues....

share this with no hard feeling, thanks.






Wednesday, September 12, 2012

answer to those question (part 2)

it's 4.50pm again, rushing to get this done....

like to brief residents how the MC approve project or repair or purchasing, etc.

different MC member holding different portfolio, we have 2 handling lifts, 2 handling plumbing matters, 2 handling swimming pool, 2 handling security guard matters, 2 handling legal matters, 2 handling safety related matters, 2 for T&G matters, etc, but as we only have 6 active members, so some of us do overlap in 2 or more areas.

so for approving project (repair or purchase) worth RM200 or less than that, for example repair pipe burst, the 2 persons in charge of that plumbing will discuss in between them & giving approval once they feel it's ok. But for more than RM200 then one of them will bring the matter up in the MC meeting for approval, but since MC meeting in 2 weeks once, some of matters can't wait that long, so person in charge will send email to everybody for email approval.

but we must say we try our best to follow this as much as possible, but also certain cases where immediate decision is need then we will either send SMS or even phone calls to get approval, for top urgent cases.

ideally, all the purchase or repair once it's done, should be checked by supervisor or MC member in charge, but we must admit that it's the most difficult part to follow, part of that due to time factor, for example, if lift changed the part & completed at midnight then there's quite difficult for anyone of us to go there & check..., the same happen to electrical item like changing MCB in distributor board...

like to touch little bit abt the lift, at the moment lift at blk k down again, this time due to main relay board problem, vendor took one day to source for the used board, then took nearly 3 days to get all the wiring done (according to him abt 300 connection), so today only they can test run, since this morning 10am, but somehow the latest news we got from them is the lift haven't up yet...

someone asked in the last posting abt the root cause, quite simple, there's few relay boards in the each set of control system, all of them are old board, no more in the production, all bound to spoilt when it's day come, the only solution is to change to new system, abt 60K each set, state gov't still don't give us that money coz we are not low cost apartment, court case abt the sinking fund still drag on so the fund won't be available any time soon...

so what's the solution? trying our best to save enough money to change the control system, & at the same time continue to nag gov't for money. (if anyone got other idea pls do share..)

thanks.


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

answer to those questions (part 1)

someone posted some questions in the last article, also told us he has reported the chairman to the authority..., for mismanagement & don't know what else, sigh, susahlah kali ini....

well, since he raised those questions, we thought it's good to answer them so that residents will hv better picture of how these whole things of management, financial & related matters be handled, but we can't answer everything in single posting, so pls allow us to go part by part..., now this article is written at 4.45pm, i curi some time from my office hour in the company i am attached to, hope that my boss won't see it :)

current management company is DMS, we are paying them RM3300 per month, at the moment they are under 3 months probation, until and of Sept, then MC will decide whether to engage their service in long term basis.

our practice is, when the company still under probation, the cheque book would not be held by them, just to play safe, but once confirmation is given then the cheque will be handled by them, like what we did before. But at the end of the month when we need them to prepare the monthly account then cheque book will given to them to complete the account, as the office is keeping other documents like payment voucher, invoices, etc....

every month we issue payment on middle of month & end of month, those utilities bills & contracted vendors will be paid middle of month, like TNB, PBA, lift, pool, guard (half monthly), cleaner (half monthly), management (half monthly) & charge man. End of month we pay for parts purchased for facilities upgrade & repairs, management (half monthly), guard (half monthly), cleaner (half monthly), & others, few exception as some suppliers (not contracted one) are not giving us credit term.

at the moment 2 full timers in the office, office clerk responsible for collection & building supervisor assigned responsibilities to inspect our facilities & common area regularly, receive complaints from residents & get responsible parties to attend to these complaint, & also make sure all other vendor doing their jobs right, well, as now they still under probation, so residents' feedback & committees' observation will take into consideration when come to the time making decision for long term service contract.

monthly account will be pasted in the residents notice by the 15th of the following month, it shows the income & expenditure of the month, figure brought forward from previous month & balance of the current month, earlier on some residents questioned us abt the bank statement, so we will make arrangement for the bank statement to be pasted together with the monthly account starting this month.

company who provides management service will handle the account too, which means the management fee we pay them is not just for collection of SC & building supervisory but include this too, concerning the question is the accountant is competent or not then we should be judging this from the account they prepare, so far as we see for this company, we will say ok lah.

we will soon post some other answers soon, pls be patient & don't interpret it as we refuse to answer, meantime also allow other residents/readers to feedback concerning those things we have written above.

thanks.








Saturday, August 25, 2012

eventful time @ blk k

looks like some of these blk k facilities already "pakat", taking turn to have strike, causing so much inconveniences to residents & sucking finance from the management account.

from few months ago, when the lifts started giving problem, especially the rotor, then until this day, water pump leaking, then motor spoiled, then float sensor in the water tank call it a day, after these don't know what else.

these all the items, actually quite costly for repairing & replacement, but if no immediate action taken, then residents will feel the effect immediately, like forced to climb staircase, no water supply, etc.

well, taking immediate action means spending money, our finance still ok to face this crisis, just that we felt the pain seeing the saving we have taken so long the time to build up, now be burnt one by one...:(

rotor abt 6K, pump repair abt 1.6K, float sensor abt 2.5K, this has taken up abt 10K, but now still scratching our hair for the motor replacement, (2 vendor came try to repair it, but left us with the same report, can't be repaired anymore!) should burn another 15K to 18K, but still waiting for few vendors' reply quotation, by latest next Monday need to decide which model & vendor we should go for?

for those follow this blog, u may hv been informed that very soon we need to pay the electricity deposit (abt 18K) to TNB as the developer is terminating the TNB account which is under their name, so which means in this eventful session, we are seeing abt 40K to 50K leaving us!!!

our only comfort is for rotor & motor problem, we may be able to recover some $$ from insurance claim, but if we manage to get back 10K or 15K, still have to face the fact that our management account will see 30K to 40K less...

we are now talking to those potential motor vendor for the repayment term, well, perhaps 4K per month, for TNB we will try to negotiate further to pay less deposit, coz we need to keep at least 15K in our bank account for the real emergency situation, hopefully God will help us (again) to have the great favor from the relevant parties.

last thing want to say in this posting, our finance still strong enough to face this challenge, so residents pls don't worry abt our management fund is running low, the only setback is we may need to delay some of the upgrading project which we have in mind, coz priority should be given to maintenance & repair.

thanks.






Monday, August 20, 2012

2 big holes in the pocket now :(

recently we were confronted by 2 issues, which will burn 2 big holes in the management account's pocket...

for info, past 2 years, even though some big money had been spent for upgrading or repair or install new facilities, but in bank account we steadily keep something in between 15K to 25K, for in case of emergency.

part of the reason we kept this money is for the TNB & PBA deposit, because all this while our TNB & PBA are under developer's name, even though we are not sure they used their own or our money to pay the deposit some 15 years ago, but we thought we must keep enough money if we will be asked to transfer these accounts under MC's name, for which, the deposit will be in between 15k to 20k.

true enough last week we received the notice from developer that they will terminate the TNB account soon, & as we approached TNB for the matter, we were asked to pay abt 20K for the deposit, but we still negotiate with their higher management officer & hopefully can cut it to 15K.

anyhow, if our wish is granted, then the 15k in the current account will be transferred under refundable deposit, but practically can't be used by us as long as we are still using TNB supply.

then, when we are still feel the heartache because the saving in bank will be reduced so much, another big blow just arrived!

2 different vendors have checked our blk k water pump (which sending the water from ground floor storage tank to roof top water tank) & informed us that 1 motor is damaged beyond repair! the new motor will cost in between 15K to 18K, depending on the model & manufacturing country.

now we are getting another vendor to check & give his opinion, hopefully he will know how to repair it (chance is slim, though), we are talking to insurance company now as we also insured our facilities under equipment all risk policy, hope can claim some money from them, oh ya, yesterday we also approached YB Yeoh for help, hope to hear good news from him soon.

now feel even more heartache, aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

a long long long sigh !!!





Monday, August 13, 2012

new T&G system

yes, u are right, it has been launched today.

few of us in MC have collected our new cards, tested it, wonderful, no need to wind down the car window, and the scanner still can detect our card & open the barrier.

the scanning range is abt 2 feet, so residents should try to drive your vehicle as near to the scanner as possible, we were told in case the window is tinted too heavily then the scanner may not be able to detect the card, so far haven't got this complaint yet.

yes the cards are given to residents free, for this new cards, management account will absorb the cost, as part of the "benefit sharing", giving back to residents since management fund's finance is getting better, we thought maybe should not create more burden for our residents to buy new card.

some residents feedback to us it took a bit long for the card to be issued, we understand it coz we too waited awhile for the card, but pls be patient, coz the Malay staff who does the issuing of the card need to check all the detail before card is issued, especially payment status, lot number vs unit, the authentic of returned old card, the registration of new card into system, etc, it's also to make sure no one take advantage of the system & abuse it for personal gain, so pls be patient....

where do we get the money to install the new system? we are claiming from insurance company on the damage of the system as the result of the accident few weeks ago, but since the existing model can't be sourced anymore, so we added a few thousand (from management account) to upgrade it to this long range system, include the new cards, but anywhere we need to clarify here that, we only claim from insurance company on the damage, but not the new upgraded system. (in order not to cause the resident who involved in the accident feel that he is victimised)

so, pls get your card as early as you can, test it & feedback to us if any improvement need.

thanks.




Tuesday, August 7, 2012

it's about priority for the safety & security matters

last post created some good discussions, well, some residents do write in the not-so-friendly manner, but in MC, we try not to get our ourselves to be effected emotionally like be upset or angry by the comments, by rather to focus on the issues the persons try to bring to our attention, & do our best to address it.

we do hear the voices of getting the road (or parking area) repaired, so now we are talking to vendor to get those broken surface patched, but as we said earlier, due to limitation of fund, it's quite hard to tar all the broken areas, but rather to choose the few areas which are more serious, the others will be covered later.

it's about priority, really.

we always remind ourselves to give priority to those safety & security related matter, so in the past 6 to 12 months, actually some big portion of money have been channeled to this area, but then we must say this are the "unseen" or "not-so-visible" as other thing like painting the wall, or install new office which can be easily detected by residents, by then many times those "unseen" things actually are more important than "visible" thing, especially when it touches the safety & security matter.

perhaps it's good for us to update our residents what are the safety & security related matters which have been covered recently...

upgrade the fire fighting facilities, we had sent both duty pump & jockey pump for service & repair, replaced mechanical seal & high power blower; than at the bomba riser room, new hose reel, valves be installed, with those necessary servicing, last month we entered the service contract with one of the prominent vendor (Pentatronics) to maintain our fire fighting facilities, for which they will inspect our equipment on the regular basis & advice us what need to be done pertaining to this area.

new lift alarm indicators have been installed at the guard house last week, it will alert the guard with both light & sound should anyone stranded in the lift, of course the person must press the alarm button inside the lift in order for this both light & sound devices be triggered in the guard house. we hope by having this facility it will help the stranded person to be rescued sooner than before.

abt half a year ago we decided to hire the new guard company, it's also part of effort to upgrade the security service here, our observation is the current guard company are doing better job than the other one, but of course it's always rooms for improvement..., in fact our neighboring (not Villa) apartment also switched to this company recently after their committee members joined one of our function few months ago & impressed by the way our guard manned the entrance :)

we are at the moment servicing (or replacing if it's needed) all the water pumps for domestic supply to all the unit in blk J and K, total are 4 pumps, one had been done in blk k, will do the blk j soon, after that will also enter contract with vendor for maintaining & servicing the pump on regular basis, this is to make sure the pumps will continue to serve all the unit without sudden malfunctioning, hopefully.

well, other facilities like CCTV, motorbike T&G barrier are also for the same purpose, we do see some good improvement after installed these, but we can't afford to feel proud of that, rather we choose to be cautious, focus on the further improvement which will make Vista safer place to stay.

thanks.










Tuesday, July 31, 2012

car barrier accident & lift alarm indicator

this morning all vista residents get a shock to see the out-going barrier together with in-barrier control system in total wreck! for those still don't know the cause, the T&G system barrier was hit by a vehicle driven by a resident this morning, it was an accident but since damage has been caused so we still will pursue for the compensation either by insurance or the resident.

everything had been captured by the CCTV, we have contacted the insurance company, the insurance adjuster was sent in to access the damage, now we were advised by them to install (can't be repaired already) the new system & then claim from the insurance company, for which they will normally claim from the party who responsible for this incident.

so now we were pondering on the available options, most likely will go for the system which will provide more convenient to our residents, quite possible in the future our residents no need to wind down the window to scan their cards, but not finalised yet as we are studying the technical detail..., another reason we go for new system is due to the current model is likely obsolete...

also like to update our residents that we are installing the lift alarm indicator at the guard house, so in the future if anyone trapped in the lift & press the lift alarm, the signal will be sent to guard house, it will trigger the buzzer in the guard house to alert the guard on duty, also there will be indicator light to show the guard which lift is having problem...., well, this is part of effort to upgrade our facility as our finance is getting better..., remember our mission? to make vista a better place for living.

thanks.



Monday, July 23, 2012

our wish list....

to run the management in vista condo will be full of happiness & fun if the following matters can happen according to MC's wish...

1) blk k's 2 lifts are always bother us much, especially in the past few months, so it automatically top our wish list to see these 2 lifts to run smoothly without breakdown, at the moment our greatest concern is after the rotor has been fixed into system, how long can it last, of course if it's condition is good, then we should not see it crack again anytime soon.

2) sinking fund, still can't see the end of the tunnel, especially as now "certain party" is under liquidation, it make the tunnel even more unpredictable, little bit update for our residents here, we have forwarded the court order to the receiver/liquidator, but we also pursue the legal action to get back the money, let's continue to pray & hope for the best.

3) collection rate to be consistently hit 85%, at the moment the collection rate still swinging in between 75% to 85%, actually it consider a good one already compare to most of the apartments in Bayan Lepas, Paya Terubong , Farlim & Air Itam area, according to our survey, most of them only hitting 60% to 70%, the worst one are just manage to collect 30%, but as our aim is to improve vista condo (not just to maintain) so 85% is a MUST to be achieved.

4) residents to be more understanding, the recent lift incident in blk k make us feel very encouraged as we see most of the residents did understand the situation, but as we received many positive words of encouragement, we also saddened by few residents' unkind action & words, as for now we really wish them to attend the AGM to accept the challenge to take over the baton, so they too will understand the pressure we bear each day for the vista condo matters, but maybe our plan can't be materialized because we just found out almost all of them haven't collect their strata title, which make them unqualified to vote & to nominate, hopefully they can quickly collect their strata title.

5) vendors will up 1 more gear in their performance & commitment, no doubt we are blessed by many good vendors, especially the lifts vendor & electrician, we also full OK with the guards & cleaners, & at the moment still observing the management staffs performance, but honestly speaking, overall performance still quite far from the condominium standard, but then again, unless our collection can shoot up drastically, or else we need to be happy with the current standard.

6) more allocation of fund from government, at the moment we are still negotiating with state government for the money to upgrade the control system of all of our lifts, abt RM200K (government pay 80%, management fund 20%), it's also a long term project, still remember the RM15K for the entrance took us abt 9 months, so for this RM160k.......

still many other items in our wish list, but if half of the mentioned items can be materialised, then every night we will sleep with the big smile in our face :)

thanks.







Monday, July 16, 2012

pls quickly collect your strata title!

hi, some urgent message for u, pls pass to ur neighbor too...

especially if u haven't collect ur strata title, pls do it as soon as u can, pls also check with neighbors for the same thing, do kindly ask them to act quick, get the lawyer to contact developer's office for the strata title, before it's too late.

reason? look, not much thing we should reveal here as we are still engage the developer in the court case for our sinking fund, discuss too much things here may face the risk of contempt of court, all we can say now is we have received info that certain party is either "entering" or have "entered" liquidation, sorry again can't reveal their identity here (before we see for ourselves the related document) for the above mentioned reason, but to avoid future complication for residents especially those who plan to sell their house, it's best to get your strata title now.

in the past we do urged residents to collect their strata title so as enough unit collected strata title then MC can be formed to request back our sinking fund, but as for this time we urge residents to collect strata title is for their own benefits.

u should talk to ur S&P lawyer to do it, but if u can't get them to help then can contact the lawyer we used frequently Ms Chua at 0124313605, just mention to her u are from Vista Condo, recommended by MC, then she should quote u with very reasonable fee & others, the whole thing will take abt 3 to 6 months, depending on the availability of the necessary documents.

we would like to touch little bit on sinking fund here, court proceeding still an on going thing, but as certain party is either "entering" or "entered" (still need to do further investigation) now the battle seems going to drag for awhile, but for us in MC, we will not give up until we see the money has returned back to it's rightful owner ----> vista condo residents!

thanks.





Monday, July 9, 2012

new management company

sorry, this week's posting a bit late, past few days have been very busy to get few things done urgently, well this actually part of the committee's life, need to juggle few things at the same time, career, family life, personal commitment, MC responsibilities, so pls bear with us if there's lacking in the quality & pace, some time :)

as most of the residents notice that there's new company now taking care of our management, would like to invite our residents to send us your opinion, ideas, suggestion to make the new company to serve you better, of course also need to be practical & realistic one, like don't expect them to standby until 11pm just for the collection...

things can be suggested like more flexible working hour for collection, complaint to be attended & feedback to resident in X number of days or hours, office facebook(?) for easier communication, account format, renovation & moving in/out procedure, vista bulletin in hard copy, etc....

it's always our desire to make vista a better place for living, but without residents participation it is definitely not going to happen, we believe when vista condo have more residents willing to do their part as far as obligation is concern, then the faster the vista will be a real condo, as for MC, our job is to draft big direction & to plan the steps for vista residents to achieve the goal, but we said earlier, without residents' active participation, it won't happen...

how many percent residents should involved, the more the better....


Monday, July 2, 2012

General Updates....

matters to update our beloved residents,

1) change of management company, with effective July 1st, the new management company, Dynasty Management Services will take over the job as managing agent in Vista Condo, we want to thank the previous company's help & contribution during their 3 years in our office, especially when we just formed JMB in yr2009, they were the one who helped us a lot in many area, the reason we change the managing agent is to get some fresh ideas of how to further improve the things in Vista Condo, guys, we want to stress that overall speaking we still feel quite positive abt the previous company, so pls refrain from writing negative comments on them.

2) block k lift, finally the rotor of lift #2 is restored back to it's supposedly condition & sent back to the rotor room, after the long 3 weeks, so now the lift #2 is running as usual, and for us in committee, is a great relieve. we do received a lot of phone calls & sms during that 3 weeks, most of them were unpleasant one, honestly we were quite discouraged. one particular blk K resident even urged us to step down, as we talked among ourselves & pondered on his suggestion, we felt it's time for others to exercise their talent to serve the Vista residents, for this reason (partly), AGM will be held in August or September for residents to chose new MC, we believe that new batch of MC will rise up & bring more blessing to vista folks, we also encourage that person to attend the AGM so to join the new MC, trust he will.

3) sinking fund marathon still ON, long battle, some residents asked us when can we get the money back, none of us can answer that question, some also alerted us if the developer file for bankruptcy then can we still take any money from this empty shell, the answer is the same, none of us can answer that...., but we & our lawyer have done enough home work to conclude that the steps we are taking now is necessary one for us to get back the sinking fund at soonest possible, well, men plan but God decides on the outcome, so let's pray & hope for the best.

4) as our finance are in the better position now, so starting from this month we will have fire fighting vendor to check on our facility on the regular basis, this is indeed a huge step to make Vista a safer place to stay, we are still dreaming of forming a strong ERT in vista, the project didn't take off well after launched few months ago due to poor response from residents, we hope that we will have better idea of how to encourage residents to join ERT, pls feel free to share with us.

5) looks like this year can't organise durian party as the price of durian still high due to poor harvesting, we bought few times for our own eating pleasure & 1 peace (good brand) can easily go RM25, compare to last year can get it with abt RM15, so never mind la..., next year see how.

thanks.

Monday, June 25, 2012

10 years financial strategy

some residents talked to us...what!!! RM740K!!! how to get the money? sound a bit worry, sigh..., this is not the purpose we posted the last article, instead we try to convey the message that let's get ready for next 10 years, also indeed we do hv some plan to counter the challenge.

oh, right, good question, where to get the money? here we go....

of course as we know, we still have abt RM400K with developer, the sinking fund, it's long battle to get back the money, as we hv got the court order for them to return the money to us, but as they haven't do that even after nearly 2 months, now we took further action to force them to release the money, the hearing of application done on 19/6/12, the court fixed the trial on 5/7/12, we can't guarantee how soon they will give back the sinking fund, but will update our residents abt the development thru' this blog.

we also writing to state government for 80% of the cost of the 4 lifts control system upgrading, or RM160K (as the total cost is abt RM200K), this is gov't policy & commitment to help those low/medium low cost apartment, the MC committee are talking to YB Yeoh abt this, thank God we have good relationship with him, so it's easier to approach him for help. Now to make the chance looks brighter, we just found out there's a blk k resident who also contractor for CM (or his office), we took advantage of it & ask him to present our case to CM, let's pray & hope for the good news.

well, as the above 2 options are actually (partly) depending on developer/state gov't decision to release the fund, this following 2 sources of income are more secured one....

at the moment our rental parking lots are like the hot cakes, demand much more than offer, we do managed to rent our abt 40 lots, which means the annual income of this us RM50*40*12 = RM24000, so for 10 years is RM240K, soon we will set aside this money & bank it into FD account, RM240K if we have it now is good enough for building painting :)

also if go by current patent of income & expenses, say full collection is RM27500 per month, minus those regular item like TNB 6500, PBA 1000, lift contract 1400, pool 800, management 3000, guard 4000, Electrical/genset 500, cleaning service 2000, maintenance repair & others 4300, total is RM23500, which means monthly surplus is RM4000, annual should be abt RM48000, or 10 years RM480K!

oh ya, to make thing little bit better, at the moment we still have defaulter's old debt, RM50K.....

so those money which more tangible to be received are RM240K + RM480K + RM50, total is RM770K for the next 10 years, sound good, huh?

what we try to say here, is we need to have good system & discipline in this whole thing of financial planning, for this we are still in the process of improving ourselves, one nice thing is those major repairs which need to be done urgently & big money needed for attending to it, are mostly being covered already, especially bomba facilities, water tank leaking, CCTV, T&G system, etc, even old debt to the vendor abt 50K already completely settled abt 1 year ago..., so now we more comfortable in doing the financial planning for next 10 years.

of course we won't just keep those surplus for painting or lift upgrade, still remember the vision of making vista a real condo by yr2013? we would definitely spend some money for facilities upgrade & beautification when time is right.

any suggestion or feedback are most welcome :)

thanks.



Monday, June 18, 2012

do we need the 10 years plan?

one management expert once said, those who doesn't plan actually plans for the failure, if he is right then if we don't plan for Vista Condo's future, then we may heading for trouble.

of course we don't hv to fully agree with him, but seems there's some truth in his saying too, imagine if 15 years ago (when Vista condo has just started been occupied by residents) the developer appointed managing agent willing to take a trouble to draft plan for 5 years, 10 years, 15 years then for sure today our condo should be in much better shape!

ideally speaking, if those days they already come out with the schedule of when to paint the building, when to upgrade the lifts, when to change the water tank, when to replace the bomba equipment, when to upgrade all the pump...etc, then putting in the cost, compare with the income...together with other planning stuffs, then our money will be in good used for the maintaining & upgrading the facilities, & today we should be living in the real condo environment.

of course it didn't happen, so now it has become even harder to plan for the future, coz of those facilities which lacked of sufficient maintenance action, are currently still poking holes in our wallet, in other words, like the black hole sucking our finance, mainly for repairing, most severe one is lifts, water tank also.

our biggest difficulty now is even as we sit down trying to plan for the next 10 years, too much of finance is needed for upkeeping this place, it's indeed a big big big challenge of how to make Vista Condo still having her lifts running well, paint of the building still looks ok, also other facilities are in reasonable condition after 10 years.

let's quote a few items, painting of building is abt RM250K, 4 lift control system is RM280K, 4 lift cars w/doors RM100K, water tanks lining 160K, bomba equipment RM50K, for these are the major items which need to be maintained well now so that they can be safely used in the coming 10 years....

the total is (250 + 280 + 100 + 160 + 50) = RM740K!

hehehe! even if we manage to recover our sinking fund, it's abt RM400, still short of RM340K.

if u feel a bit down, or discouraged by this figure..., don't feel so negative now, we do have some way to counter this, will share more in next posting...:)

thanks.





Sunday, June 10, 2012

blk k lift crisis

we called it crisis, coz one lift is forced to shut down as we need to send it's rotor for service, but another lift which remain to serve our blk K residents is not stable as it's old too, & it's track record had not been good, the break down time is relatively high compare to other lifts.

true enough, 1 day after it shouldered the responsibility alone, it started to throw tantrum, first was control system keep interpreting the signal wrongly, as the result, the lift stop at the improper time, or didn't want to open the lift door to let passenger to come out, for that, the technician work until abt 2am to get it fixed.

but as we thought it's settled, the following day (toward late afternoon) the mechanical part give problem, it get overheated due to the motor overworked, the internal sensor forced the lift to stop so to avoid further damage, so for that the technician checked around for bigger blower to cool down the motor so that it can continue to run the lift as we can't effort to hv both lift down, but they can't get the equipment as it's already night, but thank God we manage to get a heavy duty industry fan from a MC member's office, and after the technician did the necessary adjustment on the lift system to get the problem solved, it's already abt midnight....:(

3rd day went on peacefully....

today is the 4th day, so far so good, MC member monitored the performance of this lift, now already passed 11pm, didn't give problem the whole day, we pray & hope that it will continue to run well, coz the school term going to start tomorrow, more ppl going to use it then, really praying hard now...., we also arrange technician to stand by daily, early hour in the morning & also afternoon when ppl come back from work, jz for in case.

earlier on our plan is to get the sinking fund back the developer so that we can do the necessary upgrading for the old lift, but as they still dragging their feet, we can't wait for them coz all the control system need to be upgraded urgently as many parts have obsolete & can no longer be sourced in the market, we have written to EXCO member YB Wong Hon Wai abt our problem, his dept ask us to submit our application for the state gov't fund, under this arrangement, if our application approved, we can hope state gov't to contribute 80% of the cost, management fund bear the rest 20%, so now we are busy getting quotation, bank statement & other necessary document so hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday can send to them for consideration, for this, we are not sure how good is the chance, so again, got to pray hard for God to help....

(for those following the development of the sinking fund court case, we hv filed in the case, the hearing of application is fixed on 19/6/2012 morning at high court, now we want to sue them for contempt of court)

look back, we only hv one regret, 3 years ago when we urged residents to collect strata title, so that we can form MC to demand the sinking fund from the developer, the response from residents actually quite slow, still remember we need 25% of residents to get their strata title in order to form MC? it actually took more than 2 years to meet the quota, then only we manage to form MC last August, then took few month for talking to state gov't to get their help, negotiation with developer, until took legal action in this April..., we always wondering if in yr2009 or early yr2010 we already get cooperation from resident to hv enough strata title quota to form MC, then perhaps by now sinking fund (or portion of it) already made available for us to use for the lift upgrade......& this lift crisis can be avoided.

now we just hope that we can get the state gov't fund soon, lagi best if developer is kind enough to release the sinking fund in next few weeks.....let's pray.

thanks.





Sunday, June 3, 2012

general updates...

few things to update our residents...

1) feeling a bit sad, but also not too surprise, the developer haven't release the sinking fund to us, despite the court order...., & it has been more than one month, 2 weeks ago we have told our lawyer to proceed further action, so after as he has taking his time slowly & carefully drafted the affidavit, the committee member was told to sign the affidavit last thursday & we expect it will be filed to the court today, or if not then tomorrow, under contempt of court, looks like the battle will still have next episode(s), at the same time we also consider other options, will update residents more on this once it's decided.

2) on sunday noon time one uncle from blk j took matter into his own hand, used his bikes' T&G tag open the barrier for gas delivery man, then when he ride his bike passed the barrier area after the gas vendor, the barrier went down & hit at his hand, caused some scratches on the skin, sigh..., his family member blaming the barrier system is lousy & requested the system to be dismantled, but they failed to see the fault of the father, he should let the guard to do the job, & should understand once scanner is scanned, & the moment the underground sensor sensed that the vehicle (in this case the vendor's bike) has passed, then it will send the sign to the system to lower the barrier, but anywhere we will check also if the incident has caused damage to the barrier then we will demand compensation from them too.

3) abt a week ago a Malay boy get drowned in Batu Uban Apartment area swimming pool, so for safety concern, we have told the guard to make sure if little kids requests for swimming pool key, the adult must accompany them, but the problem is after the pool gate is unlocked, the guard can't monitor the pool closely as his main job is to man the main entrance, so here we like to urge parents to be around at the pool area if their kids are in the swimming pool.

4) blk k lifts recently giving problem again, the technicians have been working round the clock trying to settle the problem, in fact should called problemS, as it's like a chain reaction, one part down & replaced, but before long another part also have problem as either they are physically or functionally attached, so blk k residents pls be patient as the technicians are trying their best to solve these, we also told the guards to help to monitor CCTV more often just in case ppl stuck inside the lift...., thank God for past 2 days the condition are ok.

thanks.





Saturday, May 26, 2012

something abt water tank repair.

today we having a water tank being repaired in blk j, few days ago the office has put up the notice for that, then MC members received some calls from residents, "will this one real repair?", "do we need to keep some water?", "not fake one, huh?", etc....

at first we were a bit amused when heard "fake one?", when checked with them why they said "fake one", then we understand.

they told us few times when they saw the similar notices in the past, they did keep some water as water supply interruption were expected, but at the end water came as usual, so they concluded that there's no water tank repair.

the same goes to the water tank repair at blk k, even one time a resident question one MC member from blk k, "how come u put up the notice but then no repair carried out, what am i going to do with the water i keep in the pale?"

actually almost every time when the notice is up, the repair is happening according to the date stated in the notice, (except 2 times as i can remember, because of bad weather), but we managed to find way for the water to be sent from the other tank to the effected unit, to make sure that the interruption will be minima, to the extent that residents can't even feel the effect of it.

it just simple trick here, our piping at the roof top for all the water tank is so "canggih" that we can interconnect it so that when one tank is shut, at least another tank will rescue the situation...

but it doesn't mean that our residents don't need to keep some water, we still encourage residents to keep few pales of water for few reasons, first is for in case the "rescuer tank" doesn't have enough water to supply as now it has more units to support, although it's unlikely to happen, but it's always good to play safe.

another reason is more critical for those residents who do have water filter (either internal or external one), normally after a water tank undergo repair, the water quality will not be as good as the usual one, sometimes it's more visible in yellowish, sometimes not so visible but as u fill a pale full, then u can see more clearly that is not that good, & this will last for few hour.

let's be thankful that the good piping has enable residents to enjoy the continual water supply during the repair, but if in case the interruption does happen, pls don't scold the MC members or office staffs, for they also try their best to make sure the benefit of residents are being taken care of....:)

thanks.



Friday, May 18, 2012

chronicle of our firefighting system

the 2 fire incidents this year shows that how much we still lacking in the our readiness to face the emergency cases, sad to say, we still fall short of the standard which suppose to be, especially in regard of the firefighting.

since 3 years ago, we have started to upgrade our firefighting facilities, i remember those days almost all the bomba riser room at every floor were without padlock, most of the hose reel have gone missing, many valve either missing or not in good condition, as those days we also faced some financial difficulty, so we only manage to install back the padlock in order to secure those part in the riser room.

as later on the saving in the bank account slowly built up, we moved to the next step of installing back all the hose reel, replacing missing valve, as we thought we were ready and switched bomba pump to auto mode, some of the old valve can't stand the pressure & burst, still remember it happened 2 years ago, before chinese new year, the water from the riser room at 20th floor flow into the lift & coz short circuit, so during the chinese new year, only one lift to serve residents at blk k, the other lift was down for almost 1 week!

due to that, we decided to replace all the valve, serviced all the bomba hose & it's attached bearing & also hose reel, & then during testing for bomba pump, only to find out actually the big bomba pipe which laid below the floor in between blk j & blk k, has been leaking too.., which mean there's no way we should switch the pump to auto mode or else the pump will keep running (to maintain the pressure due to leakage), so new headache surface up.

to replace the big pipe......really need a lot of money, which we plan to do it hopefully this year, but as now, as we can't switch to auto, then we have to teach the guard how to ON the pump manually during fire...., we show them where is the pump, how to switch it ON, & we even write it down & stick it in the guard house, it was abt 6 month ago.

this year as we changed the security guard company, a briefing was given to their 1st batch of guards, but then as later on they sent their new & permanent guards, we made a mistake by assuming the old guard will teach the new guard, with referring to the written procedure in the guard house....so when the small fire happen few weeks ago, the guard went to the wrong pump room & couldn't find the switch...., then abt 10 min the supervisor manage to switch ON the pump after he came back from the lunch :(

our thousand apologies over this mistake, so now as we still can't replace the underground conceal bomba pipe, as the pump need to be in manual mode, as we still need to rely on guards for helping to switch it ON during fire, the MC has make it to a point for all the regular guards, the training will be given again, & each time new guard (or replacement guard) report to work, their supervisor will make sure they have equipped with knowledge of how to deal with situation, for this MC will also check with their supervisor whenever we see new faces in the guard house.

still the long term & best solution is to get the big pipe repaired or replaced, we are working on it now (financially), target is September 2012.

thanks.



Friday, May 11, 2012

press conference on 12/5/2012




just have done the press conference with YB Yeoh, our lawyer Mr Tan from Peterhuang & Richard legal firm, also MC members together with reporters from 4 publication company.

it was held at the central foyer, from 10.30am to 12 noon, the main focus is about the sinking fund.

one of the purpose of the press conference is to thank YB Yeoh for his help all this while on this matter, for he has helped to set up JMB, MC & also organized few meeting for us to meet the developer for the sinking fund, & eventually when we took legal action against the developer we still consulted him in almost every steps.

another reason the press conference was called is to serve a "public notice" to developer coz even as the high court has given the court order but still we need to give "sufficient" notice to them, so we did appeal through the media this morning that we need the money for lift upgrade, common wall painting & also water tank lining replacement, at the same also make it known to the public that we will only wait until next Friday then initiate committal proceedings if developer still refuse to pay.

YB Yeoh also get us to share our experience concerning this journey of fighting for the sinking fund, for according to him, we are the first MC to bring developer to court abt the sinking fund in this area, he also told reporters that actually he hasn't heard of any other case in PG Island, so the high court judgement on 19/4/12 is important one for the apartment in Penang.

well, we told them that without cooperation of residents, this thing can't happen, also the committed MC members is important too...., then work closely with the authorities such as state gov't & MPPP is a must for this kind of struggle, of course without God's help our labour can be just in vain, so still have to pray.

so again, after the press conference, YB looked at us & said, Vista Condo residents are very understanding, we looked at him & smiled, in our hearts we said, "YB, you are right....."

thanks to all the fantastic Vista Condo ppl.


Friday, May 4, 2012

hi,

few things to update residents....

1) sinking fund, the dateline has passed but developer have not release the money to us yet, we have contacted our lawyer to take further action, well, developer by doing so is actually act against the court order, well, let's see how it goes.

2) facilities, most of the facilities at the moment are in the stable state, 6 water tanks have been repaired, now under monitor, once found leaking again then vendor will patch it immediately, as we shared in the EGM before, the long term solution is to change the water tank lining, for this we have written to YB Yeoh, EXCO member YB Wong & other high ranking gov't officer to help, our target is to get abt RM80k from them, we do expect they will channel some money to us as election is not too far from now.

3) building painting, besides waiting for the sinking fund to get the painting job going, we at the moment also try other ways too....we hv jz sent 2 written request to YB Yeoh & YB Wong to ask for financial help for the building wall painting, as some of u may know, state gov't do subsidized up to 80% of the painting cost for the low cost apartment, so as we are considered as medium low cost, we too ask them for the 80%, hopefully even if can't get 80% then 50% should be good also, we do carry some hope on this request due to same reason...general election is near :)

4) monkey, few residents reported to us that they saw monkey again! this time 2 small one, hang around near hindu temple, so far haven't receive report on any damage yet, if anyone see them pls alert wild life dept immediately, phone# 0124242827.

5) collection rate, after implement the motorbike T&G system, service charge collection rate went up few more %, now we are collecting 85% to 90% every month, quite good compare to those neighboring apartments, like to take this opportunity to thank all our residents for the cooperation, especially those who pay promptly.

6) also like to encourage those haven't collect their fire insurance policy to do it as soon as they can, because we need to pay the policy provider the total premium by June, so far we have abt 50% resident collected their policy, so pls help us to be good pay master to the vendor.

7) abandoned bikes, have asked supervisor to make police report on those bikes which had been abandoned by their owner & collected a lot of dirt, then we will paste the police report on the notice board, then after 2 more weeks given, will remove the bikes.

thanks.

Monday, April 30, 2012

no posting this week...

hi, no posting this week, take a break...., will update our beloved residents on various matters next week, thanks.

Friday, April 20, 2012

our sinking fund updates...

wahahahahahaha!!!! we are so happy so happy so happy to inform our beloved residents that we have won the case!!!


on the 19/4/2012 we have the 2nd hearing in Pg high court, and the judgement is the developer should return us those things we have requested pertaining to this case, especially the sinking fund....:) which is amounting to abt RM400k according to the calculation..........


i know now after u guys hear abt this news then next question is when they will return the money, our answer is we also not sure, let's pray & hope that we will get it very soon so that we can plan for the few projects which has long overdue, namely lift upgrade, blk j & k painting & water tank lining replacement.


so at the moment we only can share with u guys this much, and our heart full of thanks to God, let's continue to pray that all will be well in Vista Condo.


thanks.