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Handbook based on the Apartment Ownership Law of Sri Lanka covering all legal issues relating to the creation of a condominium property, matters connected with the administration and management of condominium properties and issues of importance for buyers and sellers of condominiums. This is the only hand book on condominium property law in Sri Lanka and is referred to by both lawyers, students of law and non lawyers.
More details: https://www.srilankanbooks.com/product/view/23723
This is from the revised edition of my book “Understanding the Concept of Condominiums” (revised February 2020)
The condominium industry in Sri Lanka can have a healthy growth with prospective buyers having confidence to invest in this sector, if some or all of the abovementioned problems are addressed through legislation by amending the present Apartment Ownership Law and through Regulations to the Act, where ever it is possible to do so.
The following suggestions are based on the legal provisions adopted in countries where the condominium industry is in a highly developed state where laws have kept abreast with the need to safeguard the rights of buyers while the developers, who comply with strict legal provisions, are confident presales of units will be financed by lenders.
More details: https://ajithaa2.wordpress.com/2020/05/15/the-need-to-revise-the-apartment-ownership-law/
The shipping industry in the European Union (EU) operated without any hindrance from EU Competition Law protected by a “Conference Block Exemption” which permitted the fixing of prices and limiting of supply. This has now changed and carriers are faced with the need to adjust to the new regime. The focus of this book is on the liner shipping industry in view of the importance it holds in the global supply chain and the considerable impact it has on time sensitive cargo. In this book the application of EU Competition law to liner shipping is explored and a convincing argument presented on the basis of data gathered from various sources.
More details: https://www.lulu.com/content/5201172?page=1&pageSize=4
A paper presented under the Data Governance section of the Master of Law & Business (MLB) course completed in 2007 in Hamburg, Germany. Graded as ‘excellent’ and presented during the IBM Data Governance Leadership Forum held in Hungtinton, NY in June 2008. The paper addresses the sub-prime mortgage crisis that occurred between 2007 – 2009 in the USA.
Borrowing and lending have never been considered as the best ways to earn a living for the common man. However, it propelled the real estate market in the US in the last couple of years to unexpected heights and just as suddenly, left both borrowers and lenders high and dry with losses of billions of dollars caused by a so called “sub prime mortgage crisis”.
This paper initially addresses the causes and effects of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and sheds light on how Data Governance could have avoided the crisis if there had been a proper focus on the governance of data.
In the sub prime crisis, the lenders allowed undetected risk to enter the banking stream through the acceptance of low quality data from sub prime borrowers, which spilled over to products sold to unsuspecting investors by the same lenders. The banks had erred in their fiduciary responsibilities towards investors, whose funds are collectively used to lend money to the original borrowers including the sub prime category. The importance of having a Data Governance Program is therefore, an integral part of a banking system to ensure what is delivered as a product, is risk free, as any other product sold in the market.
The Program, as described herein, takes into account the causes of the sub-prime crisis and addresses the weaknesses in the lending process. It does not however discard sub prime borrowers, as they are essential to broad base home ownership. Instead, the suggested Data Governance Program incorporates a system of cross checking, monitoring and reporting to ensure early detection of low quality data. The methodology is based on 5 Stages, i.e. Visualize, Plan, Organize, Test and Implement.
No program can be successful unless there is cooperation and active involvement of all members of the organization leading to its successful implementation. The Data Governance Program recommended in this paper addresses that singularly important issue and suggests that the Data Governance Committee be represented by a member from each relevant Department of the Bank and be headed by a Chief Data Governance Officer reporting directly to the CEO.
The success of this program depends on measurements and appraisals of critical activities in the lending process. It is done with the assistance of a Project Management Scorecard and findings reported back so that not only the other team members but also the producer of original data (i.e. Mortgage Broker) is kept informed of data quality through a ‘feed-back loop’. This enables improvements to data as and when the need arises. The sub-prime mortgage crisis was a warning for Banks and other lending institutions that data quality and integrity is just as important as a data breach.
More details:
https://ajithaa2.wordpress.com/tag/sub-prime-mortgage/
Published in Sinhala in the “Neethiya” magazine released in the 30th Anniversary special commemorative launch in January 2021.
Published in English in the Centenary Law Journal of the Negombo Law Society in 2020. Off-plan sales or pre-sales of condominiums have risen significantly in the last decade. Roman Dutch law (RDL) applies when a subdivided building is not registered as a condominium property. This article, discusses the risks of Off-plan sales and the extent of the application of Roman Dutch Law (RDL) to such units when the building remains undivided and unregistered under the Apartment Ownership Law. Some of the steps taken in other jurisdictions to mitigate such risks and their legal attributes are considered as against the present status in Sri Lanka to support the view that similar steps should be adopted locally to make Off-Plan condominium purchases a safe investment.