Strata & Building Management
Changing your managing agent
Only the Commissioner of Buildings may terminate a COB-appointed managing agent — clause 3 of Form 23 under regulation 43(4) expressly says the developer, JMB or MC is not entitled to. On termination the agent has one month to give unaudited accounts and three months for audited ones under s.91(1), with a RM250,000 penalty under s.91(2) for failing.
Quick summary
Quick answer
Best for
Risk level
Buyer action
| Best for | Owners assessing whether their building is competently run, and buyers using management quality as a filter. |
|---|---|
| Risk level | Medium |
| Buyer action | Send Lewis your building name, the charge you pay and what you are trying to decide, and he will tell you what to check first. |
Competence is checkable
This post works through most bad handovers happen because nobody listed what had to come back. Accounts, records, funds, keys, contracts, insurance. Almost every signal of good or bad management is a document you can ask for and read.
Who appointed the manager decides who can remove them
There are two different situations and they behave very differently. A property manager or agent engaged by the joint management body or management corporation under a management agreement is a contractual appointment by the body, and the body deals with it on the agreement's own terms. A managing agent appointed by the Commissioner of Buildings under s.86(1) is not. Clause 3 of Form 23, prescribed under regulation 43(4) of the 2015 Regulations, provides that only the Commissioner has authority to terminate that appointment, and that the developer, JMB or MC as First Party is not entitled to terminate the management agreement.
What the outgoing agent must hand over
Section 91(1)(a) requires the managing agent, within one month from termination, to prepare and submit to the Commissioner the unaudited accounts of the maintenance account and the sinking fund account, and to hand over a complete list of assets and liabilities together with all records related to the maintenance and management of the building. Section 91(1)(b) then requires the audited accounts of both funds to be submitted to the Commissioner within three months from termination. Those two deadlines are the ones to diarise on the day the appointment ends.
The penalty that makes the handover happen
Section 91(2) makes failure to comply with those handover obligations an offence, liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand ringgit, imprisonment for a term of up to three years, or both. That is a substantial exposure for an outgoing agent, and it is worth citing in the first letter rather than the third. A building that lets the one-month and three-month deadlines pass without writing has weakened the only lever the Act gives it.
Verify this against your own building
Verify the managing agent's registration and ask for the appointment terms and the last two years of audited accounts. Those three documents answer most questions about competence.
Buyer checklist
The critical distinction is who appointed the manager. A managing agent appointed by the Commissioner under s.86(1) can only be terminated by the Commissioner — clause 3 of Form 23, prescribed under regulation 43(4), states that the developer, JMB or MC as First Party is not entitled to terminate the management agreement. The handover obligations on termination are in s.91: unaudited accounts, an asset and liability list and all records to the Commissioner within one month, and audited accounts within three months.
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| 1 | Establish who appointed the manager — the body under a management agreement, or the Commissioner under s.86(1). |
|---|---|
| 2 | If the Commissioner appointed them, direct the request to the Commissioner; clause 3 of Form 23 bars the body from terminating. |
| 3 | On termination, diarise one month for unaudited accounts and the asset and liability list under s.91(1)(a). |
| 4 | Diarise three months for the audited accounts under s.91(1)(b). |
| 5 | If either deadline passes, write citing s.91(2) and its RM250,000 penalty, copied to the Commissioner. |
Common questions
Can our committee sack the managing agent?
If the agent was appointed by the Commissioner under s.86(1), no. Clause 3 of Form 23 under regulation 43(4) provides that only the Commissioner may terminate, and that the developer, JMB or MC is not entitled to terminate the management agreement.
What must the outgoing agent give us?
Under s.91(1)(a), within one month of termination: unaudited accounts of the maintenance and sinking fund accounts, a complete list of assets and liabilities, and all records relating to maintenance and management, submitted to the Commissioner.
When do the audited accounts arrive?
Within three months from termination, submitted to the Commissioner under s.91(1)(b).
What if the agent does not comply?
Section 91(2) makes it an offence liable to a fine not exceeding RM250,000, imprisonment for up to three years, or both.
Lewis Chong
REN 69566 · IQI GlobalProperty advisor helping KL, JB, and Penang buyers make data-backed property decisions.
Related reading
Use one buyer framework across different news.
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.
Lewis Conclusion
If you only remember one thing: ask for your share unit figure, not your square footage. It is the number that sets your bill and your vote for as long as you own the unit, and it is printed on documents you are entitled to see.
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%.
Lewis Conclusion
Ask two questions before you buy into any high-rise: what is the sinking fund balance, and when were the lifts, the roof and the external paint last done. If the balance is small and those items are old, the shortfall is coming to you as a special levy — it is only a question of which year.
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.
Lewis Conclusion
Withholding charges is the one protest that cannot work, because arrears also disqualify you from the committee and from voting — the exact levers you would need to fix whatever you are protesting about. Pay under protest, then fight it at the tribunal or the AGM where you still have standing.
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Establish who appointed the manager — the body under a management agreement, or the Commissioner under s.86(1).
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If the Commissioner appointed them, direct the request to the Commissioner; clause 3 of Form 23 bars the body from terminating.
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On termination, diarise one month for unaudited accounts and the asset and liability list under s.91(1)(a).
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Diarise three months for the audited accounts under s.91(1)(b).