Survey: Majority suffer residential building problems

The majority of residents living in the northern district have encountered residential building problems, according to an investigation recently conducted by the General Union of Neighborhood Association’s office for the northern district.
In the second half of August, the association collected 809 valid responses on a survey completed by local residents living in the northern district.
Nearly 73% of all respondents answered “yes” when asked whether their residential buildings had any problems.
The problems identified by these respondents included water leaks, peeling of exterior cladding, old electrical wiring, outdated firefighting systems and equipment, clogging, illegal construction on rooftops, broken tiles in corridors, damaged elevators, and poor unsanitary conditions.
Despite 73% of respondents acknowledging the defects in their units, nearly half (42%) of them had not carried out maintenance to fix the identified problems.
Macau currently has over 5,000 buildings older than 30 years.
According to Macau’s urban building regulation, building owners should carry out maintenance of their buildings every five years. However, the regulation, which has been in effect since 1963, imposes no penalty for building owners who fail to conduct maintenance.
Earlier this year, the local government said that it hopes to submit an amendment to the regulation to the Legislative Assembly (AL) this year.
In addition, the Macau government has been promoting an urban renewal agenda and has established a government-owned urban renewal company in the hope of improving living conditions for residents living in the old districts of the city.
Nearly 80% of respondents believe that the government’s urban renewal and/or urban reconstruction plans will help improve the environment of the city’s old areas.