Does Your Condo Have A Security Problem?
1 Access Cards System
If access cards issued to previous owners or tenants are not cancelled, they might pose a serious security breach in the wrong hands.
At the seafront resort style condominium where I am renting, the percentage of owner occupied units is estimated at a low 25%. For units that are tenanted, I think the churn rate is 10-15% per annum. So for this particular 1,100 unit condominium project with 700 tenanted units, there might be 70-100 moves in each year.
Assume each unit has at least two access cards (note larger units such as my KLCC 3000+ sf apartment might have 4 or more allocated access cards) . So in a year, the property manager here has to keep track of about 140 to 200 access cards changing hands. And that's just a baseline figure, assuming tenants do not request for more access cards for cleaners, dog walkers or guests and family visiting from overseas.
Some years ago, a new building executive was assigned to my 66 unit KLCC luxury condo. He suggested doing an audit of access cards that had been issued over the past 10 years by his predecessors. We were all shocked when the building executive discovered the number of cards outstanding in the database was more than twice what was assumed. Apparently many Access Cards that had been issued to previous tenants and owners had not been cancelled.
If these cards had fallen into the wrong hands, there might have been a serious security breach. The access cards were the cheap type that could be cloned for RM5 a piece at some Pudu shops. The MC committee decided to upgrade to HID cards that had individual serial numbers and reportedly were harder to clone. We upgraded all the access card readers too.
But what if some owners want to rent out their car parks to non residents? Should holders of car park transponders rented out also be registered at the management office?
🤠's Dua Sen : Get your building manager to do an annual audit of outstanding access cards and check off the serial numbers against the apartment units. You might discover your condo has some “ghost” units, IE tenanted units where no particulars of the tenants are recorded in the management office's records.
Ghost units are the result of a common security slip. Move in forms for new tenants (usually completed by their agents) were never handed in to the management office because the agents “forgot”. Or perhaps a more common reason, tenants moved into another unit within the same condo, but neglected to inform the property management office.
2 CCTV System
How many CCTV cameras are required by a condo of course depends on the number of units. At my 66 unit, for example, there were more than 100 digital cameras covering gantry posts, access points, lift cabins, car parks, lift lobbies, the water tank room, management office, electricity / TNB distribution boxes and facilities deck. They are linked via ethernet to secure servers in a locked cubicle at the management office. Nobody except the building manager is allowed access to the secure servers to preserve residents privacy.
Before the digital CCTV system was installed about 10 years ago, we found some of our condo’s electricity distribution boxes had been tapped, aka had electric cables attached, running to a F&B outlet in the same building (my condo is part of a mixed development project comprising serviced residences, offices, retail and a commercial podium). As a result, our electricity bill was higher than what it should have been.
🤠's Dua Sen : If your condo is still using analogue cameras, maybe it’s time to upgrade to digital cameras which have better resolution and Infra Red (night time) modes. I think access to critical installations like the water tank room, management office and backup electricity generator room should also always be monitored by CCTV.
I suggest CCTV servers should be always be secured in a locked room - not even MC or JMB committee members should have access to servers, only duly authorized persons like the building manager.
Anywhere in the common property where there is expensive stuff should be protected by CCTV coverage. One incident at my 66 unit luxury condo comes to mind. A few years ago, I found the expensive stone worktops of the cabana at the facilities deck were scratched and a mirrored fridge door in the outdoor kitchen was found damaged. No CCTV coverage of those areas then meant it was difficult to find out who was responsible. I think additional CCTV cameras were installed later.
3 Visitor Management System (VMS)
During the MCO, many condo residents (including yours truly) discovered the joys of online shopping on portals like Shopee and Lazada. But a steady stream of non residents, IE delivery persons walking around and carrying parcels inside condos might be a security risk.
🤠's Dua Sen : Install CCTV cameras inside the mail room. Bluetooth tracker tags like Apple's Airtags should be issued to renovation contractors and delivery persons. Security should do spot checks, for example, that Bluetooth trackers issued for work actually at a unit at BLK A are not traced to say BLK E.
A long time ago, I was keen to implement a Visitor Management System at my 66 unit condo. This was based on a IPad system which took pictures of visitors faces using the built in camera. Visitors were then issued with Bluetooth fobs.
But most of my fellow committee members decided a VMS that took pictures of people's faces might infringe individual privacy rights.
Post script
Other posts on condominium management at 360 KLCC:
Strata Management Myths Part 1/2
