THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Challenges in condominium property management

Challenges in condominium property management

FOUR YEARS AGO, I addressed the challenges in the property-management industry in this column. Several years on, the same challenges remain in finding competent personnel to fill the role of on-site property-management staff.

With more and more condominiums, offices, hotels, serviced apartments and retail centres completed in Bangkok, property managers are competing for the same limited pool of resources in order to deliver a quality management team that can run the properties smoothly and to a high standard.
The key challenge remains at the managerial level, where there is no structured training and development in place to enhance the skills of personnel in the industry.
There are now four institutions offering an undergraduate degree specialising in property management, but this is still in its initial stages. On-the-job experience remains a critical component for staff learning and development.
Residential condominiums is one segment that faces more challenges than others, from a more limited management budget, managing under a condominium juristic person (CJP) and finding the right key personnel.
Serviced apartments, hotels and retail buildings have higher management budgets at their disposal than condominiums and are therefore able to draw higher-calibre property-management teams. With higher budgets, the buildings can also be managed to higher standards.
Condominiums are also faced by the restraints of the CJP, where day-to-day decisions rely on a committee and key decisions such as setting common-area management fees or appointing a property manager will be determined by a majority vote by the co-owners at the building’s annual general meeting.
Hotels, serviced apartments, and retail and offices facilities are single-ownership buildings and have a simpler decision-making process. When decision-making relies on multiple parties, it is often challenging to reach an agreeable and optimal decision.
Finding the right building manager is another challenge. At the end of the day it is the quality of the personnel that determines the quality of the property-management service. However, the prerequisite skill set for a building manager is not easy to find.
In addition to having broad skills on technical and financial aspects to understand the building’s operational issues, the manager must also have good communication and interpersonal skills with fluency in Thai and English and the ability to deal with co-owners and the committee and resolve day-to-day management issues.
A related issue is the risk of staff turnover. With a heavy reliance on key personnel, any staff turnover will undoubtedly affect the day-to-day operations of a building.
Because of the challenges in property management, multiple real-estate developers have set up their own property-management companies. Large-scale developers such as Sansiri, Ananda, Gaysorn and Charn Issara have long established their own property-management teams, and this trend is continuing.
MK Real Estate recently set up Yours Property Management to manage both MK and non-MK projects. Realising that property management is crucial to maintaining and increasing its property values, developers have set up their own teams to fulfil their needs and to ensure their properties are managed to the standards promised to buyers.
With reliance on skilled human resources, the challenges of the property-management industry will remain. What the sector needs is technological support in areas where this can be applied, such as financial management, lease administration, engineering and purchasing. This would at least lessen the reliance on human resources and ensure a smoother transition whenever there is staff turnover.

Aliwassa Pathnadabutr is managing director of CBRE Thailand.

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