http://amcis.org.sg/About-AMCIS.php
Welcome to the Association of Management Corporations in Singapore, or A.M.C.I.S., a not-for-profit national alliance of management corporations.
A management corporation is a body corporate constituted under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act, Chapter 30C (the BMSMA) to manage the common properties of the development. All owners, known as Subsidiary Proprietors (SPs) are members of the corporation and own one or more apartment unit(s) (for residential developments), or shop/office unit(s) (for commercial and industrial developments). The common properties are deem jointly owned by all owners and, depending on the size of each unit, a share value is assigned to determine the ownership and amount of contributions to be made towards the cost of maintaining the common properties.
Common properties (or shared properties) include car parks, swimming pools, gardens, common staircases, lifts, tennis courts, roofs, gymnasiums, and any property of the estate that is not the exclusive property of any one owner -- that is, two or more owners may use the property.
The management corporation, the full name of which is MANAGEMENT CORPORATION STRATA TITLE PLAN NO. XXXX, (the short name is MCST No. XXXX). where XXXX is an Arabic number issued by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA). There are more than 3,000 MCSTs in Singapore as at 1 January 2010, discounting those that have been terminated as the estates have been sold collectively.
To maintain the common properties, the MCST is authorised, at general meetings, to impose two levies, the Management Fund (for current expenditures), and the Sinking Fund (for capital expenditures) in proportion to the share value of each unit, something akin to the Service and Conservancy Charges levied by the Housing & Development Board (HDB).
Until 1 April 2005, the relevant legislation to guide MCSTs in their management was the Land Titles (Strata) Act, Chapter 158, (the LTSA) which was imported quite extensively from a similar legislation from Australia.
However, as the culture, history, practices, etc., of Singapore and Singaporeans differ vastly from the Australians, the application of the LTSA lead to more chaos than order resulting in the eventual formation of AMCIS, representing the MCSTs to seek Parliament to amend the LTSA.
This lead to the consequential repeal of the LTSA, except for Section 84A governing collective sales, as well as the repeal of the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act, Chap. 30, and the enactment of the BMSMA which was brought into operation on 1 April 2005.
Until March 2001, there was no collective voice for MCSTs, while the other players in the industry such as housing developers (Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore, REDAS), surveyors and valuers (Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers, SISV), property managers and managing agents (Association of Property and Facility Managers, APFM), and housing agents (Institute of Estate Agents, IEA), were fully represented.
The Ministry of National Development (MND), the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) or the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), etc. cannot be expected to seek the views from the 3,000 plus MCSTs individually. Thus the national alliance of MCSTs, that is, AMCIS, must be charged with that responsibility of representing and speaking on behalf of management corporations.
Consequently, if you are a council member of a MCST, you owe it to your SPs to join AMCIS in order to protect your interests and have your voice heard by the authorities. Unity is strength as there are vast economies of scale when 3,000+ MCSTs joined forces to purchase their needs such as light bulbs, detergent, etc., on a collective basis.
OUR MISSION: To improve the standard of strata property management and the standard of living whilst reducing the costs.
OUR VISION: To enjoy 5-star condo standard living at HDB S&C rates or lower.
IMPOSSIBLE? At least one of our condo members is charging its owners $110 for both maintenance and sinking fund a month with FREE car park, FREE 24-hour security and swimming pool facilities, and lifts to every floor. If they deduct $65 for an uncovered car park as in HDB, they pay only $45 a month for the maintenance and sinking fund which is less than HDB's rates for 4-Room at $55, or 5-Room at $67, or Executive at $83 (rates at AMK/Yio Chu Kang), with FREE 24-hour security and swimming pool facilities. Although this condominium, located at Eng Kong Garden, has only 64 units and thus unable to benefit from the economies of scale associated with larger condos, it is still able to enjoy such low maintenance charges, well below HDB's rates.
At AMCIS, nothing is impossible -- we have developed solutions to solve your problems.
The Association of Management Corporations in Singapore, AMCIS
1 Coleman Street, The ADELPHI, #04-02
Singapore 179803.
Hotline: (65) 6100-1550
Telefax: (65) 6276-8747
Email:
[email protected]