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Dear Owners of Marinella,

Greetings!

We are a group of Marinella Owners who have become quite concerned about the substandard property management of Marinella. As a result, comparing to similar properties, Marinella’s market value is declining instead of appreciating. A group of Marinella Owners openly raised their concerns at the Annual General Meeting held in early October 2021. Subsequently, 55 Marinella Owners co-signed a formal letter of complaint to the management company and asked the Owners’ Committee (“OC”) to evaluate the property managers appointed by the management company, to seek rectification of property management’s irresponsible conduct, and to restore confidence of the owners in property management.

At present only the Owners’ Committee (“OC”) has legal standing to represent all Marinella Owners to deal with Teamer, the Manager designated in the Deed of Mutual Covenant (“DMC Manager”). As both the chairman and the secretary of the OC have already resigned, it is imperative that a new election be held urgently. With the continuous erosion of the rights of the owners, we are unable to turn a blind eye to the lack of accountability of the management company and the failure to protect our rights as owners.

We invite you to participate in the joint petition to hold a new election of the OC as soon as possible. By improving communication among the owners and strengthening the exercise of owners’ rights, we hope to advance the owners’ two common objectives of

(1) residents live happily and (2) investment appreciates in value.

Very truly yours,

Marinella Concerned Owners’ Group

WeChat: M9_concerned_owners;

WhatsApp: +852-66603923;

Email: m9.concerned.owners@gmail.com

Full text of invitation

Dear Owners of Marinella,

Greetings!

We are a group of Marinella Owners who have become quite concerned about the substandard property management of Marinella. We have witnessed that the quality of Marinella property management has declined over time, with many problems identified by owner-residents remaining unresolved for a long time. As a result, comparing to similar properties, Marinella’s market value is declining instead of appreciating.

At present only the Owners’ Committee (“OC”) has legal standing to represent all Marinella Owners to deal with Teamer, the Manager designated in the Deed of Mutual Covenant (“DMC Manager”). Contrary to the clear stipulation in the DMC that the OC must be established before the end of 2013, Teamer delayed by 8 years to convene an Owners Meeting to elect the first OC of Marinella in June 2020. By now, two OC members, the chairman and the secretary, have already resigned.

Marinella faces a wide range of substandard property management problems, with unresolved old problems piling up while new problems continue to pop up. Increasingly there are indications that some of these long-standing unresolved problems may involve fundamental issues involving the building’s structure and security. Although Marinella enjoys the advantage of a landmark location and an attractive market position, due to substandard property management, residents no longer enjoy living here, and owners face downward risk in investment value. Below is a list of the problems caused by substandard property management:

1. A management model involving several layers of delegation by Teamer to Chissay and sub-delegation by Chissay to Jones Lang LaSalle Management Services Ltd. (“JLL” or “management subcontractor”), resulting in a do-nothing DMC Manager who is unaccountable to the Owners and who avoids taking any responsibility for the substandard property management.

2. The management subcontractor controls the communication channel between the OC and the Owners, interferes with OC’s internal deliberation, and seriously disrupts the smooth functioning of the OC.

3. The DMC Manager openly disregarded a formal complaint letter co-signed by 55 Owners, by using a clever legal interpretation to hide behind the OC. 

4. Net effect of the above is that Marinella Owners are always kept in the dark while suffering a continuous erosion of their rights.

 5. Issues of substandard maintenance persist in the Common Parts of the property while related quality problems inside Owners’ units fail to receive timely and effective remediation and indemnification.

 6. Failure to enforce a personnel code of conduct resulted in personal safety issue to residents and poor morale among Marinella staff members.

 7. Charging exorbitant prices for routine household repair services, causing residents to live in constant distress.

Although legally speaking Marinella Owners are the owners, given their substantial number it is difficult to coordinate a uniform view among them, leading to a weak and passive position at the present time. Moreover, before the Owners’ Corporation is formed, all channels and platforms relating to property management are under the strict control of the management subcontractor. Although the OC has legal standing to represent Marinella Owners to deal with the management subcontractor, it is subject to constant interference and faces many problems.

8. Both OC chairman and secretary have resigned for months and a lack of leadership results in Marinella Owners continuously kept in the dark.

 9. The communication channel between the OC and the Owners is blocked, with the Owners having to find other ways for their voice to be heard.

 10. A formal petition by 55 Owners to evaluate the property managers appointed by the management subcontractor was “filtered” by the OC and effectively “extinguished”.

 11. Lack of transparency in the review of important matters, thereby making room for irresponsible behavior on the part of the management subcontractor.

The Owners witnessed the hard work of OC members in the past, for which we express our heartfelt gratitude. However, mutual respect and neighborly cordiality between Marinella Owners should not distract from the most urgent common task before us. Since at present only the OC has legal standing under the DMC to address property management issues, it is imperative that the hard-earned result negotiated by the OC will be implemented by the OC to rectify the irresponsible behavior of the management subcontractor. We believe a joint petition by a large group of Marinella Owners will give a strong mandate to the OC to commence an evaluation of the property managers appointed by the management subcontractor.

Numerous precedents in Hong Kong and overseas demonstrate that only when the owners exercise timely and effective supervision of the property in a comprehensive manner will the management of the property be carried out responsibly, the relationship between the owners and the management company be built on a legal, reasonable and considerate foundation, the facilities of the property be given reasonable protection and maintenance, the investment of the owners be protected by quality management, and the residents be provided a safe, comfortable and delightful living environment.

Teamer has already made it abundantly clear that only the OC has legal standing to represent Marinella Owners to deal with the DMC Manager on problems of the management subcontractor’s substandard performance. Regardless of how many Marinella Owners we can assemble as a group, it will have zero impact on the DMC Manager. In the end what really matters is to elect an OC that:

  • Proactively listens to the Owners,
  • Proactively upholds Owners’ right,
  • Transparently review matters of great concern to the Owners,
  • Decisively take action to address the management subcontractor’s substandard performance,
  • Expeditiously advance the common objective of “residents living happily and investment appreciating in value.”

“Status quo” or “reform”? We believe that only by focusing on the fundamental issues and taking decisive action will the substandard property management of Marinella be rectified. All that the management subcontractor cares about are how much of the $3,000,000-a-year Management Remuneration they will be able to share. What the Owners care about is the enjoyment and appreciation of Marinella that has a market value of tens of billions of dollars. We the undersigned owners are passionate about moving forward with a reform that will protect our home and increase the value of our investment. If you share our goal of “residents living happily and investment appreciating in value”, we cordially invite you to contact our owner-volunteers and to participate in this joint petition.

1. Primary proposal:  A Joint Petition of Marinella Owners to “request the OC to convene as soon as possible an Extraordinary General Meeting according to Clause 12.6 of the Deed of Mutual Covenant to elect 9 OC members as successor to the present OC, to represent all Owners to advance the two common objectives of (1) residents live happily and (2) investment appreciates in value”.

2. Back-up proposal:  If the OC fails to act promptly to effectuate the joint petition above, to co-sponsor a resolution to be added to the agenda of the earliest future Owners’ Meeting to elect 9 OC members as successor to the present OC, to represent all owners to advance the two common objectives of (1) residents live happily and (2) investment appreciates in value.

We wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Very truly yours,

Group of Marinella Concerned Owners

Yes! I agree to participate. (Please follow the green label below to complete a simple 3-step process).

Reminder:  Before you proceed, please kindly doublecheck the following:

(1) The contact: Save a copy of your WeChat QR code in your phone’s photo album so that you can upload it later. If your media account can be searched by the ID number, you may choose to leave the account ID only.

(2) Printer: Please get it connected to print out the documents later.

OK, now you may begin the sign-up process. Thanks for your kind attention.

1. Sign up

Joint Petition of Marinella Owners to Hold a New Election of the Owners’ Committee

Given the large number of Owners, we wish to organize more effective communication on an ongoing basis, so as to provide better protection of our legal rights as owners. Please kindly provide your basic contact details to join the “Marinella Concerned Owners Group” on WhatsApp or WeChat, through which communication will be confined solely to property management matters. 

If you own multiple units at Marinella, please kindly provide a separate sign-up for each unit (multiple sign-ups by the same owner is OK).

Under the “Name” section, you can either enter your name or the way you prefer to be addressed (e.g. Mrs. Chan/陳太) 

Thanks for all your help.

Upload your contact details

Please fill in your phone/WhatsApp number and upload your WeChat QR code. When the information is filled in and the documents for upload are ready (“100%” appears), click “Submit”. 

    2. Download document of authorization (select one from 2.1 or 2.2 below)

    【Kind Reminder】To raise the owners’ joint motion for the new election by the rule of minimum 5% shares, prior proxy to the volunteer owners is a secure and efficient way because a timely formal notice to add the joint motion into the agenda is essential. So, method 2.1 is highly recommended. Thanks!

    3. Upload the signed document (or deliver the originals to mailbox provided in the document of authorization)

    After the information is filled in and the document of authorization is signed, lay it flat and take a photo or scan it, then upload the document here. After the document to be uploaded has been selected (“100%” appears), click “Submit”.

      Email

      m9.concerned.owners@gmail.com

      Please specify in your email your Marinella unit’s number (e.g. T2-2B), as well as your social media contact details (if available).

      WeChat

      WeChat ID: M9_concerned_owners

      WhatsApp/Tel

      +852-66603923

      Thanks for your participation! More information for your reference in the following parts.

      Q & A

      The DMC Manager is Teamer Property Management Company (“Teamer”), a subsidiary company in the K. Wah Group. Teamer has delegated the property management of Marinella to Chissay (Property Management) Limited (“Chissay”), another subsidiary company in the K. Wah Group. In turn, Chissay has entered into a contract with Jones Lang LaSalle Management Services Ltd. (“JLL” or “management subcontractor”) to subcontract the property management of Marinella to JLL. The net result is that day-to-day management of Marinella falls into the hands of parties with whom the Owners have no direct contractual relationship. Teamer has consistently refused to disclose the subcontract between Chissay and JLL (see here), rendering it impossible for the Owners to hold the management subcontractor accountable for longstanding property management problems, such as routine cleaning services, ground level traffic control, and swimming pool management etc.

      JLL refused to provide contact information of Owners to the OC – all communication from the OC to the Owners must be approved by JLL in advance before being sent out via JLL’s platform. In January 2021, JLL Senior Director Wesley Lau and Marinella property manager Ronny Lee bypassed the OC secretary to organize an OC meeting on 30 January 2021, where certain OC members were guided to initiate a resolution to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to remove Mr. Kan, the OC chairman (see OC meeting notice). Three senior managers from the K. Wah Group were also invited to attend for the very first time. In effect, the OC was ambushed by JLL, a party with whom the Owners have no direct contractual relationship. Such an act of ambush by the management subcontractor seriously disrupted the smooth functioning of the OC, which was first established only 6 months earlier. Details of this meeting can be found in the approved pre-meeting record of the 30 January 2021 OC meeting and minutes of subsequent OC meetings, which can be obtained from the OC directly (marinella.oc.mail@gmail.com).

      On 23 October 2021, 55 Owners co-signed a formal complaint letter (See here) , in which 13 specific problems of substandard property management were identified, and asked the OC to forward the complaint letter to Teamer. Teamer failed to reply to the Owners; instead, JLL the management subcontractor sent a non-committal response to Ms. Lu as the Owners’ representative (see here) with substantial items unaddressed (see here). After the Owners applied further pressure, Teamer itself finally responded by citing certain legal provision in the DMC as justifying that the earlier message from JLL to Ms. Lu was a sufficient response to the formal complaint letter co-signed by the 55 Owners, and that in the future Teamer would liaise only with the OC “on all matters” (See here).

      Deprive owners of the right to access the OC meeting minutes by providing only the English Version (see here). Creation of a Marinella mobile phone APP was meant to facilitate Owners’ access to information on property management and OC’s deliberation. However, each Owner is required to submit a signed paper application before being allowed to download and open the APP. Since many Owners don’t live in Marinella themselves, and with other Owners who live here being away from Hong Kong in the Mainland or overseas due to the pandemic, no effort is made by the management subcontractor to enable convenient access by the disadvantaged Owners. OC meeting minutes emailed by the management subcontractor are set in a format that does not allow the Owner to open and read any attachment of interest by simply clicking the relevant link. Significant Owners’ complaints are regularly whitewashed by the management subcontractor into something more innocuous. For example, the formal complaint letter addressed to Teamer was re-characterized by the management subcontractor as “a letter of request”. “Failure to perform their oversight duties” was translated by the management subcontractor into “unable to carry out their work”. With the numerous small steps taken by the management subcontractor, it is inevitable that the Owners will always be kept in the dark. 

      Substandard maintenance of the Common Parts of the property and long period of neglect by the management subcontractor has turn Marinella into a place full of eyesores wherever one cares to look, with the original tasteful design of Marinella totally unrecognizable today (see here). Defects during the construction phase now manifest themselves in quality problems inside Owners’ units (such as uncontrollable water leakage). Teamer failed to raise these construction defects with the developer in a timely manner in order to seek timely and effective remediation and indemnification, leaving the unfortunate Owners in endless distress. The construction warranty given by the developer to the Owners will expire in a few years’ time. As a subsidiary company of the developer, Teamer is in a serious conflict of interest position—we cannot expect Teamer to take the initiative to follow up on construction defects with the developer proactively. Once the developer’s warranty has expired, the Owners will suffer not only a sharp drop in the property’s market value due to a failure to rectify the construction quality issue, but also the high cost of repair that should have been the developer’s responsibility.

      The observation and feedback from a number of Owners indicated serious breach of code of conduct by certain personnel appointed by the management subcontractor JLL. Although the management subcontractor knew about the breaches for a long time, it failed to take any action to address them. After repeated pressure from a group of concerned Owners, one problem personnel has been removed from Marinella, but other problem personnel still remain in Marinella.

      rices for routine household repair services are exorbitant (see price list)—charging $1,000 for replacing a light switch that cost $300 if a repairman from the outside were used, and charging $100 for a $10 light bulb, etc. Household repair and maintenance regularly cost thousands to tens of thousands. Despite the joint complaint of substantial Owners, the management subcontractor makes no change but continues to blindly refer such work to outside contractors without doing any due diligence on price and quality (see the latest proposal). The goal of a property management company should be to help residents to enjoy living in Marinella, but the reality is that Marinella residents now live in constant distress caused by all types of household repair and maintenance headaches.

      With the management subcontractor repeatedly interfering, disrupting and undermining the work of the OC, leading to the resignation of both OC chairman and secretary, silencing the voice of Marinella Owners has become a reality. Who will represent the voice of Marinella Owners? How will the voice of Marinella Owners be heard by the DMC Manager and the management subcontractor in the future? These important issues have been swept under the carpet.

      With the resignation of both OC chairman and secretary, the only communication channel left between the OC and the Owners is the official email address of the OC, while other channels are controlled by the management subcontractor. As a result, the several social media groups set up by the former OC secretary have become the only uncensored channels for Owners to express their concerns about the substandard property management of Marinella. The remaining OC members rarely participated in the social media group’s discussion. Fearing that their voice didn’t reach the remaining OC members, the Owners presented a list of concerns and complaints about substandard property management at the Annual General Meeting held on 5 October 2021. Unfortunately, 4 months have passed and yet no OC member has reached out to the Owners to understand their concerns and complaints.

      55 Owners took the initiative to communicate with the OC directly, by co-signing and sending a “Letter of Thanks and Petition” (see here) to the OC. In addition to thanking the OC for their hard work in the past, these Owners petitioned the OC to commence urgently an evaluation of the property managers appointed by the management subcontractor. Teamer has already committed to the OC that the DMC Manager would honor such an evaluation by the OC in order to improve the performance quality of the management subcontractor (see OC meeting minutes). After receiving the “Letter of Thanks and Petition”, the OC stayed quiet and failed to take any action to follow up – OC’s formal reply only acknowledged the Owners’ “letter of thanks” but didn’t mention the Owners’ “petition”, which was effectively “filtered” and “extinguished” by the OC.

      During the final stage of the negotiation with the DMC Manager, the OC failed to proactively seek the input of the Owners, to ensure that the commitments secured from Teamer truly addressed the concerns of the Owners about substandard property management. Conflict of interest issue was disregarded by OC member. The OC made no effort to arrange the agenda of the Annual General Meeting in such a way as to elicit Owners’ views and concerns about substandard property management. The issue of the Two Letters (the Letter of Serious Demands and the Letter of Thanks and Petition) co-signed by 55 Owners was not addressed in the first OC meeting’s agenda after the AGM (see OC Meeting agenda) notwithstanding the rare attendance of Mr. Vincent Yeung from Chissay. Finally, after further pressure from the Owners, only the Letter of Serious Demands was included in the second OC meeting after the AGM as the last (16th) agenda, which the OC spent less than 7 minutes to go over without any discussion among the OC members about the problems presented in the letter, such as the divergence of the management’s proposal from the owners’ demands.


      Ms. Ding is an owner living in Tower 1. She have been living in Hong Kong for decades. She believes that as long as owners unite as one and take timely and effective actions, the property management quality is expected to be improved in the long run.

      Ms. Lu is one of the first-hand owners of Marinella. She is also the founder and administrator of the three main online chat groups of Marinella. The advantage of her diversified background as well as her fervent contribution have been widely recognized by the community. Here are her objectives: Comply with the law and the DMC. Revolve around the owners. Strengthen owners’ joint power. Defend owners’ mutual rights and interests.

      Ms. Wang is an owner from Tower 2. Before she moved to Marinella in 2021, she lived in a large rail plus property developed by Sun Hung Kai company. With rich experience of high-quality property management, she hopes to contribute herself to enhancing the property management, which makes Marinella an upscale estate and a beautiful home.

      Protect the rights of Marinella Owners. Residents live happily. Property appreciates in value.


      Joint the volunteer team!

      Your participation into our team is how the property management could be further improved!

      You are very welcome to join us. Please leave us your telephone/WhastApp number or upload the WeChat QR code. Click the “submit” button after the upload is 100% completed.

        WeChat:

        WhatsApp

        WhatsApp ID: +852-66603923

        Email

        m9.concerned.owners@gmail.com

        Given a large number of Owners, we hope to establish a long-term and efficient communication channel with everyone to protect owners’ rights and interests in Marinella. Please note that all personal data will be kept by the administrators of Concerned Owners’ Group and will not be stored on the server of this webpage. Relevant personal information is only used for this joint petition. The Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance will be followed in using and processing the personal data.