Strata-Title Properties: The Maintenance Fee

The Maintenance Fee is paid to the Management Corporation (MC) to enable the MC to meet the costs of regular and periodical maintenance of the estate.

All levies that SPs have to pay are worked out in proportion to the share value of each lot.

Contributions for maintenance come in two forms:

1] Management fund

Day-to-day recurrent expenses of maintaining the development:
♦ Cost of looking after the common property
♦ Payment of insurance premiums
♦ Other recurrent expenses besides amounts covered by the sinking fund

2] Sinking fund

Fund collected to provide for future capital needs:
♦ Painting of the common property
♦ Acquiring movable property
♦ Renewing or replacing any fixtures on the common property and other property belonging to the MC
♦ Replacing, repairing or making good the common property
♦ Any debts other than amounts covered by the management fund
♦ Other capital expenses

Strata-Title Properties: The Management Corporation

 

Responsibilities of the Management Corporation (MC)

- Keep accounting records and financial statements for at least seven years

- Keep proper records of all notices it receives or court orders served to it

- Keep notices and minutes of its meetings for at least seven years

- Prepare and keep a strata roll (a register of the owners). Information in strata roll includes:

♦ The share value of each lot
♦ The name and address of each subsidiary proprietor (SP)
♦ The name and address within Singapore of each mortgagee of a lot

♦ The name of the nominee of any company that is the SP or mortgagee of the lot
♦ The discharge, transfer, assignment or sub-mortgage of any mortgage of a lot
♦ The entry into possession of the lot by a mortgagee
♦ The address within Singapore for the service of notices on any person as shown in a notice given to the MC

Election of the council of the Management Corporation

Members are elected from among SPs or their nominees.

The council administers the day-to-day running of the strata scheme and is elected at each annual general meeting (AGM).

It can have up to 14 members, including members of an executive committee of a sub-MC. The executive committee of a sub-MC is similar to the council of the main MC. Out of these members, three are to be appointed as office bearers: the chairman, the secretary and the treasurer.

Eligibility for election to the Council

- be at least 21 years old and:
♦ an SP; or
♦ a nominee who is an immediate family member of an SP that nominates him or her; or
♦ a nominee of an SP that is a company
- You must also not be in arrears of contributions three days before the election
- Ownership of one lot entitles you to nominate one person for election. If you own two or more lots, you are entitled to nominate more persons for election, in proportion with your share value but not more than 49% of the total number
of council seats.

 

Duties of the office bearers of a Council

Chairman duties:
- preside over all meetings of the council and the MC to ensure that the meeting is properly conducted

Secretary duties:
- Preparing and distributing minutes of meetings
- Giving notices for the MC and the council that are required under the BMSMA
- Maintaining the strata roll
- Facilitating the inspection of MC’s documents by a person
- Answering correspondences addressed to the MC
- Convening meetings of the MC and the council (apart from its first AGM)
- Carrying out all administrative and secretarial duties for the MC and the council

Treasurer duties:
- Giving SPs notice of any levies under the BMSMA
- Giving receipts, carrying out banking errands and accounting for any money paid to the MC

- Preparing any financial certificates under the BMSMA
- Keeping all accounting records and preparing financial statements

[The person holding the treasurer position has to be changed after 2-terms]

Strata-Title Properties: Leaks, Additions

Inter-floor leaks

Both lower and upper floor occupants are required to jointly carry out an investigation to establish the cause of the leak and proceed with the repair works.

Both resolve the cost of repair. In cases like this, it is presumed that the leak has originated from the upper floor unit unless the owner can prove otherwise.

 

Improvements and Additions to lots

Works that may result in an increase in the total gross floor area of the entire development will require application to the MC.

Examples of such works include roofing a private enclosed space and putting a slab over a void in a unit.

Depending on the type of work done, consent of other approving authorities like the Urban Redevelopment Authority may also be required.

Strata-title properties: Share Value

Share Value of a Property:

Figure that represents the proportionate share
entitlement assigned to each strata unit in the project.

 

Share value determines:

- Amount of contributions for maintenance that an owner has to pay to the management corporation of the estate for maintaining the common areas in the development

- Determines the voting right of a unit owner, the higher the share value an owner has, the more voting rights he or she has

- Determines the share that an owner has in the common property, which is jointly owned by all the owners in a development.

 

Share Value can be changed for the following cases:

- Error in the entry
- Value has been fraudulently assigned to a lot
- There is a subdivision of a lot or an amalgamation of two or
more lots