Earlier I posted a letter from a concerned relative about implementing gated communities. Now we need to address how this will impact our investments. People who are in support will argue that gated communities provide a safe haven and security for their property and family. However, there has been cases where houses in gated communities has been broken into. There was a case last year whereby a resident successfully sued the management of Sierramas in Sungai Buloh after his house has been sacked by robbers. Perhaps, instead of eliminating crime, gated communities may reduce crime. But that just means that when one community becomes gated, the criminals may move to other communities until they become gated as well.
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Those against the implementation of gated communities fear their freedom will be curtailed as many entrances, exits and passages will be blocked. This may become a problem if a fire occurs and the fire rescue is hampered by road blocks such as big oil drums. The Selangor government has also just announced that a new guideline is being drafted and this includes:
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1. A requirement for at least 85% support from the community
2. Local authorities will not provide maintenance services such as garage collection, grass trimming etc
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In my opinion, this will surely impact property value. Whether negatively or positively, time will tell. I would certainly not purchase a property which is gated. There are many issues. What if the collection of monthly fees falls short, it means the security company won't get paid? Our grass will grow taller than the trees? Garbage will stink and pile up? Even well-established condominiums have defaulters and there will always be people who won't pay because they don't agree with the concept or simply because they just wish to become free loaders. Who will do this unthankful job of collecting dues on a long term basis? As we see it, in Malaysia, strata living tends to deteriorate over time... we are still short in that mentality.
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And how do we gauge this 85% support? There is a case in USJ whereby the "Residents Association" sent out questionnaires to every household but only received 25% of them back. But they went ahead to put up security posts and hired guards. So if the property value is affected negatively by this move, can the property owner sue the Residents Association and all the office bearers for a defaced valuation?
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Then again, what happens when enough people are fed up with the crime rate and decided to sell out and move to a proper gated community such as Sierramas, Desa Parkcity etc etc - would this force the property value down? On the other hand, it is a known fact that property values in established gated communities have always appreciated. But this theory is untested in areas which is not originally a gated community.
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There are many issues. Frankly speaking, if we have a more professional police force in this country, we would not have to come down this path at all. For the first time in this country, we witness the police force taking sides in politics and not doing what they are supposed to do. I personally have experience in this. I've seen the police appearing in large numbers to arrest people staging a peaceful candle light vigil and carry out unncessary road blocks to discourage anti-government protest gatherings. They claim to be short on resources but they can deploy very quickly and in large numbers against the Opposition. Then some months ago when one of my tenants got robbed, I helped to call the police. The police refused to come down to investigate unless we go to the station to make a report first. The station was almost 10km away, in a traffic jam that would take us an hour to get there. By then, any investigation would be just a procedure as the robbers would have run away and probably sold the loot by then.
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