Dispute with Building Management Office

We moved into an apartment only to find we had to pay for external renovations of the building. A total of HK$3.3m later (and contribution of HK$77,500 paid by us – no choice!) the building has been completed with what looks like a very expensive bad paint job!

During the renovations our windows were covered in plastic and you could not see out or open the windows or doors. Once the plastic had been removed we discovered that our balconies were covered in paint and basically in a mess. We asked the management office to clean these back to their original condition. We had brand new tiles on the balconies 2 months prior to the renovations. They have failed to turn up when they were supposed to, failed to clean the tiles properly and have even admitted (Management office and their appointed contractors) that they don’t know how to clean them! During their last visit to our apartment we caught them trying to paint our grey tiles with black paint in order to get rid of the white paint! I have tried to clean these myself for hours but no luck!

I have written to the chairman of the committee but have received no reply. I have now held their management fees and have written to them to tell them that I am holding these as we will be asking our builder to replace the tiles at their cost.

Am I within my rights to do this?

So far my requests have fallen on deaf ears, no one is interested and unfortunately I do not speak Cantonese so it’s difficult to communicate with them. Normally they just say yes but nothing happens!

Who normally appoints a building management office, would it be the original developer? Just wondering how or who I should contact to take this further!?

Also after the renovation works, do you think that the management office should give us a break down on the renovation costs that have been paid out with our money?!

Thanks!

I would have thought the contractors' insurance would cover this as they did the damage. Contact the contractor in the first instance. Send them a letter (with photos of the damage) explaining it was they who did the damage and give an estimate of replacement (quotation). Finishing with a "please advise how restitution will be made and when..." plus "or further legal action will be taken..." kind of thing.


Document everything. Because if the contractors do nothing, you can go to the Small Claims Tribunal which covers damage to property up to $50,000 (I'm assuming your tiles did not cost more than that...).

You can also file a complaint with the head office of the property management company. Send the letter to the CEO and copy the site manager. This should help speed up the response.


Agree with Claire that you should document everything, including dates of phone calls, emails, letters, etc.