Important Strata Title Message

29th April 2012

As many of the resident may already know, Vista Bay Apartment Strata Title is out and as of now, the process of doing this is still ongoing. Do bear in mind that the residence are advise to proceed with the Strata Title transaction as soon as possible as crossing the dateline would be something that the resident would not like to do as there are penalty for those who are late.

From the notice that were given earlier, our own Vista Bay Apartment lawyer is the one handling the transaction and although this is not a compulsory for the owner to engage the lawyer, but then, it's still advisable  to do so with the lawyer. Speaking of our lawyer, please take note that the Lawyer, Daniel Lim & Co (Advocates and Solicitors) is no longer attached to Kwang Lim & Azni (Advocates and Solicitors). 

Therefore, any association between Daniel Lim to Kwang Lim & Azni is no longer valid and we hope that this confusion can clear the air during the process of doing the Strata Title transaction. If you have any doubts on this matter, please proceed to the management office to acquire or you can call directly to Daniel Lim as his handphone number is mentioned inside the notice given earlier.

Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT)

9th April 2012

The 2012 Budget unveiled on 7 October 2011 included a revision of the Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) rate from the 5% to 10% as part of the Government’s efforts to curb property speculation. The increase was recently gazetted and took effect from 1 January 2012 onwards. Jennifer Chang studies the impact of this move on property purchasers.

The rate of 10% applies to gains on properties held and disposed within two years while gains on properties held and disposed between two and five years will be levied a 5% RPGT rate and disposals after five years continue to be exempted from RPGT.

RPGT is a form of capital gains tax that is chargeable on gains arising from the disposal of real property, which is defined as:

• Any land situated in Malaysia and any interest, option or other right in or over such land; or

• Shares in a real property company. Anyone disposing of real property in Malaysia - whether a resident or non-resident - will be charged RPGT on the gains.

Astro Byond - New Generation

4th April 2012
In today's apartment or condominium environment, unified form is always will be one of the agenda in
any discussion beside security. To have a unified form would mean to have an outlook of the place where it would be nice to look at rather then a place where everything look disorganized.

One of the facilities we have that can be catergorized as unified form is our centralise Astro system.
We have a build in network that strecthes from the top of the building till the lowest floor that houses our units. Meaning, by having only one dish to cater to all needs, we can avoid having a cluttered outlook of Astro dishes sticking out from our building. With this, many of the resident will able to enjoy our beloved channels from Astro without worrying about how the Astro dish would impact the outlook of the building but then, this does not come without a price.

Mainland Property is Booming

23rd March 2012

The value of land, and residential and commercial properties in Seberang Prai is certainly lower. The price for the most expensive landed property on the mainland may be just a fraction of a similar one on the island.

I  learnt that a fully-furnished bungalow in the posh and gated Park View Residence near the popular Juru Auto-City in central Seberang Prai was sold for RM1.6 million.

The buyer was a Penang island resident looking for a nice property in which to invest his millions.  

A real estate agent told me that  a fully-furnished bungalow on the island similar to the one this buyer bought in Juru would have cost him close to RM6 million, if not more.

Many people agree that the property market on the island  has gone “crazy”.

The prices and values of properties skyrocket  quickly due to high demand and speculation.

The word “affordable” can rarely be used to describe the kind of homes that are being built on Penang Island. Most are only affordable to the rich. Just look at the ongoing modern residential projects around us now and those in the pipeline. I think I do not have to list them down. We know them well enough.

Vista Bay In-house Documents

22nd March 2012
Managing an apartment building is not only about talking and carrying out the work to sustain the building maintenance, but also talking about documentation work as well. These documentations cover a lot of matter ranging from invoices on the task carried out to cheques that need to be paid to vendors and from meeting minutes documents to the letters that bear the JMB seal. All these are important and none of them are being neglected in our persue of having the best managed property in Penang.

If the owner would be able to noticed, there are no confidential information regarding the building management fund as well as meetingminutes are put up for public viewing. Even on the notice board, we do not really reveal all this to the public except for recent AGM meeting minutes. This is because, we believe that a lot stranger coming in to our place and getting information about our building
and effect certain judgement in delivering service to our place such as giving a higher price when doing something for us. Knowing this, we try to avoid all the internal building matters to be revealed out to the public and when we are talking about public, we meant non-home owners.

Extraordinary General Meeting 2012(EGM - Financial Management)

21st March 2012
The management (JMC) has called for an EGM to address on a topic regarding the Financial Management of Vista Bay. Therefore, we hope that the residents (owners only) would be able to spare some time from
their busy schedule to attend this meeting. It is very important and a decision would need to be reached in order to move on with the process. The date and time of the meeting is stated below:

Date: 15th April 2012 (Sunday)

Time: 2.30pm

Vanue: VB Multi-purpose Hall

Duration: 3 hours - 4 hours

The agenda of the meeting will be discussed inside the forum as the topic of internal matter would not make public here. On how to proceed to get yourself into forum, please follow the link below:

Vista Bay Apartment Forum

Thanks for your cooperation.

Deed of Mutual Covenant

20th March 2012

Whenever one buys a piece of property where there are common facilities, such as security, social amenities and other areas that require the involvement of all unit owners, one will be requested to enter into a Deed of Mutual Covenant (DMC). This is done simultaneously upon the signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA).

In layman's language, the DMC is an agreement of mutual undertaking between the developer and the purchaser. The contents vary from developer to developer, and they are distinctly separate from those in the SPA.

Unlike the SPA, the contents of DMC are not dictated by the Housing Development Act. The contents are purely clauses that spell out the mutual agreements/undertakings of both buyer and the developer. Many house buyers do not really pay attention or understand the details of what they are signing for. This is particularly so in cases where the buyers, to save cost, have not engaged their own lawyers but rely on the developers' lawyers who have prepared both the SPA and the DMC.

Some of these clauses one has to be wary of are as follows:

• Maintenance charges

This is where the clauses is invariably left open ended. Usually the agreed amount is valid for a set period (say two years). After that, it is likely to be increased by what is merely stated as 'a reasonable amount'. A lot of dispute have arisen from this 'reasonable amount', and buyers are holding the short end of the stick. Remember, you must understand what you are signing, and if you are not comfortable, ask questions to clarify.

Earth Hours 2012

11th March 2012

It's that time of the year again. The time we would allow ourselves to dwell into the soverinity of the world

by helping mother nature in a small way that would be able to make a big difference. 60 Earth Hours, the event the world organize to remind us to show kindness to the earth is around the corner again and this time we do hope everyone would be able to join hand and make a different. 

The date to remember :

Date: 31st March 2012 (Saturday)

Time: 8.30pm - 9.30pm (1 hour)

Venue: Vista Bay Apartment.

To commemorate the event as usual, we will turn off all the lights in the building and we do hope that all the residents will be able to join us in doing the same to their own unit. Just switch off the lights.

It's a small effort but believe us, it makes a lot of difference.

Vista Bay Apartment Security Improvement

7th March 2012

With the crime happening around us become more rampant than we can ever imagine, security has been push up to be the main focus in all residential area in and around Penang.

This focus was never a last item in Vista Bay Apartment agenda but then again, we are not ready to turn this place into a prison as well.

With this in mind, we have recently step up another security measure at our place and this time, our

focus is on the 3rd floor emergency escape staircase. This changes would somehow or rather, need to get use to but then, it will be a safe passage in the event of emergency for the residents and same goes to the

rescuers.

Whatever the case may be, the residents would need to bear in mind one thing, this 3rd floor entrance 

should ONLY be use in case of emergency and not for personal usage. As of now, the front and back entrance has been lock down and only can be use in case of real emergency. Any vandalism of the equipment will be dealt heavily by the local management as well as local police enforcement.

Like we said earlier, security is our main priority and all of our safety are our main concern.

With this, we all, residents, should act as a police officer as depeending on security equipment alone is not sufficient at all.

Transition Period

26th February 2012
It has been a smooth sailing for us all who is living in Vista Bay Apartment and for the past 2 and a half year, we have been living in a calm and mindful environment, to most, it's called home.

And for this past 2 1/2 hear, the Joint Management Committee has done all within it's power to protect and maintain the health of this building be it from outside source or within. AGM, Annual General Meeting has just past and collectively, we manage to pass a few resolutions and this of course, are agreed by all residents.
We are glad with the great turn out and  we do hope this kind of support will continue as we are not doing for ourselves only but for all of us, who called this place home.

One of the topic I want to point out during this meeting is that, we are basically on a transition, a transition of the view, wisdom and opinion of the people handling the place. As of now, the Chairman of the Joint Management Committee has decided to give way due to unforeseen reason and this has paved way to a new blood to lead the management after more than 2 years in helm.

Vista Bay Apartment Strata Title

17th January 2012
With great pleasure to announce that the residents of Vista Bay Apartment would be able to collect their Strata Title to their respective unit.

With this, we would strongly advise all of the owners to make the transfer without delay and according to the New Strata Title Act (Amendment) 2007, the owner maybe liable to penalty of minimum of RM1000 to a maximum of RM10000 by the relevant Authority for not effecting the said Transfer without delay.

Also to take note that a storage/admin charge of RM50 per month will be charged to the owner's account commencing 1st June 2012 for the safe keeping of the original Strata Title.

For the purpose of collecting the Strata Title, owners would need to prepare the following document:

a) The relevant pages of the stamped copy of Sale and Purchase Agreement
b) Purchaser's Mykad
c) The current loan/security documentation (Letter of offer/Facilities Agreement) of the current financier.

One last thing to bear in mind, the transfer will only take place if the owners are not in arrears of any payment to the Joint Management Board or Cendana Realty Sdn Bhd.

Thanks

2011-2012 VB Annual General Meeting (AGM)

11th January 2012
AGM is here again. This event is normally help once a year and by law, it should held not more then 15 months elapsed between each AGM. For Vista Bay Apartment, AGM is normally held either end of the year or early of the following year and this time, its the same.

In fact, the AGM for this time around has been postponed twice as we did not manage to get enough quorum to start one and since this coming AGM is the 3rd time being called, by law, this event will carry only and make certain decision whether we manage to attract enough quorum or not. So, for all residents of Vista Bay Apartment, do take note this date:

12th February 2012 (Sunday)

2.30pm

VB Multi-purpose Hall

It is advise that all the residents should attend this meeting to gain knowledge of how our apartment is doing and what will be done in future. Since this is your own property and own asset, it's essential that this knowledge is good to have rather than not. Basically we are going to talk about the updates of the building as well as appointments of a few new committee members. Besides that, we are going to touch on security measures that has been put in place and also about the financial health of the building management itself. To those who has question regarding the place they are occupying, this is also the place they can voice up. 

With this, I hope that all of the residents can make it to this event although i know that you are pretty happy with the place but nonetheless, taking time to know a little bit more about this place would not hurt at all.

Thanks

Speed Bumps

1st October 2011
Road Bumps or some may call it, speed bumps, is it a nuisance or something useful?
It may have a different kind of meaning to different kind of people but one thing it does for sure,
it is to reduce the speed of the vehicle that anyone of you are driving. So, question is, why do we need it in the first place?

To tell you the truth, none of our place need this speed bumps but we as human, we tend to get carried away and forgot that our doings do effect other people's well being.
That is where this speed bump comes in. Its to remind us that we need to drive slow at certain area and
to make sure that we do not cause any harm to anyone that maybe around that place at that point of time.

Initially, the management thought that we can avoid having these speed bumps as we believe people
could change once they are being repreminded but seems that it's a hard thing to do.

Since safety in term of belonging and life are at top priority, we do not hesitate in spending a
small amount of money in doing these speed bumps for the sake of residents' safety. For some, it may seems trivial but since the well being of a person is concern, we don't think this is a risk that we are willing to take.

Apartment Security, Part 2

25th September 2011
By far, the most common threat to an apartment unit is burglary. Burglary, by definition, is a non-confrontational crime, but being victimized can leave a family feeling vulnerable and violated. To prevent a burglary, it is important to first gain an understanding of who commits them and why. The majority of apartment burglaries occur during the daytime when most people are away at work or at school. Burglaries also occur at night when there are obvious signs that no one is home. Most apartment burglars are young males looking for things that are small, expensive, and can easily be converted to cash. Items like cash, jewelry, guns, watches, laptop computers, and other small electronic devices are high on the list. Quick cash is needed for living expenses and drugs.


Statistics tell us that more than 30% of all apartment burglars gained access through an open door or window. Ordinary household tools like screwdrivers, channel-lock pliers, small pry bars, and small hammers are most often used by burglars. Although apartment burglaries may seem random in occurrence, they actually involve a selection process.

Apartment Security, Part 1

24th September 2011
It's wise to take precautions to protect your TV, stereo, computer, money and your life. Your goal is to deter criminals from trying to break into your apartment; therefore, you want to eliminate all signs guaranteeing an easy entrance.

The most important step is to just use common sense. For instance, lock the door when you leave. Don't leave the windows open all day long. Don't tape little notes on the door directed at friends saying you left the door open for them.

There are two different situations for which you'll need to prepare:

• When you're not on vacation
• When you're on vacation

Baby Boom

8th Aug 2011
We have a great news to share with everyone in Vista Bay Apartment.

Whoever lives or own a unit in Vista Bay Apartment would know this person because she has been handling all our transaction from the time we purchase the place until now, collecting all our maintenance fee. The person I meant is Kak Rizana and the great news is that, she just deliver a lovely baby last week.

All of us in Vista Bay Apartment who knows about this is very happy for her and we all here would like to congratulate her and hope she will get up and running soon.

Until she comes back, hope that everyone in Vista Bay Apartment would be patience enough when you see the management office is close for a while due to lack of man power in this coming few months.

Appreciate your understanding.

Thanks

Happened, Happening and will be Happening

2nd Aug 2011
First of all, I would like to apologies to everyone especially the home owner of Vista Bay Apartment for not updating this page for quite some time now as I was kinda caught up with something lately.
During my absent, seems that a lot of stuff happened, is happening and will be happening in and around our beloved apartment.

Happened: The committee has decided to place grill doors at all the entrance to the rooftop area due to complaints we have received. Why do we need it in the first place you may ask? Well, just say that not everyone likes what is happening on top when people are not looking but then again, we do not stop anyone from having parties or gathering there and as usual, just make a pre-booking for occasions that you may plan there. For now, daily, the gate will open from 7.00am till 11.00pm  but it can be extended to 12.00am (Max) if required. Another stuff happened is that we have changed the vendor that is maintaining our in-house internet connection and this come with a better price tag while the service either has been maintain or has been improved.

In-House Security Entrance

3rd April 2011
Every apartment or condominium around this country has their own security method in maintaining order in the building. Some hi-end condominium has security so thigh that even a mouse cannot penetrate. So, how about our apartment?

First of all, all the owners should know that the building management emphasize on security as part of their measure in maintaining peace and order but this sole responsibility does not only falls on the management only but instead, everyone in the building should be held responsible as well. Bear in mind that we emphasize security as our main concern before other items is because most of the residents/owners inside are family units and therefore, we do not want any outside source to come and disrupt the harmony inside and thus making this place a safe place to live in.

New Security Guard

15th March 2011
Today mark the first day of our new security guard change. Starting at 7.00pm, we have change our security guard company, Metro, to a new one due to many reasons.
One of the biggest reason was due to irresponsible guards that were stationed at our place. They would normally be seen sleeping at working hour and at times, even reporting to work drunk. This basically proves to be vital in our decision to change the company itself and now, we have a new one which will start today at 7.00pm shift.
We will still remain with the same number of guards per shift. We as residents of Vista Bay, are responsible of their behavior and therefore, if we see that they are slacking in their daily routine, do advise them on this matter.
Bear in mind that we are their employer and everyone of us should play our part in maintaining the security level at our place.

Building Fire Insurance

27th February 2011

Fire insurance is designed to provide protection against material damage to properties such as buildings, contents such as household equipment, fixtures and fittings. The policy covers the loss or damage caused by fire and lightning or damage caused by explosion of domestic boilers or gas used for domestic purposes. 

It's the time again that we would need to purchased our building fire insurance and this year, it has been done so a week before it expires. 

For house owner's information, the individual insurance policy is ready for collection in the management office and therefore, all residents are advise to proceed to the office and collect them before sending it to the bank for further process. Do take note that all residents are advise to make the fire insurance payment before collecting the individual insurance policy based on the calculation of your unit size. Thus, it varies from one home to another.


Do aware that for those house owner who is taking loans to purchase the unit, the bank would by default purchased another fire insurance for them unless they (the house owner) provide the copy of individual insurance policy to them within a stipulated time frame.


Therefore, to home owner, please take note on this matter. Proceed to the management office for the policy collection together with the payment.


Thanks