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

Is this a successful example of conversion?

i think the utilities rate is base on the usage if you refer to tnb and syabas website,
they are many apartment built on commercial title but utilities still base on resi rate.

same, if a landed house (resi title) but used as showroom (commi), the utilities will then base on commi
so, if the building eg soho,service apartment is use as resi , the utilities shud be resi rate too

i think the rate is base on usage as per their website

“Domestic Consumer” means a consumer occupying a private dwelling, which is not used as a hotel, boarding house or used for the purpose of carrying out any form of business, trade, professional activities or services.

TS any updates?

TNB is follow the resi rate but not for syabas especially got shop lot downstair ..these issue a lot of people still unsatisfied with these term...

yes agreed, especially strata property where initially it was bulk meter (under developer name), but once upstair resi have individual strata title have been issued, it should be able to covert to resi rate, the meter now transferred from the developer 's master title to individual title.

True. Electric bills can run into the hundreds

parking

Do u mind disclose which SA ? Can let me know if u don't mind, I m still doing survey on buying a service apartment because I saw some good deal 400k+++

Quote

Case study (my own property)-

Apartment build on commercial land.

TNB is on residential rates since day 1 VP

This post has been edited by propertymart: Apr 25 2017, 02:35 PM

propertymart

Zest @ BK5

This post has been edited by scchan107: Apr 25 2017, 03:18 PM

I have similar case to this post owner. Im about to collect my apartment key this week and developer ask me to settle all excess payment first. Then I found out, my "Electricity Deposit Charges" is RM 1620 + "Additional Deposit Charges" RM 615. Total is about RM 2.2k Holy shxt. Even my water deposit is RM 200.

Staff from Developer side told me that it is commercial land tariff. I was like, I bought a residential apartment & you were telling me that its Commercial land? It has NO shoplots & only one block of apartment. I'm so confused.

So my question is the same, will it take long time to do conversion to Residential Tariff ? Is this done individually?

Did you manage to convert the tariff? How long does it takes?

interested to find out as well

Parking. Seems no clear solution after long discussion.

any clear solution yet ?

I wonder...if I were to buy an office lot and live there like an apartment.... can I apply for TNB and IWK to charge me home residential rates?

Tried converting water at klang office but cannot do so becuz under commercial title. But electric can convert to residential.

Water and assessments cant change.....

Good thing electric can change as it consume the most among utility bills

best to do it yourself. dun rely on JBM or JBA to do this.

convert the tnb bill is easy,

just photo copy your ic, go to nearest Tnb and fill up the form,
will convert within 1 month

Not nrerest tnb. Must see which tnb branch handle yr house.

But i do hope that this service will be available via mytnb soon. They already have the section but not opened for use yet

This post has been edited by BEANCOUNTER: Jun 1 2018, 07:52 PM

For TNB customers, you can now apply for tariff change online, via myTNB portal. Yes, it is only available on their website portal, not on the app yet.

These are the steps:

myTNB portal > Apply > I want to do something else > I want to find out more about other services > Select your TNB account and click "next" > Change my tariff.

You will need to upload your proof of identity too.

Good luck!

The link stated by user @cZee is as below. Go to the bottom of the page and you may apply online. Just sharing to you guys who won't get stuck in their website as there are many options and wording there.

TNB Change tariff link

Water bill boleh convert ker?

What if the owner rents out the unit to a tenant. Can he/she still apply for the tariff change?

Yes, if doesn't matter...

Good information

Successful rate?

Hi Allout20!

My application was approved 3 days after my submission, which really a surprise to me.

Good luck to you too!

Cool

I emailed to DBKL to enquire on conversion of assessment rate from commercial tariff to residential tariff but no response. Any successful appeal case here?

Ive tried to apply for service apt from commercial rate to residential rate by using TNB app and its done within few days, there will be a RM10 charges for stamping fees.
Only need to scan IC and fill up the form through internet

Is very difficult to appeal... I got one condo at SJ, under residential title... But the asseement rate as expensive as commercial... Many owners also appeal and some attend the meeting with MBSJ...but also failed to get residential rate

Hey, just wondering if you are able to convert the water bill to residential rate ?

does TNB go to ur unit for any site survey before it is converted successfully?

or after successful submission of application online, the straightaway it is approved after 3 days?

does TNB go to ur unit for any site survey before it is converted successfully?

or after successful submission of application online, the straightaway it is approved after 3 days?

No, there wasn't any onsite due diligence, just a self declaration is required. I couldn't recall how long it took for my approval.

Good luck!

anyone changed their IWK bill to residential?

TNB can but water cant