As Title: I wish to buy a property at Bayu Puteri - Tropicana or Palm Spring.

However,
Bayu Puteri - Tropicana is a Service Apartment
Palm Spring is a Condominium.

What is the difference between this two? Is the Comdominium better than Service Apartment?

2 key deff :

1. Service apartments sits on commercial land, while condo sits on residential land.

2. Due to the above, u will have to pay slightly more in terms of water + elect charges, as u r being charged commercial rates.

Thank for explanation!!!

But, only the water and electricity charge higher.
Any hidden cost different with the condo?

Is the Service apartment protect under Housing Development Act?

Techinically under HDA, service apartment is treated as any other commercial/shop lots

where as under condominium, it is protected under HDA


Ps. Go hire a lawyer, it is extremely important to get legal advice from a qualified lawyer

If service apartment not protect under HDA, any fault if may exist compare with HDA?

some serviced apartments have similar electrical charges to residential condos...

for serviced apartments, the quit rent and assessment is higher, also the maintenance fees is higher...

if you buy under construction from developer, serviced apartments charge on commencement of work where as condos charge on completion of work... this is for disbursement for progressive payment...

in event of late delivery, abandon project... service apartments you have to sue the developer yourself where as condos you can report to HDA

This post has been edited by kenji1903: Sep 15 2007, 11:18 PM

Bankers also hate Service apartment. due to grey matter when transfering is concern. Its not protected by the housing act and things still not sort out yet between developer , the master title and the individual title. Messy.

Reply to kenji1903:

The Electricity, Water charge higher is ok, but I worry the Quit Rent and Assessment is too high, anybody know different how much compare with condo?

Reply to hackwire:
Do you know the procedure of transfer? and how can I check whether the transfer success or not?

im not so sure but you need a lawyer to follow up the transfer with the land office for the safe side. sometimes the property that you buy is under caveat.

it depends on location, you might want to check with the developer or better, the municipal council/land office of that area

ok....Thanks for explanation... I will try to solve all this problem...
Thank you for help!!!

KK,

I'm new to property investing as well, recently I'm researching on commercial unit as I intended to buy one. Regarding your question here, AFAIK, commercial unit now is protected by HDA act too, effectively this April.

You can check out a discussion on this change here:
http://www.myrealestate.com.my/viewtopic.php?t=1244

Correct me if i'm wrong.

aeronyc,

As i read the link you provided, they only talk about the payment of completion(all regarding the problem with developers)

How about if I buy 2nd hand service apartment? I did not face this kind of problem! Meaning no problem for 2nd hand buyer? How about the transfer name from the owner to the buyer, is there difficulty to do so?

Quoting from an article in my bookmark sauce theEdge

According to Previndran, quit rent in Kuala Lumpur is calculated at 65 sen psm for residential land and RM4 psm for commercial land. The assessment charges for residential and commercial property, meanwhile, are calculated at 6.0 and 12 per cent of the annual value, respectively.


edit: Another thing you should do is to compare the SPA between a commercial property you're interested in with the SPA for a residential property. Note the difference and query the developer or check with someone knowledgeable.

edit2: Forgot something else check if car park is included with the unit or not!

I've heard some commercial developers dont bundle carpark with the unit. You'll have to pay extra to rent your carpark from them - so clever to make money

This post has been edited by aaronpang: Sep 17 2007, 10:35 AM

Aaron bro, effective 1st April 2007, all SPA for service apartments is now standardize under HDA, and that means we'll be using a standard SPA for both commercial and residential titled properties.

Pai,

but I unable to find any related article on website regarding this issue? Do you have it?

So I've heard but I believe it's meant/applies for new properties launched after that date... I'm not 100% sure about projects launched earlier or if the legislation is backdated?

I might be wrong but it doesn't hurt to double check the SPA...

BTW TS are you buying new from developer or sub-sale unit??

not yet , i think its not been enforce yet.
banks are still not interested to loan out to some serviced apartment . i asked them why, they said its the ruling . i think they know very well.

enforce already fren, just bought a service apartment last month

KK,

Sorry but I'm not the expert, newbie to real estate as well. You may try to ask around in the forum that I provided. many sifu there

Good Luck