Is it wrong to paint a house in a housing project differently from the others?
Can a homeowner paint their house a different color than other houses in a housing development?
First, we need to understand that homeowners have exclusive rights to do whatever they want with their property—their own house—as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others and is within the boundaries of the law.
In the case of painting our own house, it certainly doesn't infringe on the rights of others. However, does the law allow the housing development's juristic person to prohibit this? We need to examine this together.
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The law defining the powers of a housing development's juristic person is Section 48 of the Land Allocation Act, which states the following:
“Section 48. For the benefit of land buyers, the housing development's juristic person shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) To establish regulations regarding the use of public utilities.
(2) To establish regulations regarding residence and traffic within the housing development.
(3) To collect fees from members for the maintenance and management of public utilities that the housing development's juristic person is responsible for maintaining.
(4) To file complaints or act as plaintiff on behalf of members in cases affecting the rights or benefits of ten or more members.
(5) To provide public services for the welfare of members, or to allocate funds or assets for public benefit.
(6) To carry out any other actions in accordance with the ministerial regulations or the regulations of the Central Land Allocation Committee.” or the regulations of the committee issued under the authority of this Act.
Actions taken under (1), (2) and (5) must be approved by a resolution of the general meeting of members.”
From the above law, we can see that the juristic person only has authority over the management of common property, but there is no law that gives the juristic person the authority to restrict the rights of homeowners to use their ownership rights.
Therefore, in the case of a housing estate, I conclude that the juristic person does not have the authority to prohibit homeowners from painting their property in a certain color, even if such a regulation is issued. Such a regulation is unlawful because it infringes on the homeowners' ownership rights, as the law does not grant such authority.
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If it's a condo, can you paint your condo unit a different color from other units?
Generally speaking, how we paint the interior of our condo unit is the right of the owner, as they have absolute ownership rights, no different from the case of a housing estate.
However, if it's painting the exterior of the unit, which is visible from the outside, even if it's our own unit, there is a law that requires the approval of at least half of the total votes of all co-owners. This is Section 48 (3) of the Condominium Act, which states:
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“Section 48. Resolutions on the following matters must receive at least half of the total votes of all co-owners:
(1) The purchase of real estate or the acceptance of real estate with encumbrances as common property.
(2) The sale of common property that is real estate.
(3) Permission for a co-owner to construct, decorate, renovate, alter, or extend their own condominium unit in a way that affects the common property or the exterior appearance of the condominium building at their own expense.
(4) Amendments to the regulations concerning the use or management of common property.
(5) Amendments to the ratio of shared expenses in the regulations under Section 32 (8).
(6) Construction that alters, adds to, or improves common property.
(7) The provision of benefits from common property.
If, at the meeting, the co-owners do not have the required number of votes as specified in paragraph one, a new meeting must be convened within 15 days from the date of the previous meeting. A resolution on the matters stipulated in paragraph one at this new meeting must receive at least one-third of the total votes of all co-owners.”
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In summary, painting the interior of a condominium unit is freely permitted by law. However, painting the exterior in a way that is visible from the outside is prohibited. This affects the exterior appearance of the condominium building. "This is not allowed" and requires a resolution from at least half of the general meeting of co-owners.
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Thank you for the helpful information from DD-Property.
