Change legislation to prevent management corporations from abusing power

I hope there will be practical, proactive improvements to the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act to make management corporations accountable for the power given to them (“Subsidiary proprietors encouraged to attend AGMs in person”; May 12).

No legislation is perfect, and serving in a management corporation is time-consuming and thankless.

It is equally true, however, that the rule for annual general meetings to proceed after half an hour, if at least two subsidiary proprietors are present in person, means that the management corporation could make decisions for the whole condominium.

Where are the safeguards to prevent abuse of power and corruption? When members of the public highlight potential deficiencies in the Act, the Building and Construction Authority should improve those grey areas.

For example, instead of at least two proprietors present, it would be better to have at least 10 per cent, excluding members of the management corporation, to proceed with an AGM.

On the issue of proxy votes, members at an AGM should be allowed to carry only one proxy vote to prevent canvassing. It should also be stipulated that no member of a management corporation can serve more than three terms without a break of two. The same should apply to managing agents.

Minutes of monthly meetings should be posted on the condo’s website to ensure transparency. All expenditure should be listed for subsidiary proprietors to scrutinise, especially concerning upgrading, and sums of more than S$10,000 should be justified. It should also be mandatory, in the annual reporting system, to include various indices in one format for reference and comparison.

Finally, the Strata Titles Board should be consulted to settle disputes between a management corporation and subsidiary proprietors, or between proprietors, before any litigation proceeds. There is no reason to have court battles within the same condo.

The ultimate aim is to ensure that the Act protects the interests of subsidiary proprietors, members of management corporations and managing agents.

Serving in a management corporation should be a pleasant experience, while the collective funds of a condo should be protected.