Good Morning Guys,
I'm thinking of buying a Service Apartment but like most of you guys know, Service Apartments are build on Commercial Land. Part of it, it entangles Commercial Rates for utilities - Water & Electric which can be up to four times more expensive.

I've done some reading and I notice some Service Apartments have the ability to apply for Residential Rates since it's not being used for Commercial purposes. That being said, I was told that the current bill will be following the expensive Commercial rate.

May I know how can I convert my bills to Residential Rates? What can I do to get it done? Thanks!

TNB, IWK and broadband service providers do allow conversion to residential rates if the owner of the unit provides the necessary proof (that no business is being run on the premises). If you are renting, the owner has to do for you which maybe troublesome unless the owner is willing

Why not give them calls for clarification?

Case study (my own property)-

Apartment build on commercial land.

TNB is on residential rates since day 1 VP

while Syabas does not allow to convert (tried to appeal as JMB) from bulk meter to individual residential meter (with residential rate). Management charging RM2 per m3 , luckily not using much water

Reason? Master title include shop lot.
Just gotten strata title this year, perhaps can try our luck again.

Previously I emailed tnb and asked, they asked me to provide them with account details, address, proof that it is for residential use only (house photo)...

rule of thumb, you need 50% owners to give consent to change tarrif rates.

Applies to TNB, Syabas and IWK.

But there also Bulk meter and the rate is slightly cheaper because service provider only deal with JMB

Parking for reference. I'm going to need to apply for this as well once my property is ready. Will update if I'm successful.

Nice to know that your developer have the initiative perform the title conversion for TNB.

Just wondering, did the developer inform the buyers with the conversion practice?

Thanks.

Every house owner had to submit their detail individually then??

for those who wish to convert earlier, house still empty, what is there to proof it is for residential leh...


Which means we can only do it once a committee has been formed? Please enlighten.

Thanks.

Any updates so far?

Property still under construction, can only update next year.

coincidentally my home will also complete by 3rd quarter of next year... probably we will go through the process at the same time..

I guess may be TNB reply me based on standard reply, you can try luck to ask them and c.. cos ur common area also need to change to residential...

My condo , after 10 years me moved in here , just recently changed the water service from the management to Syabas . It took one whole year to do the migration . Not sure about the TNB tariff . I will need to check with the management

Visit the tnb office nearest to your service apartment. Ask for sample letter template for you to write your letter to tnb to request to convert to residential rate. Basically you just need to state the unit is occupied as residential. For iwk, also go to the office for your area and apply to convert. They'll arrange someone to visit your unit to take photos as evidence it's occupied as house

Developer did not inform anything regarding about conversion, nor the type of tariffs (mixed info from everywhere) is spelled out during signing spa

Yes, the common area too.. guess in my case need to do the conversion as a whole already..


Management to Syabas?? Meaning now every condo maintained their own individual meter and pays directly to syabas instead of the jmb?


Thanks for the detailed info

It is great that your developer puts the terms in black and white. What is the written statement in the SPA regarding about the residential rate for TNB? it will be great if you could share the extraction with us for reference purposes.

I just said DID NOT and NOR...

My bad... my focus was only at the "is spelled out during signing spa"

But still the developer's initiative for conversion is very much appreciated.

i do hope my developer provide their comment to this conversion matter but unfortunately they didnt

This post has been edited by kabyss87: Feb 19 2017, 12:07 AM

Parking for reference! thnx

Not sure about the % requirement. But I'm glad that those authorities gave consent for residential rate at Trefoil (SOFO). I think my owner did apply to them before.

I already discussed with head of migration unit in syabas...whateva it is..those who want to convert...JMB must request to convert the land title from commercial to resident...must go thru PBT...else....have to pay thru either JMB rate, charge back to back or higher rate....those who able to migrate, maybe their origin land title is resident

From what I knew, water tariff is really out of question for conversion, while im not sure how do-able izzit for jmb to do the land title conversion.
Maybe someone could share any successful cases?

Fortunately, water bill should be the least of concern for owners compare to electricity bill or phone/internet bill. I mean like how much you could be paying for the water bill monthly?
I suppose should be lower than 50 buck per month at most?

I would rank the priorities as such;
1. electric tariff
2. phone & internet bill
3. syabas/water tariff
4. assessment rate