BCA gives ground over paying honoraria and review of agents

SINGAPORE — The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) dropped two amendments from the initial list of changes it proposed to the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act, including giving management councils the option to pay its members an honorarium and removing the annual reviews of managing agents.

During a public consultation of the changes in the Bill tabled on Tuesday (Aug 1), stakeholders said paying honoraria may “attract the wrong kind of people who are looking for financial incentives” to join the council.

Some also noted that members come on board the council on a voluntary basis and there are other ways to recognise their service, such as by presenting letters of appreciation, allowing them priority parking, or reducing the amount they contribute to the management fund.

“Notwithstanding that the proposed amendments does not mandate the payment of honorarium and merely provides the option for MCSTs to do so ... we note that the majority still prefer not to offer such an option,” said the BCA, which initially proposed the honorarium to be pro-rated according to each member’s period of service and be capped at S$250 per year per member.

An annual review of managing agents, who can be appointed for up to three years, will also remain following concerns expressed by stakeholders that managing agents could become “complacent and would not be on their toes” otherwise.

The BCA had laid out its recommendations based on three rounds of public consultation over more than five years.

The first round of public consultation in 2012 gathered more than 1,300 responses through an online survey, face-to-face interviews, a town hall session, written correspondences and emails. A 10-member panel, which included representatives from industry associations, developers and managing agents, was then set up to review the suggestions.

One year later, the BCA laid out recommendations in its second round of public consultation, including the proposal to give MCSTs of strata properties more control to deal with errant occupants. It sought the views of 117 stakeholders then.

The third and final round of public consultation was held in February and involved 275 respondents.