KUALA LUMPUR: Practicing property managers who have property management experience are given a one-year grace period to register themselves as recognised professionals with the launch of the Register of Property Managers with the amendment of Act 242 recently.
The amendment of Act 242 effectively brings the practice of property management under the ambit of BOVAEP. Going forward, all practitioners of property management will be regulated by the board.
According to the statement, this will ensure that property managers entrusted with the management of properties worth millions of ringgit are regulated by a professional body, safeguarding the public from unscrupulous and illegal property managers.
With this amendment, Act 242 is now known as the Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers Act, 1981. The act was passed last October and gazetted on Jan 2. It was previously known as the Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Act 1981.
“The responsibilities of the property manager are indeed very challenging because they will need to manage all kinds of situations, having to be wise with many parties apart from having the solid technical expertise to solve problems.
“I need to emphasise that property managers need to be Jack of All Trades to maintain that respect for the profession,” said the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers director general Nordin Daharom.
The Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Tan Sri Noh bin Haji Omar officially launched the Register of Property Managers with the amendment of Act 242 - Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Act, 1981.
The launch was also witnessed by the Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Johari bin Abdul Ghani, signalling an unprecedented joint effort between two ministries with a shared goal under the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) towards regulating the practice of property management for strata properties in Malaysia.
To date, there are at least 19,000 strata schemes throughout Malaysia in which 7.5 million people have made their homes which accounts for 30% of the total urban population.
The number of complaints that the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers (BOVAEP) received on mismanagement and malpractice by registered property managers last year was only ten while the cases involving illegal practitioners were around 116.
“Property Management that is well-governed will lead to the wellbeing of the nation and confidence from investors,” said Noh at the recent launch of the Register of Property Manager.
The establishment of the register of property managers brings multi-tiered benefits to the profession and ultimately to Malaysian homeowners.
It firstly elevates the professional status of property management as it is now recognised by two Ministries. The compulsory continuous education and professional development for all registered property managers will also ensure expansion and versatility of skill-set that is so pertinent to the profession.
Practicing property managers can register with the Board by filling in Form C which they can obtain from http://lppeh.gov.my/WP2016/forms, and submit it to the Board.
Homeowners now have an avenue to escalate their grievances to BOVAEP. This will ensure that the safety and wellbeing of homeowners living in strata properties are in the good hands of well-informed and highly capable property managers, nationwide. They can lodge a report by writing directly to the Board at info@lppeh.gov.my.
