our own management ?

I've been thinking ... After the formation of the Joint Management Body (JMB), I've heard that a few JMB's have decided to manage their own condominiums. Evidently, we are tired of errant property management companies who often do not do a good job and charge an exorbitant fee. This are just problems on the surface. Who knows what lies beneath. I was wondering if it would be effective in Armanee. Park Avenue and Saujana Apartment are both managing their own places. For me...it really comes down to legality and exposure of the committee members. Act 663 clearly states that committee members are personally liable and answerable towards any negligence. Is this something that can be solved easily ? Will personal indemnity insurance cover this and will it cost too much ? What happens if a residents decides to sue the management for whatever reason ? Instead of suing a property management firm, the legal suit could actually be against your own neighbour ! How much exposure would committee members be up against ? It seems to be a great idea if we could manage Armanee on our own wouldn't it ? Imagine not having to deal with 3rd parties...what a blessing !

irritating noisy neighbours

When we have too many young people living in a condo it becomes a problem. The problem becomes monumental when there are NO parents to supervise them. They forget time and disregard their neighbours. It happened on Saturday night. A neighbour below my floor had to call the guards up at 2.30 am. Her young neighbour was having a party with many noisy visitors. Doors were banging, people were singing loudly, things were breaking. It was absolutely traumatic for my poor neighbour since she had to work the following morning. At 4.30 am I heard a door bang the last time before I went off to la la land. I was just too tired to move anymore. So neighbours, if you intend to have parties, please be considerate. You are living amongst a community now so the time limit is midnight. If you decide to ignore this, you only have yourself to blame when the police are called.

what next MK ?

First you show us an absolutely beautiful show unit, promise us heaven and deliver shit. To most of us anyway.... Now we find ourselves in hell. Home is wonderful. It is exactly where my heart wants to be but whenever I think of you my dear developer, I suddenly find myself in this murderous mood. Personally, I feel that our developer is nothing better than a con man. When I got my keys, I was overjoyed. Then I was angry when I was asked to pay for a month's maintenance fee for a place that I had never set foot on. Why ? Because my Letter of Vacant Possession was dated 9th February but I was only allowed to collect my keys on 5th June ! Why again ? Because our dear developer issued the letter when they were not ready. Anyhow I was too excited to argue and I am not "orang kaya" but I didn't want to make a big issue of it. I did mention my dissatisfaction though. Just so you note. That same day, I inspected my unit, submitted my 1st Defects List and after that...what a holy mess ! This I will post separately. Back to you my dear developer... Then you give us (and in some circumstances don't give) shitty things. What security was that you mentioned in our S&P (Sale & Purchase Agreement) ? OK let me go through point by point as I look at my agreement...

• Swimming pool - Tiles falling off and poolside slabs that were of such inferior quality that they should never ever have been used. These were replaced at OUR cost !
• Games room - What's that ? Oh you mean a location for a games room, right ? As far as I am concerned, there were never any games available except for "feed the fish and see which one explodes first". There is a difference between a facility and a location !
• Gymnasium - You mean that small, stuffy, unhealthy room ? Come on lah ... the equipment look like our developer took a quantum leap into the past (1942 yes ?) and came back with the stuff they call gym equipment !
• I.T. Room - Oh you mean a location again ? I haven't seen any I.T. equipment ???
• Spa - Oh yes..that room where we used to have a BIG fish swimming in and out of the spa ? Ever heard of privacy, safety and how about some ventilation ???
• Library ? Where ? Where ? Where ?

What our developer has provided us with is a complete joke while what we are expected to live with is not ! They keep promising and promising and nothing ever materializes.

What about our fire-fighting equipment ? That "break glass in case of emergency" whatever is a complete joke. I tell you all something. This is what you do in case of an emergency ok...

1. Stay calm
2. Walk to square red box on wall nearest to you
3. Place hand on wood
4. Say a prayer for luck - pray for survival or easy and fast death

I challenge Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal to spend just a year living in Armanee and I hope that if he does...

1. May his unit rain shit
2. May be constantly have popping tiles
3. May his water supply be constantly dirty and smelly
4. May he always have electrical sockets that are lacking electrical wiring
5. May be lose his fortune because he had to spend all his money replacing light bulbs that kept fusing
6. May he always have clogged drainage
7. May he have lots of holes in his umbrella when he returns home during a downpour
8. May he be given a parking lot far away in L3
9. May he slip, fall and break both legs when he leaves for work at 6am because it was just too dark and he missed his footing
10. May his unit be infested with ants that will crawl up his pantleg during meetings and eat his brains when he sleeps
11. May he be trapped in the lift with rotting fish
12. May he need to use the toilet and access card don't work and the guards are not around

Tan Sri and other developer staff, you better hope you don;t end up living in Armanee one day. This could happen to you !

And njow with this recent rumour about visitor parking lots, we should actually invite Tan Sri for a visit ! I am sooooo mad. Imagine our future party invitations reading like this...

PARTY INVITATION

Please bring:

Umbrella

Spare shoes and a change of clothes in case of a downpour

Bottle of water - it's a long walk

Snack - you may need the energy

AND A GOOD STRONG PAIR OF LEGS

THOSE ABOVE 50 YEARS OLD NOT INVITED FOR HEALTH REASONS.

All guests agree to indemnify the host against everything and anything should they agree to attend !

visitor parking woes

What's going to hapen next ? I have heard rumours going around that soon visitor parking lots will be concentrated to 2 areas. Site 1 will be located at the far end corner of Block A where the car wash is located. Site 2 will be at the far end corner of Block C. Helloooooo...what about Block B ? Are we invisible or what do we need to do to get noticed ? You blind or what Medan Prestasi (that's our developer). You built 3 block but you only have 2 visitor parking sites ??? Will you be engaging some jockey parking services for us then 'coz we'd gladly accept. First you build a block consisting of over 250 units and then you forgot that we'll have visitors. When we made noise, you provided us with no more than 10 visitor parking lots. Slowly you took these away one by one. Owners that did not have parking lots assigned to them, you took from our visitor parking lots. When Tan Sri's and whoever else that came with a grand prefix to their names, you gave in to them. Again, you took away more of our visitor parking lots ! Excuse me...but where do you expect our visitors to park or do you actually expect them to cycle or walk to Armanee ??? As it is you developed a residential property thinking that we are orphans and social recluses. Residents of Block B....we should make sure that our visitor parking lots are never taken away from us ! Fight for our right.

confused

This is a follow-up to my earlier post and I wonder this morning, as I am typing this post who's the more confused party; me, the JMC of the management. On Tuesday, I reported that my personal particulars (name, mobile number and car registration number) was released to a disgruntled and obnoxious owner. That was the nature of my complaint...a breach in the security of owner information resulting from an observation that an owner had put up a signage to reserve a parking lot assigned to a unit that did not belong to them. Is it soooooo complicated ? Now the issue has taken a turn and now it is about who is allowed to park where. Geez...which is more important ? Our personal information floating freely amongst everyone or parking ? Common guys and gals. Please see clearly where the priority and urgency is lah !!!

nasty neighbors

Sunday morning, as I was about to park my car, I noticed that someone had placed a "reserved" signage at one of the vacant parking lots. Just last week, there was a similar incident and the person was asked to remove the signage. These "illegal signages" are mushrooming ! There is an unspoken understanding amongst residents that as long as these parking lots remain vacant and these owners have not moved in, we have the convenience of using these parking lots on a first-come-first-serve basis. If it's not yours, don't claim it as yours. I enquired with the guard at my block and he bravely approached the owner of the car (coincidentally she had just returned and was parking her car too). He told the driver that the lot was a vacant one and the signage must be removed. They had quite a lengthy conversation but I did not wait since I needed to cook. I stayed home for the rest of the day until about 9.30pm when my neighbors called me for a drink. When we returned, I noticed that this person had not only NOT removed the earlier signage but had ADDED another one ! We (my neighbors and I) asked the guard and this time he said that this person claimed that he had permission to use the parking lots as the lots were assigned to a unit that belonged to his relative. The next morning, I called the management office and asked them to verify this. I told them that while the ground and first floor units seem to remain vacant, the reserved signages were mushrooming. I left it at that and the very next morning (yesterday), I received a very rude call from a man. When I asmwered the call, the first thing I heard was, "Who are you" ! He said that I accused him and that he was the unit of a corner unit and with payment of "additional" monthly charges, was entitled to the parking lots fronting the block. Meanwhile, management had told me that the parking lots assigned to this owner was located at L3 (Level 3). By then I had totally lost it and ended up shouring back at this man. I was a breath away from calling him a f****r ! He told me to mind my own business and to stop being a "busy body". Who gave this man my phone number and whoever informed him which car I drove remains a question that I have asked the management to investigate. I will be writing to the management, Joint Management Committee (JMC), Pro-Tem Residents' Association and the developer this morning. The breach in security is alarming and MUST be addressed immediately !

last night, a barking dog

Just as I was about to have my shower last night, I heard the familiar sounds of a dog's bark. I must be dreaming, I thought to myself. At that very moment, I received a text message asking if I had heard a dog barking. So I knew I wasn't in la la land. The dog was closeby but where, none of us could be sure. The barks were becoming frantic and at some point I heard the dog whining. I love dogs and I do not oppose dogs or pets in high rise residences so long as the owners are responsible and considerate to others. This is a mixed community we're living in. We have not only to consider the religion of our neighbours but also those who simply have a fear of animals.

Definition of Fear of Animals Fear of animals: An abnormal and persistent fear of animals termed "zoophobia". A phobia is an unreasonable fear that can cause avoidance and panic. Phobias are a relatively common type of anxiety disorder. Phobias can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy using exposure and fear reduction techniques. In many cases, anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication proves helpful, especially during the early stages of therapy. "Zoophobia" encompasses fears of specific types of animals such as of spiders (arachnophobia), birds (ornithophobia), bees (apiphobia), etc. It is literally a zoo-ful of beastly phobias. (extracted from MedicineNet.com)

Somehow, a neighbour managed to locate the barking dog and a group of us congregated outside the unit in an attempt to calm the frantic dog. It was just a puppy of small breed not more than 3-4 months old. The owner had left the puppy in the dry yard and being such a young fella, he must have been lonely and scared. Somehow our voices managed to calm the puppy and he stopped barking and whining.

While there are guidelines by the local councils on pets, it's really all about being responsible and knowing right from wrong. While many residents won't mind so long as the owner keeps the pet quiet and the area clean, there are others who will. So how do we strike a balance ? How will the management address the issue ? Will the resident be forced to abandon the pet ? Nothing seems kind anymore !

find us

Many mistake Armanee Condominium for Armanee Terrace. For starters, we are not the same. Armanee Condominium is in Damansara Damai, a fairly new township located beside Bandar Sri Damansara. Some others ask why I choose to live so far away ? But it's not ! I leave work at about 6am every morning and it takes me about 20 minutes to get into my office located along Jalan P. Ramlee. I use the North Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) and it cost RM1.90 per way. If you travel between 12 midnight and 7am, you'll get a 10% discount so getting to work actually costs me just RM1.70. In fact, I find travelling from Damansara Damai a lot more pleasant and easier if compared to where I was living before. The Kepong-Kuala Selangor road used to be a driver's worst nightmare and the traffic jams used to be kilometres long. Like I said, "used to be". Traffic flow these days are pretty smooth except for the ocassional unexpected incidents. No doubt, I miss (and always will) the convenience of the LRT. Now, it's "have car will travel". Gone are the days when public transport was something I took for granted. Maybe one day soon....... To know how to get to Damansara Damai click here