Some legal feedback

[junglemelon]

Any lawyer in the forum?

I live in a moderate size housing estate in Kota Kinabalu.
Recently a group of resident/house owners formed a
resident committee and citing having 70% resident support
has set up a management company for the purpose of
implementing private security guard stations at 2 estate road
locations plus regular guard patrol.  In my opinion the
estate is too porous to become an effective gated community.

I believe not all residents are keen to participate in the scheme.
The management company has now issued Debit Note asking
for an annual payment of RM 1,400.00

What is the legal status of those who do not wish to pay?

[Reuben]

Might want to look at the Private Agencies Act which requires any agency engaged in providing security services to be appropriately licensed. If the management and company is comprised of the residents, they can argue that they're providing their own private security but if it also extends to people who are NOT part of the program, then it may be construed as being provision of such security services to 'other persons'. Has the Resident Committee properly registered with RoS?

I have a feeling there may be no proper laws on these, I remember quite clearly just recently there were announcement that there were no proper laws on the regulation of gated communities which therefore allowed construction vehicles to pass through the 'gated' community to reach a construction site not related to the gated community.

Usually for strata title cases, there's a management corporation formed upon the issuance of strata title and they govern the 'common property'. Here it's a bit different since there's no strata title involved. Have you signed any Deed of Covenants or Management Agreement when you purchased the property that governs the use of the common facilities provided in the gated community? What is the agreement in relation to the maintenance of the 'gates' and walls? Are there any further provisions in there that would allow them to impose other charges? If there isn't, I'm not sure how they can compel you to pay.

Note that your local authorities ordinances and land issues are governed by your own Sabah legislation so only a Sabah lawyer familiar with this would be able to comment on these conclusively.

[junglemelon]

Thanks for your comments Reuben.
This will give me more food for thought.

Not quite sure if the Resident Committee has been registered
with ROS as no meeting minutes were sent to me.
The management company is registered though as there is a number
on their company circular.

The housing estate comprising bungalows, semi-detached
and terrace houses is barely 5 year old and is serviced by
inter-linked access roads. There was no gates nor any physical walls
surrounding the entire estate. Common areas are under
the care of local authorities as each household pays rates.
Also the Sales and Purchase agreement with the developer
do not have any clauses with regard to gated security.

Not all houses come under this security scheme. This
Resident Committee simply wants to autogate up at 2 locations
and thus only certain section of the housing estate is covered.

[Reuben]

Guess they still need to work with local authorities on this as strictly those roads are public property if they are maintained by government so there may be some ramifications on gating them up unless you have their approval.