Buying condos in Colombo
View(s):At a seminar on condominiums in Colombo last week, a speaker drew surprise, worry and concern from participants when he showed pictures of some reputed apartment complexes in the city with badly maintained pipelines, power generators and poor construction.“Do you know that these are from well known complexes in the city?” asked engineer Upula Dharmawardena, DGM Projects at Walker and Sons Engineers, adding: “This is how they maintain the main pipelines.”
Speaking during a presentation at an interactive seminar on “Understanding the basics of Condominium Living” organized by the Centre for Advancement of Resource Mobilization (CARM) at the Taj Samudra in Colombo on Sunday, he showed many slides to an audience comprising condo residents, owners, developers and potential buyers showing weak construction, poorly maintained facilities among others suggesting that any prospective buyer of a condo needs to look at all maintenance issues before making that vital decision.
Which raises the prudent question: How many prospective buyers check construction (strength); certificate of conformity (COC- in fact, COC’s are given to residents’ many months after completion); condition of the whole building; public spaces; parking allocation; maintenance facilities, land registry vis-à-vis property ownership; effectiveness of Management Council; facilities fees; rainwater flows, fire drill, etc, etc?
Stumped, confused? You would be if you were present at this workshop and all workshops that deal with ownership of condominiums and prospective buyers. In one instance, it was revealed one resident of apartment had sold the unit to 3-4 different buyers! In many apartment complexes in Wellawatte, the developer has gone abroad after selling the units, leaving residents without COCs and other problems.
One salient suggestion that emerged at the meeting and pointed out by both, Shirani Tilakawardena, retired Supreme Court Judge and Ajitha Edirimane, attorney at law and expert on condominium law, was the need to promote the concept of a deed establishing the proof and identity of the owner; ie having the picture and even fingerprint on it. “There is a need to be able to say I am the owner and a photograph of proof and also the fingerprint on the deed … because deed fraud is a growing problem,” noted Ms. Tilakawardena, adding that this should apply to all land deeds.
At a glance thousands of condo units are being built in new complexes like Shangri-La, John Keells range of properties, proposed Krrish, Tata development at Slave Island, Altair, Havelock City, Fairway Group and 110 Parliament among other smaller developments. Prices range from around Rs. 20 million to Rs. 60 million upwards for these apartments; some fully furnished, some not.
Adding to these upcoming complexes are the already established ones with some units yet to be sold, begging the question of whether the supply will outstrip demand.
At the lower end (Rs. 6-Rs.12 million per unit) of the market too apartments are springing up across Colombo and highly residential suburbs like Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia, Rajagiriya-Battaramulla, Nugegoda-Maharagama-Homagama and Peliyagoda-Wattala-Hendala. These all add up to the growing housing stock in the capital and the suburbs.
The supply-outstripping-demand dilemma is a current issue in the hotel sector where expected arrival of 2.5 million tourists in 2016 and the lack of a proper data system of arrivals are at odds with the proposed approvals for new hotels. Many tourism industry commentators have raised the issue of accurate data and, in this context, whether there are too many hotel rooms (coming up) in addition to homestays, guest houses and apartment complexes (for example in Shangri-La, JKH, Krrish). The problem with accurate data is that every foreign passport holder who stays for over 24 hours is designated a ‘tourist’ and this included Sri Lankan expatriates visiting home (hundreds of them), foreign diplomats and foreign NGO workers.
The proliferation of non-star class accommodation for tourists could lead to excess rooms for visitors, a worry for the industry as it impacts on pricing and competitiveness with other destinations. On the other hand, some surpluses in new residential complexes feeding into the tourism sector would balance out any surplus in the residential market.
In this context, while the demand for apartment housing would continue, excited prospective buyers – drawn by attractive advertisements that speak of the virtues of security, compact living, public spaces, etc – are most likely to invest without (thinking or) examining the more serious aspects of COCs, deeds and maintenance facilities and all the issues raised today.
Are they also aware of the ‘Right to Light’ requirement in condominiums? For example, anyone living – for example on the 5th floor – must not have their light blocked by the apartment above and in turn must not block the natural light flow to the resident below.
Check out this information too: Mobile phones don’t normally work above the 15th floor, and the Colombo Fire Brigade has a ladder that can reach up to the 15th floor in case of fire. What happens then to residents who live above the 15th floor in the new properties in which some go up to the 4oth-6oth floor? Use the fire escape! But what about older residents (70 years and over)?
Calls were also made at the workshop for the laws dealing with the Condominium Management Authority (CMA) to be amended to meet rights of owner-residents and modern societal needs, though it was stated that amendments proposed by the public are yet to be taken into consideration.
As new kinds of living space are created even more so today due personal security considerations, residents in Colombo and the suburbs should be cautious against rushing into buying units and moving in without checking out many facets of a complex.