What is the maintenance fee at Zenia @ ParkCity Damansara?

Read the rate carefully when you compare launches. Plenty of developments quote a maintenance charge and then bill the sinking fund on top, so a headline of RM0.33 elsewhere can land higher than this one once the second line appears. At Zenia the RM0.33 is the whole monthly figure per square foot.

Work out your own number by multiplying the rate by your built-up: RM0.33 × 1,691 sq ft is RM558 a month for a Type A1. If you are buying to rent out, that is the figure to take off your gross yield — it is the difference between the return on the brochure and the return in your account.

Two caveats worth knowing. The rate is set by the developer before handover; once the joint management body is formed after vacant possession, owners can revise it, and rates generally drift up rather than down over a building's life. And the three-storey Parkhomes are landed homes rather than strata units in the Condovilla blocks — message me for their charge rather than assuming this rate carries across.