Property management experts criticised several condominiums for requiring their residents to get tested for Covid-19.
Ng Wei Aik, a registered property manager and former DAP Tanjong MP, told Malaysiakini that there are no laws in Malaysia that allow the property management to bar residents from entering the residences.
Such measures are considered as denying the owner's rights to the property, he said.
Ng further pointed out that if a property owner rents out a unit to tenants, it should be seen as transferring the possession right of the unit to the tenants.
Therefore, he said, the tenants have rights to enter the residential area.
"[Since] the rights of tenants are derived from the owner's ownership, the management can't stop the owners from renting to anyone," he said.
Ng said that according to the Strata Management Act 2013, the management can make or amend additional by-laws for various reasons, including "safety and security measures".
However, he warned that the management might be challenged in the court if the additional by-laws violated owners' property rights.
Ng said that the management would have to hold an annual general meeting before making additional by-laws for the condominium.
According to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the Housing and Local Government Ministry, condominium management cannot carry out annual general meetings during MCO 2.0.
Other SOPs include tenants are not allowed to move in or move out; no visitors are allowed to enter unless they are visiting the elderly who live alone or patients who need monitoring, residents who need immediate medical intervention or food necessities. For such cases, visitors have to be children, siblings or guardians who live nearest to the residents.
The SOPs also stated that if any death cases which are not related to Covid-19 occurred to residents, their children, siblings or guardians who live nearest are allowed to visit.
Should not implement rules not listed in SOPs
Malaysian Institute of Property & Facility Managers (MIPFM) president Adzman Shah Mohd Ariffi told Malaysiakini that the management of a condominium is only allowed to implement the SOPs issued by the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
"They need to follow the SOPs, and they can only implement what is within the SOPs, and what is inside the house rules by law."
"If a person resides in the building - tenant or owner - whether they are returning from kampung or different districts, they have the right to enter the building. This is the basic rights of owners and residents."
Adzman revealed he had received several complaints on these matters since the movement control order was first implemented last January.
"In fact, since last March and April, a government agency approached us and told us that several condominiums' management barred their tenants who came back from other states," he said.
On the other hand, Adzman said since the Ministry of Human Resources requires employers to test their migrant workers for Covid-19, the management can ask the migrant worker tenants to submit their test results.
However, he stressed that a condominium's management has no right to bar them from entering.
Malaysiakini previously reported that several condominiums' management has made it mandatory for their tenants to get a Covid-19 test.
They warned that the tenants would be barred from entering the premises if they failed to do so.
Several public health specialists criticised such measures as unrealistic and unnecessary. - Mkini
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