Understanding Condo By-Laws and Their Legal Implications

Max Top Synergy (M) Sdn Bhd in Malaysia may be your target audience, but they are just as legally bound by condominium by-laws if they wish to carry on their business in condos as well. If you have ever tried to make a business out of moving disposable goods across the sea and into dissemination points such as conveniently located convenience stores, you probably already know about the crazy amount of paperwork that it takes in order to legally make it happen. If you have not, however, the myriad of paperwork may end up being enough to sink your entire business if you neglect it. In addition to customs duties and state taxes pertaining to the borders of the countries from which you are importing and those to which you are distributing, the food and beverage industry has additional requirements when it comes to the storage and sale of consumables. Even seemingly benign products such as napkins are classified as consumables and are subject to a variety of regulations and restrictions.

As with most other types of organizations in any industry, companies that do business out of a condominium must still abide by the by-laws set out by the property owners in order to remain legally operational within the boundaries. Depending on what exactly the company is doing out of a condo, this can lead to some serious legal trouble if you are not keeping yourself aware of the by-laws per property, since those can vary quite considerably. Not only does this mean that you have to keep an up-to-date database of your distribution, but also of the properties at which you are doing business and how those properties operate. The problem with this is that most small to mid-tier companies do not yet have the number of properties to warrant a full-time job, let alone several on a full-time basis. This can lead to businesses that are afraid to make the extra purchase or hire additional manpower to perform the appropriate legal task, only to run into problems later on down the road. As comprehensive condo by-laws and their implications contends, this can be avoided by some basic legal awareness on the part of your companies. The first of such awareness being that, yes, condo by-laws are legally binding and as such, if you break them, you can be taken to court. They are similar to the rules and regulations set out for golf courses or private communities that require their owners to follow these rules, and failure to do so entails consequences. The reason that these rules exist is to maintain a certain level of quality that the owners are seeking in order to maintain the value of their real estate, but they also create a situation wherein you cannot change things massively unless you get the approval of the owners throughout the property before you begin making any changes, at least if you want to be on their good side.

This does present a particular problem for distributors and other companies in the industry, as it puts pressure on them to “know” the by-laws of the company so that they do not make a mistake that can hurt them both financially and legally. In addition to simply maintaining knowledge of the by-laws, they also need to ensure that they are continuously informed of any changes to the by-laws before they occur, so that the company is not caught off guard by a completely legal but unwanted change to the operation of their business. This can include but is not limited to a cessation of operation in the area by the owners of the property or even simply a change in what is illegal for them to be doing out of their condo.

Thus, the easy solution to this problem is to keep up-to-date with local regulations and the proper association representatives (such as those at the condo office) in order to maintain adequate knowledge of any changes to the property’s regulations. It then may be helpful to confer with a real estate lawyer to best determine how to handle the situation properly in-case there is an unwanted change. While it is entirely possible and legal for the condo owners to say “no” to distributors and others in the industry, there are ways around this that do not directly violate the by-laws if you are willing to work with those in the area in order to provide them with some financial relief while you still maintain business in the area.