Legally Taking On A Condo Committee

[Tammi]

anyone had experience in legally taking on the condominium committee

Our committee is so entrenched after 15 years of eating from the trough that they no longer listen to any suggestions of co owners

the maintenance fees are spent in a manner that is first decided on how much can i skim off the top and so nothing gets done

In short we want to boot out the committee and make it more transparent and legal so that people (may) be willing to pay their fees to get the place looking good.

Can anyone offer advise on the sinking fund? should it appear anywhere on the books? should there be some accumulated interest declared on it? can we borrow against it to do the work and then pay it back via monthly maintence fees?

Anyone know a reputable lawyer?

thanks

regards

I have taken the liberty of moving the above to "New Topic" as I think it deserves it's own space. It was posted by "Blackjack" this morning at 9.58 am. under "Lawyer" topic.

I think you may have to change the committee at the AGM and that means getting together with all the other co-owners who are complaining and getting nowhere and voting the present committee off.

There's a guy who used to advertse in the Pattaya Mail supplying English translation of the Condo Law and could maybe give you pointers. Tel. 087 149 4364. B399, if I remember right.

Also, you might need to get (if you don't already have) an English translation of the Juristic Persons Articles of Association. Your condo office should have. The condo I am in only had in Thai so I had to get translated for B10,000!!

I think most condos also have 'bylaws' such as no pets. In our condo these bylaws is called "Preservation of Amenities".

I only know of one condo who went to court and got rid of the committee and that was Jomthien Condotel maybe 4 years ago. But the complainers had a good case because there hadn't been an AGM for 2 or more years, if I remember right.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on. Condo management is a subject many farangs are interested in. Its awful seeing one's investment managed by a group of nincompoops.

[Tammi]

Forgot to mention that have heard that Grand Condotel has a Residents Interest Group presumably do their complaining as a group.

[briley]

From our own experience I believe it is law that the management must call a general meeting every year.

If they don't then the owners can call a meeting. The quorum is 30% of the owners either present or represented by a proxy.

50% of the owners must agree to sacking the old management and appointing a new management. The new management take all the papers to land commission who can accept them and make the new manager the legal manager.

NOTE that the percentages are % of the area. If one person owns 50% of the area of the condo they control the condo.

Of course the old management can challenge the new management team, then the fat hits the fire and courts etc get involved. Accounts get blocked, no money to pay wages and electricity - and if the common area electricity bill is not paid the whole condo is cut off.

Make sure you have influential Thais running the revolution.

[jbaldwin]

I am on the Executive Committee of a Jomtien Condo. I have a few comments:

Are you sure that it is the Committee that are skimming off. Is a management company involved? Is the Committee being dishonest or just failing to supervise the management company effectively.

There must be an AGM each year. This will normally include elections for Committee members (unless the Condo rule specifically appoint Committee members for fixed period).

You can require an EGM any time with 10% of co-owners votes

Remember all Committee members must be co-owners. It is surprising there have been no changes in the Committee in 15 years. We have had cases where Committee Members have had to resign following the sale of their units.

I think the biggest problem to change will be getting enough co-owners to be suffiently interested to turn up to meeting and vote on issues

If there is a sinking fund then you would expect to have accounting information about but these funds would normally be showned separately from the normal operating accounts. I would expect interest - although this could either be added to the sinking fund or transferred to the account operating accounts. Where unexpected large maintenance expenditure is required, this would normally be paid out of the sinking fund and then a future AGM would decide whether the sinking fund should be topped up by a levy of co-owners, a transfer from annual budget or be left at the reduced level.

If you want to meet and discuss our experiences then please PM me.

[ripley]

Thai Condo Law is pretty clear on the subject of the election and term of a committee. Translations are available on this Forum. An AGM must be held annually. At this meeting the committee is elected for maximum of 2 years and then must step down, UNLESS there are no other volunteers. The minimum members required is 3, maximum 9. If there aren't any volunteers, then old members can serve until replacements are found.

If a committee (or chairman) is staying on arbitrarily beyond 2 yrs, or if Annual Meetings are not being arranged, your condo is breaking the law. One option is to contact the Land Office in your area. Have your letter and documents written in Thai, and if you go in person to the Land Office take a Thai speaking person along.

Another way to tackle an errant committee is to call an Emergency General Mtng (EGM). This requires 20% of the owners to submit the "request" to the Juristic Person Manager (not the manager of the bldg.) The request is a formality and can not be refused.

It's a good idea to start a list of the email addresses of co-owners and distribute it to everyone in the bldg. Makes it easier to arrange EGMs and lots of other things.

Edited March 29, 2011 by ripley

[Phil Conners]

4 year old topic ...

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