20180802 (Thu)
Is it fair that those with more car parks should pay more service charges?
Bigger units (1,600 sqf vs 1,000 sqf) should be allocated higher proportion because the concept of ownership.
Using an extreme example, if you have a plot of land, and you are 100% owner of the land, you have to maintain facility to your land 100% by yourself. If your are sharing 50% of the common access with your neighbour, you should take up 50% maintenance of the access (eg security guard).
Having 4 car parks/4 cars is 4 times more than the neighbour who owns 1 car. This means four time more attention by the security guards. This is the concept of equal sharing. So, it is only fair he who owns more car parks should pay more to the service charges.
The fairness becomes disputable when it comes to weightage. 4 cars parking in 4 car parks compared to 4 persons staying in using the gym & swimming pool; which is relevant in paying of service charges – 4 cars or 4 person using gym & swimming pool? The convention is using the land size (parcel size) to calculate the proportion of fees to be charged to that constant (size of parcel does not change). Cars and number of person can change over time.
So, it is the sole decision of the Management Committee of the Management Corporation to give the weightage to the allocation of the service charge payment by the standard of fairness of the majority. Next we will learn about the concept of “share unit”.