new line up of MC

this is the new line up of MC 2015/16

Chairman : Mr Megam (K-6-8)
Treasurer : Mr Morgan (K-16-3)
Secretary : Mr Tan (J-10-3)

Committee members :
Deva (K-10-4)
Cheng (J-11-6)
Isma (J-16-6)
Poh (J-13-4)
Raman (K-17-5)


Trust that our residents will continue to support the MC committee to do the good job :)

BTW, the blog will continue after Christmas as the admin will be away for holidays :):):)

thanks.

new chairman, new secretary, new treasurer tonight....

tonight the new MC members will meet to decide on the new office bearers, one thing for sure is there will be new chairman, new treasurer & new secretary for the new term, as Cheng, Deva & Selva will would not be holding the said positions as per new ruling in the strata title act.

in the way, the will be new leadership to manage the matter in Vista Condo pertaining to the management & facilities, and we believe that the new leadership will do even better job than the old MC leadership, we also believe that the Vista Condo residents will continue to give their support to the new leadership, so that they will be encouraged & do the good jobs for the benefits of our believed residents.

one last note, for this Vista Condo blog, they may want to decide if this blog will continue to serve our residents, if yes, then they will need to appoint a new admin to write the article, so this may be the last article written the existing admin shall they decide to appoint a new admin :)

thanks.

new MC line up, new Sinking Fund, new Project

AGM was held smoothly on the Saturday evening, started at 8.30pm & ended at abt 10.30pm.

we would like to thank those who made an effort to attend despite of bad weather, but also understand that some residents wanted to attend but can't make it due to various reasons, overall it was a fruitful meeting with our residents.

3 major decisions made during the AGM,

first, there will be collection of RM10 each unit every month starting January 2016 as the new Sinking Fund, the purpose of having this new sinking fund is to get ourselves ready shall state gov't give approval to our future request in those major repair or upgrade on our facilities such as lifts, water tanks, main pipes & building repainting, as you know we need to contribute 20% of the total cost as the state gov't will bear 80% for low medium cost apartment like Vista Condo.

second, the residents also voted to go ahead to apply fund from the state gov't to replace all the main water pipe which channel water from the roof top water tanks to each unit, in total there are 16 main pipes need to be replaced, we estimate the total cost is amounting to about RM400K, so if we obtain the approval to proceed then we can expect state gov't to absorb abt RM320K & we need to get abt RM80K ready, so this is one of the purpose we set up the new Sinking Fund.

third, residents also have chosen new MC committee members, they are J-16-6 (Isma), J-13-4 (Ah Poh), J-10-3 (Tan), J-11-6 (Cheng), K-16-3 (Morgan), K-17-5 (Ramon), K-10-4 (Deva), K-6-8 (Megam), total is 8, the new MC members will meet to decide on the new office bearers, namely chairman, secretary & treasurer, also the unofficial office bearers such as vice chairman, internal auditor & financial controller, we trust that new MC team will do the good job for our beloved residents :)

may God will give more blessing to Vista Condo in the coming years, thanks.

updates as at 21/11/15

some matters to update our beloved residents,

Water Tank Project - the first 2 old water tanks at blk k had been removed completely, the removal of another 2 old water tank at blk J also almost done, according to the main contractor, next week the another group of workers will come in to install the new water tank, 2 for blk k first, then follow by 2 water for blk j, pray & hope that everything will happen smoothly.

AGM - friendly reminder for our residents that the AGM will be held on 28/11/15, 8pm at the foyer, the highlight will be choosing the new MC committee, we welcome residents to nominate the capable peoples to be in the new lineup, off course the existing committee members are still eligible for the election, but 2 of them (Cheng & Deva) cannot be office bearer (chairman, secretary or treasurer) anymore because they have been the office bearer for max 2 term, so this time they can only be an ordinary committee member if chosen.

Passing of lift technician - we wish to express our deepest condolences to the family of one of the lift technician who came to fix our lift problem regularly, Mr Nasir for his passing on Friday morning, in fact many of our residents have seen him in both Blk J & K to settle our lift problem, he & his boss Mr Samsudin have served our lift well all these years, Mr Samsudin is taller & look tougher, Mr Nasir is shorter person out of this two, we feel sad for losing this great person who attended to the lift problem at his level best all this while :(

see you all in the AGM, thanks.

no posting this week

hi,

no posting this week, will continue next week.

thanks.

AGM on 28/11/15

This is to inform our beloved residents that the AGM will be held in the last last Saturday of November, 28/11/15, 8pm at the foyer area.
After half an hour from 8pm, if numbers of residents turn up still not enough to form the quorum, then those who present will automatically form the quorum, which means the AGM will still be held on the same night regardless of the number of residents we have after half an hour.

Few important matters we will discuss with our residents, just like to highlight 2 of them here,

1) New MC committee, some of the committee already serve to the maximum term, and need to give way to the new members, especially those who office as chairman, treasurer & secretary for 2 term, need to give way for other peoples, but wither they are eligible to be elected as ordinary committee member of MC but not holding office bearer position, we will need to check again with the authority.

2) New sinking fund, we will ask residents’ opinion abt the proposal to collect RM10 per month per unit to form the new sinking fund, so that in the future when we approach state gov’t for financial help on those project such as lift upgrade, or main pipe replacement, or repainting of building, etc, we will be ready to pay the 20% of the cost as under the 80%/20% arrangement, the state gov’t will absorb 80% of the total cost but we got to pay the 20% first.

See u guys in the AGM….

Thanks.

have you seen those old water tank?

some residents get the shock when they saw the old water tank panel at the blk K ground floor...

this is just the first water tank which has been dismantled & sent down from the roof top, as at the moment the vendor are dismantling the second unit, rough calculation, to dismantle a water tank took about 4 days, but we expect they will do the faster job in the future as they have gained some good understanding by dismantling the first water tank.

well, the reason of the residents reaction when they saw the old water tank is the condition of the water tank, so dirty, rusted, broken, bad bad bad shape....

imagine some of residents have been drinking the water without filtering it, and this is the main reason we push for the new water tank, we wish it can been done much earlier than now, but the arrangement is beyond our control as we need state gov't to approve & residents' cooperation to pay service charge so that we can pay our 20% of contribution in order to get the work order from the concerned department, we have done our level best and we can only encourage ourselves that the new water tank project is really late but still better than never...

let's learn some precious lesson from this, & we would like to propose to our residents in the coming AGM (will be held on 28/11/15) that RM10 per month will be collected from every unit, to be saved as Vista Sinking Fund, and this Fund will be used for the gov't funded project which based on 80%/20% (gov't pay 80%, residents pay 20%), so that when the gov't approve those project then we can proceed immediately our 20%, so that the project can be started as soon as possible without wasting too much time like water tank project, for information, it took more than half a year for us to get ready of the 20%......

talk about the future project, some of them will be common water pipe for domestic water supply, building repainting, blk j lifts upgrade (blk k lifts already completed 2 years ago), etc.

thanks.

work in progress, and hiccup too....

the water tank project has started since early of this week, the workers have taken abt 2 days to do the piping at the roof top of blk K, the purpose is so that after they dismantle the first 2 water tanks, the water will continue to supply all the unit in blk K.

the new water tank material were shipped in on Wednesday, residents should have noticed those gray color FRP panel laid at the ground floor for few days, on Friday the workers have managed to bring all these material to the roof top, now waiting for the first 2 water tank to be dismantled completely then install the one immediately.

the arrangement will be 2 water tanks from blk k roof top to be dismantled then fix the new water tanks at the same site immediately, after that another 2 water tanks from roof top to be replaced then the last one will be the reservoir at the ground floor. If they have enough manpower then the same process will be running simultaneously at both blk J & K.

well, the small hiccup during the first week of this water tank project.... :(

when the workers release the water from the first 2 water tank at blk K roof top, the water suppose to flow through the drain pipe gutter to the ground floor & dispersed to the main drain, but unfortunately when the water reached the 8th flr, some of that flow into the corridor area & cause small flood, and went to one of the lift as well, the staff immediately get the cleaner to clear the water & called the lift technician to check the lift (even though it still can run), the lift technician report some part in the lift car top is wet & advised to shut down one lift for a day to wait for it to dry, so one lift was out of order from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon, but now it's back to normal already.

another incident is when the worker remove the level sensor from the first 2 water tanks, some parts of old wire got bent & eventually caused the contact problem, as the result the pump stop running at the early hour on Friday, and caused water supply interruption for abt half an hour in the Saturday morning, few blk K committee received the complaint at 9am & immediately attended to it & water supply was back at abt 9.30am, on the same day we asked the vendor to check & they have rectified the wiring problem, but we still like to ask our residents to help us to monitor the water pressure in your house, if you feel that the pressure is lower than usual then pls alert the office staff immediately, thanks.

....really pray & hope that no more hiccup again.... :P

thanks.

water tank project starts at October :)

some little updates concerning the water tanks project...

this coming Monday, 19/10/15, 9pm we will be meeting with the water tank vendor at the foyer to finalise the installation schedule for both Blk J & K, total 10 water tanks to be fixed at the roof top & ground floor pump room area.

we were told that the new water tank parts & materials will be arrive this coming week, and according to the proposed schedule of vendor, they can installed few days after arrival of the parts, as they need some times to dismantle the existing water tanks.

but we thought we need to check in detail all the proposal pertaining to the schedule, and our first priority is there should not be any water interruption during the installation process, to ensure this happen, we got to insist that after they have dismantle one water tank, they should immediately install a new one at the same site.

another thing we need some assurance from them is plan B, which means in case of "somethings" happen, then what is their contingency plan, we will try our best to anticipate all the possible situation, and ask them to suggest redemption action shall that thing happen, but of course we hope that there's no surprise (the negative one)

above all, we need God's blessing on the project, let's pray..... :)

thanks.

challenging old facilities matter - main pipe outside your house

after the new water tanks project, what next?

believe that most of the residents will say is building repainting, we can understand that, but if we go by the principle of "safety first", then some old facilities which can post some safety hazard are worth considering too...

one particular area is those main pipes which connect the water from the roof top water tank to the all the unit of Vista Condo, you can notice these main pipe easily, just outside your unit, the big top down pipe next to your PBA meter.

in fact, all these main pipes haven't been changed since the construction of Vista Condo, which means they have reached 20 years of age, and since few years ago, we have been receiving report of these pipe burst or leaking, serious case like water flooded the corridor & resident's house, not so serious one is just caused the floor near the leaked pipe wet.

normally what we did is to get the plumber to tie around the leak area with metal bracket with another layer of plastic-like material to stop the water from flowing out, while this method works but before long other section of the same pipe will have the problem too, in short, the pipes are near to the near of their life span :(

another concern of these main pipes is the inner part of the pipe may have rusted badly, we also worry this may affect the water quality which use by our residents everyday, so for this reason we always encourage residents to install a water filter, at least for the drinking one.

after the water tank project is completed, we will call an EGM for residents to decide what should be the next project which we will approach state gov't to help on the 80/20 basis, by the way we will call an AGM either this month end or early next month, we welcome residents to share with us their suggestion.

thanks.

updates as at 04/10/15

few matters like to update our beloved residents....

1) water tank development, just got some info from vendor that he has ordered the new water ranks & related parts, estimated arrival date is 26/10/15, which is 2 weeks later than we expected, reason being is his own supplier need more time to prepare, we hope that by end of October all the parts will be arrive here safely.

2) rental car park lot, we were informed by management office that still 4 lots available for renting out to our residents, so anyone interested to rent the parking for their 2nd car pls approach management office for that, first come first serve basis, rental is RM50 per month, first payment is 3 months rental in advance. (just in case the management again tell you no lot available, pls email us immediately & we will deal with the matter with no delay)

3) vendor performance, past few months we have changed 3 vendor/company, namely cleaning service, electrician & security guard, we are still observing their performance, meanwhile we would like to ask help from our residents to monitor them too, so that we can take necessary action to help them to do the better job, many thanks in advance for you guys' help on this.

best regards.

water tank work order confirmed!

just like to share with our residents that the work order (inden kerja) for our water tank project is already confirmed & signed by YB Yeoh Soon Hin, which means the work order is officially valid & for this the vendor will get a copy, they should be able to proceed with the necessary arrangement with this official document.

we expect they will soon order those part & material from their own supplier, should take abt 2 weeks according to our last discussion with them, which means parts can be arrived in Penang middle of October, with the parts they will immediately dismantle the existing water tank, in the manner that after one old water tank dismantled, they will immediately replace with the new water at the same location, it takes abt 1 weeks to complete one water tank if weather is good, in order to speed up the whole process, they may want to do for both Blk J & K simultaneously if got sufficient manpower from their company.

so, if everything REALLY REALLY goes smoothly then we can expect the whole to be completed by December, so let's pray & hope for the favorable condition for the work, especially the weather, well, just an advance notice, after the project is done, we will organize a thanksgiving party (just like previously done for main entrance shade & blk k lift upgrade) to the state gov't, and at the same time to ask them for other project funding :)

let's pray for God's favor upon Vista Condo.

beware of rabies!

as some of our vista residents may have already know abt the rabies outbreak, or in layman term mad dog disease, which has caused a big concern in the Northern Malaysia, as so far already some confirmed cases in Penang, Perlis & Kedah.

well, as the state gov't decided to get rid of the stray dogs by killing them, and protested by some animal loving NGO, we will leave it to them to argue abt should (or should not) killing the stray dogs in Penang (abt 2.5K of them!), but some suggestion we will like to present to our residents.

do kindly alert the office or guard on duty if you see any stray dogs hanging around in Vista Condo or the road outside our compound, office number is 019-5730637 & guard house number is 017-4290637, also can contact MPPP at 04-2637000, pls don't try to chase the dogs away by yourselves unnecessarily, but rather pls keep yourselves away from them, especially the children, pls do advice your kids on this too.

(in fact this virus can be passed through cats too, so the same suggestion also applied for the stray cats)

for residents who are keeping dogs & cats in their unit, pls do see your VET for advice, heard that rabies vaccine will be (or perhaps is ready) made available in Penang, so for sake of your own safety, do kindly visit the VET for this.

rabies can be deadly if not treated immediately, let's do our bit to prevent it.

thanks.

general updates as at 12/9/15

hi,

few matters to update our beloved residents,

1) water tank, we have passed our 20% (or RM81,000) for the water tank project to state treasury dept, out of this 81K, 45K is the existing water tank trade price, 15K is interest free loan from the vendor, & another 21K from our management account. we expect the state planning dept will issue the work order in one week's time and thereafter the vendor will start the project. estimation of completion is 3 to 6 month depending the condition of the weather.

2) cleaners, the previous cleaning company have resigned from doing the service in our place due to the fine of the mosquitoes larvae issue, the new company have started their service early September, their job scope is at the same as the previous one, at the moment we are monitoring their job quality, residents do help to feedback us your observation.

3) gutter clips, the vendor has finally completed the project of fixing the new clips on those gutters which needed the new clips, we want to thank our residents especially those who willing to give access
to the vendor for fixing the clips, but as we have asked the office staff to monitor all the gutters in Vista Condo, we also encourage our residents to report to the office as soon as possible if detect any problem concerning the drain pipe gutters.

4) AGM, now we are planning to call an AGM as soon as the audit report is completed, should be somewhere October or November, will keep residents updated concerning this.

thanks.

we see the money now!

yesterday the water tank vendor passed to the office a big cheque, amount RM60k, out of that, RM45k is for the existing water tank trade in, and RM15k an interest free loan for the same project :)

we asked the office to delay no more but bank in the cheque immediately, which they did. we expect the floating days of 2 to 3 days then the money should be made available for us on next Wednesday, then we should quickly issue the banker's cheque amounting to RM81k as our portion of 20% to the state gov't so that they will issue the work order to the water tank to start the project, we hope all these can be done next week, or if not then completed the following week.

honestly we have a very mixed feeling now, at one hand we are excited abt Vista Condo going to have the new water tanks, but at the same time also worry if there's any hiccup during the installation process, which is really beyond our control, so we only can keep reminding the vendor to carry out the project properly & consider all the possible situation, and come out with the contingency plans shall something happen.

vendor's estimation is this project will take abt 3 months if everything goes smoothly, the main factor will be the weather, but as long as the rain is not too heavy then the workers can still do the jobs, so we hope that rain does come to chase away the haze but not too heavy until the water tanks can't be installed :):):)

hope for the best, prepare for the worst, we pray & hope that this project will be completed smoothly so that our residents will enjoy much better water quality soon!

Just back from BERSIH...

guys, no posting this week as admin just back from a rally at KL, then busy to clear some work backlog as few days missing in action due to joining the rally, won't be able to post any article this week, very sorry & will write to our residents again next weekend.

finally, breakthrough for water tank :)

finally, there's a breakthrough concerning the water tank, now we have all the MC bearers (namely chairman, vice chairman, treasurer & secretary) signed on the water tank installation & interest free loan agreements! this is a big step towards the installation of the 10 new water tanks at Vista Condo :)

we have forwarded the signed copies of agreement to the vendor few days ago, he also brought the installer to do the final viewing of the water tank site for their final planning for installing the water tanks, understand from them that the project should be carried out as planned earlier but they may want to suggest some better idea of how to maximize of the volume of the water tank at the ground floor, this will be brought to MC for them to consider.

now we are waiting for the vendor to channel in the money, RM45k for the existing water tank trade in & RM15 interest free loan, we expect the money will come in this coming week, then together with our saving of RM21k, it should make up to RM81k to be deposited into state gov't treasury dept as our part of 20% contribution for the project.

(just to recap, Vista Condo has been recognized by state gov't as LMC (low medium cost apartment) which enjoy the privilege of state gov't financial aid on those major repairing project like change main pipe, lift or water tanks, under the arrangement of 80% - 20%, state gov't give 80% & residents give 20%, as for the water tank project total cost is RM405K, our 20% contribution is RM81K)

we hope the project can be started at the end of September as the vendor need to order the part & material from his own supplier, if everything go smoothly then it may take 3 months to complete the installation, but if the weather not too friendly then need one or two months more...., for whatever situation it may be, MC will try our best to make sure there's no water supply interruption during the installation, really hope for the smooth ride :)

let's pray.....

confirmed deal? false hope?

again, we are given another opportunity to proceed with the water tank project, but will this time we can make it a confirmed deal or just another false hope like early June? where our saving then was sufficient for the project but last minute need to channel the money to replace the concealed under ground bomba pipe due to it's urgency.

after 2 months, now we are again in the right financial position to proceed with this project, and even closer than early June because the 2 agreements (water tank installation agreement & interest-free loan amount RM15K agreement) have been forwarded to us & already signed by most of the MC office bearers, we should wait for one more signature then vendor will channel in the money 60K (45k for advance payment for the old water tanks trade in & 15k for interest free loan) then together with our saving of 21K we should issue the banker's cheq amounting to 81K as 20% contribution from our side for the gov't to issue work order for the vendor to start the project.

after what happened in June where the project failed to proceed, so now we dare not to promise to our residents that the project will definitely start soon, still some uncertainties need to face, like will we get the complete office bearer signature? will all the office bearers agree with project? will there be another last minute urgent repair work need us to spend the money for it first? will gov't still wait for us after so many months after the approval has given? etc etc....

we should know the answer in this coming Sunday evening MC meeting, we do hope signatures will be complete & committee will have full agreement to proceed, shall this happen then we will quickly get the vendor to give us the 60K big cheq for us issue another banker's cheq 81K to the gov't, but will it happens that smoothly? hope so....

let's see.....

defaulters are the culprits!

recently we urge the management office to make sure they will put up the defaulters' list at the notice board, and they did it for 3 consecutive months already.

each time we look at the defaulters list, we thought it's quite disgusting, a bit strong term here, but then if we look the consequences of their irresponsibility in this area, we know that to be called disgusting is too light the term....

especially at the moment when the water tank project need to drag until now due to lack of fund as the result of their not-paying bad behavior, residents need to use those not-so-clean water to bath & wash their clothes & dishes, and even if some of resident don't have the water filter, then they got to drink from this water which may cause health problem, we really feel that it's quite disgusting.

(water tank project should be proceed soon as we have now managed to save enough fund after paid up the bomba pipe project, pending for MC approval this coming meeting)

we don't know what is in their mind, some defaulter actually are staying in Vista Condo too (some just rent their unit out to their tenants), in order to continue to live as debtors, their rather park their vehicle at the roadside but choose not to pay service charge, but when go check their units, you still see few aircond & astro were installed, we are not convinced that they are so poor until can't pay service charge.

we also notice that most of them are having their family members staying with them here in Vista Condo, and they spouse & kids also using the not-so-clean water for washing their stuffs, it's very selfish to let the family members to suffer the consequence of their irresponsibility.

of course it's definitely not fair for the good paymasters, because of the defaulters, they can't enjoy the better condition of the existing facilities, such as lift, water tank, car park, swimming pool, etc, sigh....!

defaulters, when are they going to wake up? at the end they still need to pay the outstanding service charge even with the interest when they sell their house or need to use their car park (or later on when we got enough money to install the lift T&G system), their irresponsible behavior have created harm for everyone, include themselves & their family but benefits nobody.

hope they realize this.

Vista Condo property value

one of the main challenge for the MC is to keep the value of the Vista Condo property to march the market value as other similar apartment in this nearby area.

for the 700 sqft apartment in Bayan Baru & Bayan Lepas area, those low density one can be sold as much as RM350k to RM400k like our neighbor Villa Condo, even Desa 2 also can fetch abt RM380 for the higher floors, but lower floors abt RM300K, Vista Condo at the moment selling in between RM300K & RM330K, which is still higher than many poorly maintained 700 sqft apartment but we can't take things likely or else our value can't catch the market trend.

one thing we are doing now is to keep the number of foreigner hostels as low as possible, we know that it's very hard to get rid of all the hostel, but we manage to keep it below 5 then it should be quite ok, we can't afford to let our apartment to be another flat 88 or those apartment behind the Relau Public Bank, the number of the foreigner hostels is so high until the property value of these apartment are abt 50K to 100K below the market value!

we also pay special attention to the very important facilities, which will affect our day to day living, especially the lifts, water tanks, the pumps, etc. we do notice that some of the apartment in Penang do face the lift problem on the regular basis, and news spread very fast with the help of internet, things such as all the lifts can't function so residents need to climb staircase for many weeks, even months, or water tank leak so badly until many part of corridor or house can't be used...one common abt these apartment is, their property is greatly affect by the malfunctioning of the important facility. our preventive action for the mentioned problem is to make sure our SC collection is sufficient to maintain & improve the existing facilities, and maintain good term with government & insurance agent so that when need them to help us on those major repair then we know where to run to :P

we believe if Vista Condo continue to be well maintained, the value will continue to soar as we are located at the very strategic location, near to industrial zones, shopping places like Queensbay mall/tesco/giant/sunshine, learning institutes & schools, also the 2 bridges, airport, durian haven balik pulau, even travel to town or even northern part of Penang also not even 45 min :)

thanks.

general updates as at 25/7/15

hi,

few updates for our beloved residents,

1) foreigners' hotels: since the RM500 per month for the monthly service has been reinforced, some progress is made, we received report that 2 blk J hostels have moved out in June, and today another 2 more hostels from blk K are moving out too. so the total number of the foreigner's hostels at the moment is 14 unit, we hope that more units will be moved out in the near future and be able to keep the number below 5 unit in total by year end.

concerning those units which still occupied by the foreigner workers, sad to say that until now the landlord are not willing to pay the service charge, but anyway we are not going to compromise on this matter, so next time when the landlord decide to move in or rent it to other peoples who need the parking lot, then they will need to pay the outstanding service charge (RM500 per month) plus the interest, which can be quite sizable as it's started from May 2015.

2) drain pipe gutter clip: past few weeks the vendor managed to fix 18 clips for the gutter, especially those out of shape gutters, the challenge still remain the same as before, ie some house owners either not at home or didn't let the vendors to come in to fix the gutter clip, we want to thank those residents who had let the vendor to use their balcony to fix the new gutter clip, we also hope more cooperation can be given for the safety of all the residents in Vista Condo, at the moment he with the building supervisor are still trying to approach our residents for the project until all the gutters are securely locked at the wall.

3) new water tank: sorry for the delay, as last month the committee decided to give the bomba pipe replacement a higher priority than water tank, due to safety reason, so as more than RM10,000 needed for the bomba pipe replacement, the water tank will need to wait for fund to built up again, we hope that this coming 1 week can collect 12K so that by month end we will have enough money to deposit into gov't account the 20% in order to start the project, we welcome if residents would like to pay few months in advance service charge so that the project can be started as early as possible.

thanks.

no posting this week (Raya Holiday)

hi,

no posting this week as most of the MC members are busy bring family out for holidays, will resume next week.

wish everyone in Vista Condo selamat hari raya & enjoy your holidays.

drive safely.

best regards.

beware of theft!

past few weeks we have received some complaints from residents concerning personal belongings went missing within their compound, in between the main doors & grill doors have gone missing, stolen items mainly are shoes, relatively new & more expensive shoes.

normally after we have heard this kind of complaint, we would try to find out from them roughly what date & time the event took place, and try our best to check the CCTV, but too bad almost every time we couldn't get the culprit because as long as the person(s) don't use the lift after stole the items then there's no way we can get him.

we did come across few incidents that items went missing at the ground floor common areas, and most of the time we can find the thieves & get the CCTV video clip for police to take further action, as most of the ground floor common area are covered by CCTV, but if items gone missing at corridor areas then not much can be done.

in fact according to our experience, most of the cases are committed by our own residents or tenants, we believe after they have stolen the items from residents' main entrance (or corridor), they will use the staircase to go back to their own units, so as the corridors & staircase are the blind spot of CCTV then their cowardly action won't be recorded :(

our advice is, keep those more costly items in the house or inside the shoe rack (make sure the shoe rack is out of reach if someone try to open it out the grill door), because the management can't do much unless we install CCTV at all the corridor but it's impossible at the moment as the cost is very very very high.

let's beware of the thieves, thanks.

next safety project - tighten the gutter clip

after bomba pipe replacement, now we are proceeding to another safety project, to tighten as many as possible Vista Condo new gutter clip.

the gutters are those drain pipe which channeling all the roof top water to the ground floor, all these while we are monitoring them, for these gutter already reached their 20 years of age, few gutters fell in the past, which we have replaced them with the new one, we also replaced some of those about to fall, according to our record, we have fixed at least 5 new gutters since yr2010, and have done 2 times tightening the gutter clip project but not very successful.

the reason we tighten the gutter clips is those clips are old & can no longer hold the gutter to the wall effectively, and if we don't fix the new clips then before long the gutter will be out of shape & increase the risk of falling down when pressure built up, through strong wind & big amount of rain water flowing through it, so to tighten the clip (or putting the new clip) is needed to be done periodically.

so this time, we have received few quotations for the new clips, view the samples, discussed over it, and now have decide to proceed if possible this coming week, but based on the past experience, this going to be a challenge, not because of technical issue, but due to some residents' attitude.

twice in the past we have planned & arranged for the vendor to try to access to the residents' balcony to fix the new clip, but even though with sufficient advance notice, many residents choose not to open the door for our supervisor & vendor to enter their premises to fix the clip at the gutter next to their balcony, and also some of residents went away from their house even tough they told the office they will be at home to wait for vendor to come to their house.... :(

so this time, as we feel that we need to fix the clip especially for those higher risk one (pls note that not all the clip need to be replaced, but only certain clip, for which we will inform the unit owner through notices), we hope our residents will be more cooperative this time, after all this is about the safety benefits of the Vista Condo residents.

thanks.

completion of bomba pipe project

our pleasure to announce that the bomba pipe (at the foyer area) replacement has completed smoothly :)

the vendor has set the bomba pump (jockey pump) to the auto mode, and now we are still monitoring & hope that the hose reel & valve in the riser room of every floor can continue to hold the pressure, pray....

this is the first time for many many years that we are able to set the bomba pump to the auto mode, as mentioned in the posting earlier, one of the reason we can't set it to auto mode was the leaking problem, so now we are happy to see this problem has been rectified and hose reels of every floor are ready to fight the fire in case it happens.

well, talk abt fire, just a reminder for our residents that, you should see at your floor, in the lift lobby, there are few riser room, 2 particularly important one is TNB riser room & Bomba riser room, pls make sure that you know which one is a bomba riser room, and in case of fire you (assuming you have some knowledge in firefighting) will need to break the padlock and pull the hose reel out to put off the fire.

lastly, pls help us to monitor the bomba riser room, if you see water leaks out from the bomba riser room, pls do immediately call management office 0195730637 or guard on duty 0174290637, so that we should immediately check if anything burst inside.

thanks.

Bomba pipe replacement

we are at the moment replacing quite a sizable length of Bomba underground pipe near the swimming pool foyer area, it's a long overdue project which we plan to do first quarter of this year, but due to lacking of fund then we only can do it now at the second quarter of 2015.

well, another 2 projects which also should be carried out in first quarter but still can't be done up to this day due to money problem are the lift T&G scanner & water tank :(

back to the bomba pipe, sometimes ago we have noticed that the bomba pump had been set to manual mode instead of supposedly auto mode, after much investigation, the conclusion is a section of bomba pipe at the swimming pool entrance is crack & it made the pump pressure keep dropping, and if the pump is to set to auto mode then there will be wasting a lot of water & current as the pump need to keep running in order to generate enough pressure, and we subsequently contacted few vendor to have a look on the problem but didn't go ahead with them as we were not convinced of their workmanship and proposal.

so we have reluctantly left the pump in the manual mode, always reminded the supervisor & guard to ON the pump in case of fire, but deep in our heart there's no peace, because we are not sure if the guard (especially those new guard).

until last year, when the issue was brought up again by the newly elected MC, we felt that we should get this done as soon as possible as we have found the reliable fire fighting facility vendor to maintain our equipment, but then the finance was an issue because the quoted price RM14K was out of our reach.

thank God, after months of effort to build the fund, we lastly in the good financial position to replace the Bomba pipe, and the vendor also kind enough to reduce the price to abt RM12K (we also have another 2 quotations for the same project, quoted 16K & 20K respectively), even can be paid in 2 installment, so few weeks ago we have confirmed the project with them & now they are installing the new pipe for us :)

it will take few days to complete it, meanwhile we will open the pool side gate residents to enter the swimming pool area, after the completion, we should check & make sure all the Bomba riser room hose reel & valve are still in good condition to hold the pressure when we set the pump to auto mode, or else it may burst & water will flow into the lift, which can cause major break down to the lift, like what happened abt 3 years ago....scary experience.....

let's pray that everything will ok, thanks.

our aging main water pipes

looks like our various main pipes are yelling for our attention recently....

after we have replaced the underground PBA main pipe in blk k parking area some weeks ago, we found that on the floor abt 3 meter away from the newly replaced pipe there's water too, and now we suspect another section of underground main pipe may facing the same problem, crack...... :(

to make the situation more worrying, past few weeks we received & attended to few corridor main water pipe burst cases, those main pipes are supplying water to every residents' unit, you can find it before resident's PBA meter, normally when these main pipe crack, the water will flow out from the main pipe & flooded the corridor area, worse case then it will go into nearest resident's house, and the bad bad bad one will flow into the lift & cause short circuit, and eventually kill the lift electrical component & cause major break down, which happen before to blk k lifts, it will take at least two days to make the lifts move again as the the components need to be dried up first before necessary repair works can be carried out.

to replace all these main pipes will cost huge sum of money, we don't think if rely on our maintenance fund alone can have sufficient fund to handle this job, so eventually we still need to run to the gov't for help, especially the state gov't 80%/20% arrangement for the low medium cost apartments like Vista Condo.

now we got to face the fact that most of our main pipes are at the end of their life span, and we need to make plan to replace them, as soon as possible, perhaps in the coming AGM we will share more with our residents, and may propose to collect monthly sinking fund (maybe RM10) so that when gov't approve our request to replace the main pipes, we will have enough money to pay for our 20%.

thanks.

ok...we are financially ready....

yes, generally speaking, we are financially ready now for the water tank project :)

just to recap a bit, we need to deposit 20%, or RM81000 into state gov't account to secure the work order for the vendor to start the project, as he willing to pay 45K for existing water tank trade in, and provide 15K loan for the project, then our side just need to get ready 21K to make up 81K, and we just check our bank balance plus this 2 days' collection, it seems we are in the good position for the project.

what next? well, barring any real real real urgent maintenance matter which big money is needed, then we should as soon as possible sign some agreement with the vendor for the trade in, loan arrangement as mentioned above, and he will get the documents duty stamped & release the money for us to issue banker's cheq for the 20%.

we are looking at the time line of next week for agreement to be completed & money to be released toward end of week or early of following week, and prayerfully no other hindrances on the way.

.....5 minutes ago just gave a few calls to some MC members (also office bearers) to update them on the financial status, they too felt that we should go ahead now with the project, so now we must waste no time but to call the vendor to get all the documents ready tomorrow or day after.

will update our residents on this, from time to time. Thanks.

general updates as at 23/05/15

hi, few matters to update our residents....

1) the new security guard company has taken over the guard post since 15/05/15, we want to thank the previous guard company & the boss for their support for the past few years, and we wish them well in other projects. the new company's name Aura Security Services Sdn Bhd, we hope that they will do the good job here, anyway the guard post phone number still the same, ie 017-4290637, residents feel free to call the guard on duty for security related matters, also other things like foreigner using our swimming pool, renovator over stay, stranger hanging around at common areas.....

2) we missed the self imposed dateline for the water tank project on middle of the May due to the same reason, not enough money even though the vendor willing to loan us RM15K, but our collection has been coming in very slowly so can't gather enough money for putting up 20% to deposit into gov't account for the project to get started. actually we just need to come up with 20K as vendor willing to absorb our existing water tank with 45K, plus the loan 15K, then in total we should issue the banker's cheq amounting to 81K which is 20% of total project cost. we hope end of May we will have enough money for that.

3) received report in our last posting that bike owner's item got stolen in common area, our suggestion is try as much as possible to park your bikes in the coverage of CCTV & don't leave valuable item at your bikes. the same applied to the those items residents kept at their main entrance & corridor area, especially nice shoes, pls keep them in your house as corridor is not covered by CCTV, and as in Vista Condo we have abt 1000 residents, for sure some of them are the itchy hand fella who will turn into pencuri once see opportunity....shame on them!

4) few weeks ago the management have no choice but to deduct RM300 from the renovation deposit of a resident, so for this case he only can claim back RM200 instead of RM500, of course he was not too happy but then the management need to be firm in this case because his renovator had been frequently violating many house rules, still there are 2 more units which the deposit will be deducted due to same reason, so now the office just waiting for the owners to come & claim the deposit, then the owner will taste his own medicine.

5) some foreigner hostel's landlords did come to office wanted to pay monthly service charge (SC) but refuse to pay the new rate of RM500, after some unhappy conversation with the office staffs, they decided don't pay the SC, well, it's better for them to move out the foreigner factory worker or else they may need to pay more in the future as some residents have suggested to increase their SC further to RM800.

thanks.

no posting this week

hi,

no posting this week, will resume next week.

thanks & regards.

likely breakthrough in May for water tank

we are praying hard now for big breakthrough in May for our water tank project, which the state gov't has agreed to sponsor 80% of the cost, but it has been delayed until because we can't produce the 20% to be deposited into their account in order for the work order to be issued to the chosen for them to start the project.

we have learned the painful lesson that we should get ourselves ready financially speaking, so that in the future when gov't approve our request on the big project such as building repainting or lifts upgrade & expect us to bear the 20% (which is the standard requirement for low medium cost apartment like Vista Condo) then we can deposit it immediately so the it won't cause any unnecessary delay, especially for the urgent one.

so, for this water tank project, we have obtained the approval in February, but can't proceed due to lack of fund in our account, as we were expected to bear 20%, which is RM81K as the total project cost is RM405K, the delay is truly unnecessary because the vendor to absorb our existing water tank with 40K payment in advance, but we can't even pay the 41K, sad....

after few months of praying & trying our best to save some money, thank God for some defaulters came & paid their old debt, and we can safely contribute from our account abt 20K, and even the vendor also kind enough to advance to us some more money (besides the advance payment for absorbing the existing water tank) in the middle of May so the we can gather in total 81K to deposit into state gov't account for the work order to be issued to start work, we hope by middle May we can have 25k from the account so that we only need to borrow from the water tank vendor 16K.

let's pray with us for this project to proceed & be completed smoothly.....thanks.

new service charge for foreigner hostel

so, starting this month, those unit turned into foreigner's hostel will need to pay service charge (SC) of RM500, compare to usual rate of RM100 per month.

it was a decision passed during the EGM, where residents voted for this new rate, and for more than a month's time we have contacted the landlord & their agent to advice them not to continue to rent to the factory to make their unit to be hostel, but too bad our advice fell into deaf ear, so no more chance will be given & we need to carry out the decision by our residents, impose the new rate in May.

in fact to our displeasure, we also find out despite of the new rate which will be imposed, some unit which previously still rent to local peoples, now the owner have just recently make it a foreigner's hostel, it seems that their profit is so high until they willing to pay for the RM500 SC, some info we got from our residents that these units can rent out as high as more than RM1200 rental per month!

of course some landlord did protest, quoted excuses like didn't receive news, or already signed tenancy agreement until year end, or foreigner tenant didn't create problem in our place....we only can tell them that MC don't have the right to change the decision of the EGM, they still need to pay RM500 if they choose to make their unit to be hostel, we also warned them next EGM the rate may go even higher, because we have received feedback that RM500 may be too little compare to the profit of the landlord get from the factory, perhaps increase to RM1000 will be better option.

another measure will be soon taken is lift scanner system (for this, the T&G card won't issued to foreigner's hostel) which also suggested & decided in the EGM, but now we are saving money for the water tank & bomba pipe replacement (these 2 project will be soon started, most likely June), but we will install the lift scanner as soon as got enough finance for that, it may be very soon as one supplier willing to let us have 12 monthly installment & very reasonable price, we would like to see the system is up soon!

again, like to take this opportunity to advice those landlord, for the sake of Vista Condo safety, quiet living environment, property value....and other valid reasons, pls stop renting your unit out as foreigner's hostel.

we also like to ask help from our residents that pls send info (unit number) to us if there's foreigner's hostel near your unit so that we won't miss any unit when we charge them with the new rate.

thanks.

general updates as at 25/4/15

time to update our beloved residents concerning the happening in Vista Condo...

1) the job for replacing the faulty under ground conceal main pipe at blk k parking area already completed, it took abt one week to finish, now we are monitoring the water flow rate at the main drain besides the blk k, the full payment will be made only after we are sure that the job is indeed done properly.

2) new office clerk Ishak has reported to work, he is replacing the the previous clerk Ah Lai, hope he is an efficient worker, just for resident's info, another veteran staff Mr Rahman's role is building supervisor, so most of the time he will check on our common area, attends to residents' complaint, also to monitor the work of other vendor like guards, housekeeping staffs, renovators, etc.

3) we have sent the letters to all the unit owner of the foreigners hostel to ask them not to convert their unit to be hostel and if they insist then new rate of service charge RM500 will be imposed starting May 2015, so far some of them responded & still negotiating of moving out the tenants but most of them just don't bother, well, let's see how it goes in May....

4) some residents suggested in the previous posts that should put the defaulters' unit number & outstanding amount at the notice board (or other places which many peoples will pass by), we thought this this is workable idea, so from next month onward, defaulters' detail will be up at the notice board at every middle of the month, hope this will create some pressure for them to pay SC promptly.

thanks.

challenges of prolonging Vista Condo life span (part 2)

last article we mentioned abt if based on our regular monthly collection on the SC (Service Charge), as long as we can maintain 85% collection rate, then we should have enough fund to maintain our existing facilities, even to upgrade it, but for those major items like building repainting, water tanks replacement, lifts upgrade, major PBA & sewerage pipe replacement then gov't financial aid is definitely needed, for most of the cases, state gov't will absorb 80% & residents will bear the 20% of the total cost, for Vista Condo we are consider fortunate as state gov't recognise s as LMC (low medium cost) apartment which open door for us to approach state gov't for help :)

our challenge now is how to get ourselves ready for the 20% whenever gov't is willing to fund the 80%. 2 years ago when state gov't approved our request to upgrade blk k lift, where we need to deposit abt RM34k as 20% so that the upgrade work can be commenced, it also took us awhile to gather enough money for that purpose, so this time when gov't willing to absorb the 80% of the total cost for 10 water tanks replacement, we can't produce the 20% which is RM81K, so the project has been delayed until now :(

the water tank vendor is kind enough to let us trade in our existing water tanks with high price at 40K, even willing to channel in the money in advance so that our side only need to contribute RM41K to get the project started, but sad to say, we don't even have 41K at the moment but only 20K.

well, we believe in another 2 months' time we will have that 41K, but now what interest us more is, how abt future project? as we are planning to get gov't to help on main pipe replacement, building repainting, blk j lift upgrade, etc. we should always have the money ready to pay the 20% when gov't is ready to bear the 80%.

if possible, we would like to suggest in the coming AGM to collect RM10 every month from each unit as Vista new sinking fund (the old sinking fund still pending on further legal action), but pls understand this is jz a suggestion, we can't proceed with this without residents' approval.

we will like to see every month to collect abt RM2750 as Vista have 275 unit & deposit into sinking fund account, then in a year's time should have RM33000, 2 years is RM66000, 3 years RM99000, if FD rate is 4% then after 3 years the figure should hit RM100000 :)

the whole purpose is so that when gov't say yes to our future request for building repainting, or blk j lifts upgrade, or other major project few years from now, we can deposit our 20% straight away & the new project can start immediately, and our residents can enjoy it's benefit without the unnecessary delay.

what do u think?

thanks.

challenges of prolonging vista condo life span (part 1)

we always told each others (haha! most of us in our 40s already) our generation are consider very fortunate, as many of us are capable to purchase an apartment in Penang, because many graduates who although have worked for few years, but still can't afford to buy an apartment due to the skyrocketing of property value in the past few years, now in Penang, a 700sqft apartment (like Vista Condo) with reasonable facility worth easily 280k, imagine those days when most of us purchased the property in late 1990s' until late 2000s', only cost abt 100k.

while federal govt & state govt busy introducing some cooling measure trying to control property value (such as increase real property gain tax, stricter loan condition, affordable housing, etc), we still don't expect property value will drop, especially those in range of 250k to 400k may still increase in the much slower pace, perhaps the high end one like more than 600k will have little bit problem to push their unit, anyhow price won't drop, unless the bubble burst in future, which is quite unlikely....

latest statistic shows that Penang will see increase of population 100,000 person per year, which needs abt new 25,000 house in every year, this speak of house/apartment still in demand, especially those in 250k to 400k are in shortage, so for Vista Condo, your unit still sell-able in future, as long as our facilities still in good shape.

so now the challenge is, how to maintain the facilities in good shape in order to make Vista Condo remain attractive in the market? basically for condo living, some critical area need to pay more attention to, for market value and also residents' living, the lifts, the water tanks, various pumps, major electrical items found in the switch rooms.....

Vista Condo as a 20 years old apartments, understandably that many facilities have reached the end of life span, so we are slowly replacing these facilities, in the past few years, 2 lifts in blk k have been upgraded, 2 swimming pool pump & filter replaced, 1 residential pump also changed, some important but no so critical items like gutters, underground pipes also replaced in some area...

at the moment if based on our monthly collection of Service Charge, as we find way to maintain it at 85% collection rate, then we still able to replace the aging facilities, but for the future replacement of the more major items such as water tanks, lifts at blk j, bomba & residential pumps, bomba pipes, PBA common pipes, then govt's help is needed, but as their financial help only 80%, our future challenge will be how to produce the 20% even when the govt has agree to contribute 80%.

this is the situation we are facing now, the gov't willing to bear 80% of the water tanks project, which is abt 320K, residents suppose to contribute the 20% or 81k, but as the vendor is kind enough to absorb our existing tanks at 40K, but we still can't produce the remaining 41K to order the get the project started, and it's delay until today....

we will share more next week on few options to tackle this, pls also contribute your opinions so that hopefully at the end we will be able to start the govt funded-projects as soon as possible whenever govt's fund is available, for other project as well.

thanks.

some updates on the foreigner hostel

before we share some updates on the hostel issue, we also wish to inform our beloved residents that the yr2015 insurance premium is RM215.30 & quit rent is RM9.60, pls do kindly proceed payment at the management office so that we can settle with insurance agent as early as possible :)

yes concerning the foreigner's factory hostel, last month we saw another 2 unit have jz moved in, so now the total is 12 units officially, what a frustration we have!!!

we have got the landlords' number from the management office & called them personally, there are few numbers can't get through, and one wrong number too. But we managed to talk to some of them, only one landlord give the positive response that he will try to ask the agent to move out the foreigners but ask for more time, but another few landlords display some uncooperative attitude, but we have made it clear to them that our residents have passed the resolution in EGM to increase their service charge (SC) to RM500 per month if they continue to keep the foreigner factory workers in their unit.

this coming week the management office will send the notice to the landlords informing them their SC will increase to RM500 effective May'15, we expect some big hoohaa from them after they receive the notice, but since they have chosen to ignore the verbal warning through phone calls so we got to send them some official notice, in fact we have also talked to lawyer & MPPP concerning this.

actually it's offense of the law by converting residential unit into hostel, for which we also will send the list of hostel detail to MPPP soon for them to act, in short, we try to corner these unit from whatever angle which is available, and hope that the landlord will have common sense to stop renting their unit to the foreigner workers.

we are collecting more quotations for the lift T&G scanner system, once our finance is more ready then the system will be installed in our 4 lifts, for which the access card would not be issued to the hostels, this is another way of discouraging these units to be turned into hostels.

do share with if you guys have good ideas to tackle this problem, thanks.

general updates as at 28/3/15

few matters like to update our beloved Vista Residents,

1) Foreigners hostel, the MC committees are all out to stop the any unit to be converted into foreigner factory hostel, at the moment soft approach are taken, office staffs have contacted owner to advice them not to rent their unit to be factory, in a short while committee members will be calling them too, also posters have been pasted at notice board for the same purpose, next we will do the banner to make it clear that factory hostel are indeed not welcome here. if these actions still ignored by the landlord then lift T&G system will be used to stop the trend.

2) Lift T&G system, we are at the moment getting more quotation & proposal for this, first round meeting on the system will be held this coming Sunday, besides the quality of devices & after sale service, we are also checking with vendor on the payment term, if the vendor is kind enough to give us longer term payment, ideally 12 installment spread throughout a year, then we can foresee this system will be installed very soon.

3) underground conceal pipe at car park, after few weeks of checking, getting vendors to quote, comparing quotations, negotiating the price & payment term, we are finally ready to replace the conceal main pipe which has collapsed a while ago, the location of the said main pipe is in between blk k & main rubbish room, this has caused water stagnant at the drain at the ground floor of blk k, work should be commenced early next week, slight delay of the earlier schedule of this week end, the whole project will cost us abt RM7000, warranty one year.

4) Fire insurance premium & quit rent 2015, as our residents have chosen the fire insurance coverage option during the EGM, and as the office is going to pay the 2015 quit rent early next week, the committee will meet this Sunday to decide how much is the total amount for insurance premium & quit rent which our resident need to pay, normally the office won't mark up the amount, but will round up the figure so that it will be easier for both our residents & office staff when payment is being made, we should be able to notify our residents on the figure next week, through the notice at the notice board.

Thanks.

EGM report

our EGM concluded smoothly on the wednesday, ended at abt 10.30pm, counted more than 60 unit owners attended the meeting, some came early some came a bit late, we feel very encouraged by the participation by our residents during the discussion time.

3 major decision made during the EGM, first is the fire insurance policy, after some discussion among the residents, & briefing by the agent Mr Lee, the option of coverage up to 250K get the most of the votes, so the renewal of the fire insurance policy will be arranged according to this decision, very soon the management will come up with the notice to inform all the Vista Condo residents concerning the premium & quit rent for this.

second major decision is abt the lift T&G scanner system, for this matter, we see almost all the residents who attended the EGM would like to see the system installed in all of the lifts, once our finance is in the good position to do that. in fact residents even proposed & agreed that all the entry point of the ground floor staircase should install the similar system too, so that it will be more effective to block those hardcore defaulters, irresponsible renovators, unauthorized outsiders & foreign workers from entering the premises.

the last one is the most explosive issue, the foreigners' hostel, we can feel the concern of our residents abt this, as we can see now more & more units have converted into foreigners' hostel. after much discussion on the options, residents voted to increase the service charge of the units which have become foreigners' hostel to RM500 per month! the management will contact the landlord to inform them abt the decision, and we hope that the landlord will feel the pinch & stop renting their units to the factory agent. we will also considering other options which will help to get rid of factory hostel, like to put up notices to show our disapproval on the hostel, to arrange for the police operasi, etc.

some other matters also be mentioned, but mainly for info only, include sinking fund, water tank project & building repainting.

thanks.

another flat 88?

a committee member reported that just in last week, another group of foreigner factory workers moved into Vista Condo, by the size of the group, he estimated maybe another 2 units in Vista Condo have turned into factory hostel :(

according to the unofficial statistic we have, there's abt 10 units now foreigners hostel in Vista Condo, our concern is it may increase if we don't stop the trend now, especially our location & rental are very ideal for factory worker to stay here, distance to their work place is short, even to amenities also convenient, like queensbay, BJ complex, metropolitan park, air port, market, makan place & pasar malam...etc.

few days ago chit chatting with the Chinese day guard, he stays in the apartment behind the Relau Public bank, the white color one, he said now in his place, most of the unit have turned into factory hostels, just like another flat 88 near our place, as all of know that, flat 88 and it's around apartments are full of foreigner factory workers & their hostels, one reason why their property value are much lower than other apartments, and needless to say, safety is another issue.

Vista Condo need to do something now before it's too late, we would like to invite as many residents as possible to come for the EGM this coming wednesday (18/3/13) 8pm to discuss how to tackle this problem, at the moment some idea in our mind includes to install T&G system in the lifts but not giving the card to the foreigner hostels, also to increase service charge on those units which become foreigner hostels, to sign petition and send to the hostel landlord to urge them stop renting their unit to the factory, to report to the government on these cases because Vista Condo as LMC (low medium cost) apartment should not rent it out as foreigner hostel.

so, if you are reading this, pls do come for the EGM, and bring your neighbors too, hopefully together we will find a good solution to overcome this challenge.

thanks.

EGM on 18/3/15

in last MC meeting, committees decided to call an EGM on 18/3/15, 8pm to decide on few matters.

first is the fire insurance, we have mentioned much in the last post concerning, so won't touch much on this topic now at this post, just to recap, it's to let residents to decide what kind of coverage they wish to have, higher coverage will come with higher premium, so most likely we will present to residents package of 200K, 250K and 300K for residents to decide.

second one will be the lift T&G scanner system, for we have checked around (especially in the blog) and found out most of the residents prefer to have the scanner system in our lifts, mainly due to safety issue as it will help prevent outsider to come to our blocks easily, but it also will help to force the hardcore defaulters to pay their outstanding service charge, especially those staying at 4th flr & above.

another benefit is to make sure the renovators to behave better, with this system in place, the management can bar the card which given by the house owner to the renovator for their house renovation if the renovator keep breaking our house rules. at the moment we only rely on security guard & management to do spot check & advice them if they break our rules, but very hard to stop them from entering into our place, so with the lift scanner system, we just need to bar the card then they can't function anymore.

we will also touch on the foreigners hostel topic, to find the way together with residents on how to deal with it, because according to law the owner of the unit can rent to anyone they like, but from our side we also need to do our part to protect local residents' welfare, some of the method we would like to propose to residents including not to issue lift T&G scanner card to those unit which have been rented out as factory hostel, but for doing that we will need to include it into our house rules, for that purpose we will need residents to approve in the EGM......

so, see you all in the coming EGM, thanks.

EGM in March (for fire insurance)

we will call an EGM (extraordinary general meeting) in March, mainly for the renewal of fire insurance, at the same time, may also bring up other matters for residents to consider, or approval for implementation.

our current fire insurance policy will expire at the end of March, at this time we feel we should let resident to decide what kind of coverage they wish to have, especially for the last few years, our property value has jumped up so much!

in year 2009, when JMB jz took over the management from the developer, the insurance premium per unit was abt RM95, as those days the property value per unit in Vista was abt RM140k, then the following few years we kept it at the same rate but later on we forced to rise to RM105 as property value increased to abt 180k per unit, the reason of the rise of the insurance premium is to provide bigger coverage for resident's apartment shall fire happen in the unit, but early last year as property value has reached 220K per unit, we forced to increase the premium to RM125 per unit, this has caused some complaint from residents as they don't understand the reason of the increment on the premium, worse still, some residents have even speculated some hanky panky may have taken place in our dealing with the insurance matter.

so as now, property value has further increased to abt RM300k per unit, inevitably, the coverage need to be up again, in another words, premium will increase too. so this time we have got the insurance agent to quote us the coverage at few level, from 150k, 200k, 250k and 300k. Each level of coverage will come with different amount of premium, we will present the packages to residents for them to choose, and during the EGM we will try our best to explain to our residents the detail of the plan, we also may invite the insurance agent to attend the EGM, and if it's needed then we will get him to answer the question.

the MC will meet on this Sunday to discuss abt this, once finalized then the notice of meeting will be sent to our residents, we trust that our residents will make the best decision during the EGM.

thank you.

no posting...due to CNY holidays

hi guys, no posting this week, busy bringing our family members for CNY holidays function :)

some interesting facts abt water tanks installation

for past few weeks, we have been working like crazy for the water tank matters, checking around for the regulation concerning installing new waters, negotiating with vendor abt the trade in price for our existing tanks, even talked to him to see possible to install bigger tanks for our blk k (bigger than the unit quoted by him earlier), also try to anticipate possible situation during the installation of bew water tank....

after talking to experts & relevant authorities, some interesting facts like to share with our beloved residents...

- PBA & other authorities don't have right to instruct us what kind of tank or the volume of the tank we are going to install, at first we were quite concern abt do we need their approval for project like this, but after checking with few dept, we found it's MC & residents' right to choose what type (and size) of tank they want to use.

- the size of the tanks is not as important as the performance of the water pump in regard of making sure continuing supply of water to our residents, earlier on we did have concern that the new tanks may not be big enough compare to the existing tank, but after talking to few specialists who are well verse in this line, they said as long as the pumps are running smoothly, then we should not worry too much abt the size of the tanks, but of course we still prefer bigger tank for blk k as more units there, so now we are still pushing vendor to provide bigger tanks for blk k, but it also depend on how much is the additional cost, if we can afford then we should go ahead with the idea.

- fiberglass tank is consider new idea in Penang, at first we thought many apartments have already installed fiberglass tank, because recently we heard a lot abt this, but as we check around wish to see the real fiberglass tank, we found out so far only one apartment project in Jelutong has done so, most of the apartment in Penang still using the the traditional steer type or PV type, anywhere we were told by the vendor & our specialist that fiberglass tank are equally good as steer type, haha...hope so :)

still many things need to be finalized before the installation take place, this is to make sure smooth process when the work is commenced, for this is a big project indeed.

thanks.

early challenges of the water tanks

after few rounds of discussion with the tank vendor, through face to face meeting & phone conversation, now we realise that to replace all the water tanks for Vista Condo is indeed a very tough job.

and the toughest one, is to replace the water tank at the ground floor of each block, for info, the ground floor water tank serve the purpose of keeping the water from PBA, before it's sent to the roof top tanks through the water pumps, in our case, our residents are using the water directly from the roof top tanks.

here the tricky part is, to replace one tank will take abt one week, so when the vendor is taking the one week for the ground floor tank, no water will supply to the roof top tanks, and the roof top tanks can only keep the water good for 2 to 3 days for our residents usage...headache!

one of the solution suggested by vendor seems more workable for our situation here is to put a temporary tank at the ground floor while installing the new tank, so that this temporary tank will do the job of keeping the water from PBA, and to this, the size of temporary tank should be similar to our existing tank, which is 8 ft(height) by 8 ft(length) by 12 ft(depth), if the size is too small then it can't keep up the pace of the water consumption by our residents, and in fact, the vendor is willing to provide the temporary tank to solve this problem, well, it will lead to another challenge ;)

where to place the temporary tank?

our existing pump room's space at the ground is just enough to cater for one tank, which means while the vendor is dismantling the old tank, the temporary tank got to be in place to take over the job, but as there no more space in pump room, we got to place the temporary tank outside the pump room, and bear in mind of the size, now we got find a right place for it....

it got to be somewhere very near to the pump because it need to connect to the pump & the control panel, another headache!

as we look at it, it will be most likely using the motorcycle parking area, or the air well next to the pump room, but we will wait for vendor to come and check again if these places is feasible for the purpose, hope that it's the right place for the temporary tank :)

let's continue to pray for the smooth process for the tanks installation, thanks.

general update as at 31/1/15

hi, few updates for our beloved Vista residents,

1) concerning the new water tanks, we have discussed abt this in the MC meeting & decided to visit the chosen vendor's facility first before we give him the ultimate go ahead for this project. the purpose of this visit is to make sure that the company is truly capable of handling this big project, and at the same time to discuss with him in detail abt the plan & schedule of installing the new tanks, the visitation will take place next week, we don't foresee any big issue here, furthermore they are kind enough to let us trade in our old tanks with some good value, which will be a great help for us to deposit into the gov't account for the 20% of total cost as per requirement.

2) last night, the blk k residents hit by water shortage problem, we have first received the complaint at abt 9pm, then few MC members rushed to the pump room to check the pumps, found that the 2 pumps & their control circuit were functioning, but ground floor water tank got less than half tank of water. then we went quickly go to the roof top to check, all the tanks were almost empty. we concluded that the inflow water of the ground water tank is too slow, causing the pump didn't manage to send enough water to the roof top tanks for blk k residents to use, so we quickly called the swimming pool vendor to get his contact to help, they both came at abt 11pm, did the checking, found out a rubber at the ground floor tank inflow area was out of position, it blocked the water & causing the mentioned problem. then the vendor adjusted the rubber into the position it suppose to be, so immediately inflow water back to normal pressure level, hence problem rectified. the vendor will come back again in a day or two, to replace the rubber if it's needed.

3) we have engaged a new electrician & his company to do general maintenance & repair for Vista electrical facility, this is due to the new company is with all the proper registration with the relevant authority, and manpower is sufficient for serving the facility. but anyhow we also want to thank the former electrician for helping us all these while, especially during the few big crisis in past 2 years, where he really show some good commitment for the job, but too bad as his business grows, he also found it hard to attend to our requests, so as he also voiced out to us his desire to focus more on his other business, so we thought it's a right time to replace him, then with the management lady recommendation, we have interviewed the new vendor & decided to use him, trust that the new electrician will provide good service.

thanks.

new water tanks in sight :)

lastly, lastly, lastly, we have got the letter from Jabatan Kewangan Negeri to confirm on the water tanks!

on THURSDAY we have received a phone call from the department, ask us if we want them to send the letter to us or we will drop by Komtar to collect from them (as earlier on we have told them to call us once the letter is ready), without second thought we asked them to keep the letter for us & we will go there on the same day to take from them, so after the long wait, we have seen the letter on that day!

in fact the deal is much better than what we first expected, we must thank God for His help, also thank the state gov't for their generosity...., the proposal they have picked for us is for 10 new water tanks, fiber glass type, total cost is RM405K, wow!!!!

out of this 405K, 80% or RM324K will borne by state govt, whereas 20% or 81K will need to be paid thru management fund, for this is the arrangement for low medium cost apartment (LMC) project funded by state gov't, it's got be based on 80% / 20% arrangement.

(we are fortunate enough to be considered as LMC apartment, as the first selling price by the developer those days was RM80K, which qualifies us to be LMC, many apartments in the neighborhood can't be considered as LMC, which make it very very very difficult to get the state gov't to fund projects like us,we also want to thank God for this LMC status. yeah must thank YB Yeoh Soon Hin too, because he also helped to send a letter to the kewangan to confirm Vista Condo is a LMC project)

concerning the 20% or 81K which to be borne by Vista Condo, we have talked to the contractor who is chosen to handle this project, he is willing to let us trade in our existing 10 water tanks (blk j roof top 4x, blk k roof top 4x, blk j pump room 1x, blk k pump 1x) to him with the price very close to RM80K, and the best is that he will try as much as possible to pay us in advance some big portion of the money so that we are able to get the bank to issue banker cheq for 81K, because by procedure we need to deposit this 20% into the state treasury for them to issue the work order to the contractor, but all these proposal must be approved by the MC in this coming meeting, haha...! hope that no one will object this :P

so....., even now we are still very happily digesting this piece of great news, and thank God for His favor upon Vista Condo....

alamak!!! no letter yet :(

waiting is torturing, as we always said.

we have been pulling our neck & hope for the official letter concerning the water tank replacement for one whole week already, but still see no sight of it :(

almost everyday we check with the office to see if postman drop to them any letter from state gov't, every time got disappointed, for we are waiting eagerly for the letter so that we can talk to the chosen vendor for them to get ready for the project, and hope to see it start as early as February, but....

perhaps we are just a bit impatient, so such letter needs some signature from those high ranking officers, like YB or EXCO member, common sense tells us it will definitely take awhile to get them to sign, so to expect the letter to arrive in the past one week maybe is too optimistic.

yesterday contacted the EXCO office, the reply is we should receive it on this Friday, if not then the following week will get it, it gives us an impression that the letter has been sent out but hasn't reach us yet, as we didn't get the letter yesterday (Friday), we hope that on Monday or Tuesday we will see the letter, then we should inform our residents so that all of us can rejoice together :)

waiting....waiting...waiting...real torturing.... :P

good news for water tanks is near?

now we are a bit anxious, and impatient too, after we heard some reply from the EXCO office :)

but it's good problem if these considered as problem :P

few days ago when we checked with the EXCO office concerning our request on the new water tanks, to be more exact, 8 new water tanks for Vista Condo, to replace the existing water tanks which located at the roof top of blk J & K, total cost for the project is more than RM350K, and their reply really get us unsettled.

they said YES, our request is approved & pls wait for the official letter!!! Wow, thank God for His blessing for Vista Condo!

but waiting is torturing...., how we wish we can get the letter now and share the good news immediately with our beloved residents by putting it at the notice board, for indeed this is the biggest allocation of fund we have received all these years!

we understand that many residents are hoping the building to be painted soon, but in committee we know well that unless the water tanks are in good condition, or else the water leaked from the water tank will soon damage the new paint at the building wall, and it's not the best option to paint the building without having the new water tank. So now as we receive news abt the new water tanks approval, we just want to thank God for this arrangement.

we have looked at our account, talked to various vendor & even some residents concerning the 20% of the cost which we need to absorb, and we are in the good position to pass this money to govt for them to issue the work order to the chosen vendor to start the work, and we hope that state treasury will soon forward us the letter concerning this project so that we can trigger the process to bring the new water tanks for our Vista Condo.

waiting....waiting...waiting...

year 2014 review, highlights

year 2014 just concluded, as we look back, it was a year which we got more reason to be happy than despair :)

no doubt there were sad incidents which have caused same anxieties, like blk J lift rope problem which came so suddenly, and for more than 3 weeks the lift was out of order until the new rope was installed & get it run again, so as we learn from this experience & in the future we got make sure all rope will be checked on the more regular basis.

another unfortunate incident was a blk k water pump problem, was somewhere at September, we can recall that that eventful evening when we received calls from blk k residents abt no power supply, we went to rooftop to check all the water tank, and to our shocking that all the water tank were empty, then we quickly reset the pump & let it run manually until all the tank were filled, then vendor was called immediately to attend to the problem, and the faulty component was replaced, so the problem was rectified.

of course there were some good news to celebrate too, in year2014...

the most significant one not other than the blk k lifts upgrading completion, it was finally done in first quarter of the year, it was the long process, started in year2013 and dragged until last year, we thank blk k residents for their patience, and pray & hope that with this upgrading the both lifts at blk k will serve our residents well.

another highlight of year2014 is the residents gathering, where the recorded number of 230 residents have signed up but actual number of peoples who attended this function is higher than that. It was a biggest gathering in Vista Condo, furthermore we have 2 VIP graced this occasion, YB Jagdeep Singh & YB Yeoh Soon Hin.

In year2014 we also held the AGM and more importantly we have a group of new committee joining the existing ones to serve our Vista Condo residents, the new committee indeed have brought new strength to the MC and with their contribution, we know that the Vista Condo future looks even brighter :)

last but not the least, 2 projects completed in year2014 which have help us to save cost & generate revenue, the T5 light tube which completed beginning of the year have helped us to save at least RM1200 per month on the electricity, with the return of investment in just 6 months' time. Another one is new rental parking lot, for it generates RM300 per month as 6 lot have been created & rent to residents.

here we also want to thank our beloved residents' support & cooperation in every area, particularly paying the service charge promptly & observing the house rules, in fact if without residents' support, there won't be any successful story to be told, so, really thank you so much!