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Strata & Building Management
Maintenance charges and sinking fund, JMB and MC governance, AGMs, common property, car park bays, property managers and the Strata Management Tribunal — the running cost and control layer that decides whether a high-rise holds its value after handover.
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| Blog Categories | Strata & Building Management |
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| Content angle | Use this category before you buy into a high-rise, and every year you own one. |
62 posts
Strata & Building Management
How your maintenance charge is actually calculated — share units, not floor area
Malaysian maintenance charges are apportioned by allocated share units under the Strata Management Act 2013, not by floor area — s.8(1) sends the computation to the First Schedule, and s.12(3), s.25(3) and s.60(3) apply it through the developer, JMB and MC periods. Here is how to read your own bill and when a different rate is lawful.
Strata & Building Management
The sinking fund explained
The sinking fund is a statutory capital reserve set at a minimum of 10% of the maintenance charge under ss.12(4), 25(4), 52(3), 61(3) and 68(3) of Act 757. It may only be spent on capital items — painting, replacing fixtures, upgrading common property — and a general meeting may raise the rate but never drop it below 10%.
Strata & Building Management
What actually happens if you stop paying maintenance charges
Stopping payment of maintenance charges triggers a statutory sequence, not a negotiation: a Form 11 notice from a JMB (s.34(1)) or Form 20 from a management corporation (s.78(1)) giving not less than 14 days, interest capped at 10% per annum, then a debt claim, a warrant of attachment over your movable property, or criminal prosecution.
Strata & Building Management
Can management cut your water, lock your meter or bar you from the lift over arrears?
Act 757 and the 2015 Regulations give a management body no express power to cut water or electricity to a parcel over arrears. What they do allow is suspension of common facilities and services under by-law 6(5), and deactivation of your access card under by-law 6(4) with a reactivation charge of not more than RM50.
Strata & Building Management
Buying an auction unit: do you inherit the previous owner's maintenance arrears?
Unpaid maintenance charges do follow the parcel to the next owner — ss.60(4) and 61(4) allow recovery from the proprietor or his successor-in-title, and s.68(4) does the same for a subsidiary management corporation. But Act 757 creates no statutory charge or lien on the parcel, which changes how you should do your due diligence before bidding.
Strata & Building Management
Two units, same size, different maintenance charge — when is that legal?
Two same-size units can lawfully pay different maintenance charges — but only for specific reasons. Share units are computed under the First Schedule formula (s.8(1)), and only a management corporation may set different rates, and only for parcels used for significantly different purposes (s.60(3)(b)).
Strata & Building Management
Mixed development: how the charge is split between the mall, the offices and your apartment
In a mixed development the charge splits in two: general common property stays with the main management corporation under s.64(2), while limited common property is run by a subsidiary management corporation with its own accounts (ss.64(3)(a), 66, 67) and its own charge under s.68, apportioned by the s.65 formula A/B x C.
Strata & Building Management
Why your maintenance charge jumps after vacant possession — and whether you can stop it
Act 757 requires no budget before the developer sets your charge — a budget is first required for the JMB's inaugural AGM under s.18(4). That is why the rate quoted at launch so often rises at handover, and what the developer must transfer under ss.15(1)(a) and 16(1) when it does.
Strata & Building Management
How to read your building's accounts before the AGM vote
Audited accounts must be laid before every AGM, and a copy plus the auditor's report must reach you with the notice at least 14 days beforehand (Second Schedule paras 7(7), 12(1) and 12(3)(b)). Here is what to read in them before you vote.
Strata & Building Management
Sinking fund spent on the wrong things
Spending sinking fund money outside ss.24(2), 51(2) and 61(2) is a breach, not a judgement call. Owners have inspection rights and a s.31 certificate (s.73 for an MC), refusal to permit inspection is an offence carrying up to RM250,000 or three years under ss.26(5) and 62(5), and the tribunal can compel documents under Fourth Schedule Part 1 Item 12.
Strata & Building Management
Quit rent and assessment arrears
Part IVA of the Strata Titles Act 1985 apportions quit rent to individual parcels. Section 23B makes the rent for each parcel a debt due directly to the State Authority, and s.23C has the Land Administrator compute it on a rate per square metre and endorse it on the strata title — replacing the old practice of collecting it through the management body.
Strata & Building Management
Empty unit, no tenant: you still owe the full maintenance charge — here is why
An empty parcel still owes the full charge. Section 52(1) fixes liability on the proprietor with no occupancy condition, s.52(8) extends 'proprietor' to developers holding unsold parcels, and ss.12(2) and 25(2) require a developer to pay on its own unsold stock.
Strata & Building Management
The developer must call the first JMB meeting by a statutory deadline — what if they don't?
A developer must convene the first JMB meeting not later than 12 months from delivery of vacant possession (s.17(1)(b) with s.18(1)). Failing to do so is an offence carrying a fine of up to RM250,000, imprisonment of up to three years, or both, under s.18(2).
Strata & Building Management
JMB to MC handover: what must actually be transferred, and how to check it was
Handover to a JMB happens on Form 4 under regulation 11 before the developer's management period expires (s.15(1)); handover to a management corporation happens on Form 13 under regulation 22 by the end of the preliminary management period (s.55(1)). Both carry a detailed list of money, assets, records and documents.
Strata & Building Management
Skipping the AGM costs you money — here is exactly what gets decided there
One meeting a year sets the charge rate, approves the accounts, elects the committee and can change the by-laws. Notice must reach you at least 14 days beforehand with the audited accounts attached — and after thirty minutes, whoever is in the room becomes the quorum.
Strata & Building Management
Quorum, proxies and adjournment
Quorum for a general meeting is one half of the proprietors entitled to vote, in person or by proxy (Second Schedule para 15(1)) — but if it is not met within half an hour, those present become the quorum (para 15(2)). Proxies must be deposited 48 hours ahead and one person may hold only one proxy (paras 18(5), 18(4)).
Strata & Building Management
Your motion was rejected for being late: was that lawful?
A proprietor's motion must be deposited in writing at the registered office of the management corporation not less than seven days before the meeting — Second Schedule paragraph 13(1). Meet that deadline and the motion goes on the agenda; miss it and rejection is lawful.
Strata & Building Management
Who is disqualified from the management committee — including for arrears
Arrears on the seventh day before the election disqualify a candidate under paragraph 2(9) of the Second Schedule — as proprietor or co-proprietor, as a corporate proprietor's nominee, or as an immediate family member of a proprietor owning two or more parcels. Proxies, under-21s and rival co-proprietors are out too.
Strata & Building Management
How to force an EGM when management won't act
Owners together entitled to at least 25% of the aggregate share units can requisition an extraordinary general meeting. The committee must hold it as soon as practicable and in any case not later than six weeks after the requisition is deposited — and if it does not, the Commissioner of Buildings may authorise someone else to convene it.
Strata & Building Management
When no committee can be formed
Two different rescues, two different bodies. The Commissioner of Buildings appoints a managing agent under s.86(1) where management is unsatisfactory or no committee can be elected. An administrator is appointed only by a court under s.76(1), and takes over the management corporation's powers to its exclusion under s.76(3).
Strata & Building Management
What building records you have a legal right to see — and the deadline to get them
Owners may inspect the books of accounts and obtain a certificate of the fund balances — s.31 for a JMB, s.73 for a management corporation. Refusing inspection or failing to maintain or audit accounts is an offence under ss.26(5) and 62(5), with committee members personally liable up to RM250,000 or three years.
Strata & Building Management
Where your unit ends and common property begins — the boundary that decides who pays
Unless the storey plans say otherwise, the boundary between your parcel and the next one — or the common property — runs through the centre of the floor, wall or ceiling (s.13(3), Strata Titles Act 1985). Windows and doors on that boundary belong to your parcel under by-law 5(5).
Strata & Building Management
Water from the unit above
Section 142 of Act 757 presumes that a leak showing as dampness or water penetration on your ceiling comes from the parcel, common property or limited common property immediately above. You do not have to prove the source — the burden shifts upstairs.
Strata & Building Management
The inter-floor leak procedure step by step — forms, timelines and refusal of access
Part XV of the 2015 Regulations (regs 55-64) sets the whole procedure: inspection within 7 days of notice, Form 28 certificate within 5 days of inspection, rectification within 7 days of Form 28, and 7 days' written notice for access — with refusal of access an offence carrying up to RM50,000 or three years.
Strata & Building Management
External wall and roof leaks
External walls and the roof are common property because they are not comprised within any parcel. The management body must keep common property in a state of good and serviceable repair under s.21(1)(a) for a JMB, s.59(1)(a) for an MC.
Strata & Building Management
Enclosing your balcony or extending into a corridor
Enclosing a balcony needs the management body's prior written approval and, where required, the local authority's — by-laws 11 and 29(2) of the Third Schedule. Renovations must stay inside the parcel: by-laws 22(1) and 27(4) prohibit additions to or encroachment on common property, and by-law 22(2) consent cannot authorise an addition.
Strata & Building Management
Is your car park bay yours? Accessory parcel, common property or separate title
Section 4 of the Strata Titles Act 1985 defines an accessory parcel as a parcel shown in a strata plan used or intended to be used in conjunction with a parcel. That single classification decides whether the bay is yours, the scheme's, or the developer's — and the strata plan is where you check.
Strata & Building Management
Can you sell or rent out your car park bay separately from your unit?
Section 69 of the Strata Titles Act 1985 restricts any dealing with an accessory parcel independently of the principal parcel it is appurtenant to, and s.34(2) prohibits dealing with or disposing of rights in an accessory parcel separately from its principal parcel. That is why so many private car park deals are unenforceable.
Strata & Building Management
The developer kept the extra bays and is still renting them out — is that allowed?
Whether a developer can keep renting surplus bays turns on one question the strata plan answers: are they accessory parcels appurtenant to unsold units, or common property? Common property is defined by exclusion under s.4 of Act 318 as whatever is not comprised in any parcel or accessory parcel on the plan.
Strata & Building Management
Can management rent out, reserve or charge for common-property parking?
A management body can rent out or allocate common-property bays — a JMB under s.23(2)(c), an MC under s.50(2)(c) read with s.60(2) — and can regulate parking through additional by-laws under s.32(3) or s.70(2). But those additional by-laws need a special resolution at a general meeting, not a committee decision.