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.
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| Best for | Owners dealing with a leak, a crack or a repair bill and needing to know whose cost it legally is. |
|---|---|
| Risk level | Medium-High |
| 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. |
Whose problem is this
This post works through you do not have to prove the source. The Regulations presume it, and the burden shifts upstairs. Owners routinely pay to repair things that were never theirs to repair, because nobody showed them the boundary.
The presumption, in the Act's own terms
Section 142 of the Strata Management Act 2013 sets a statutory presumption for inter-floor leakage. Where there is evidence of dampness, moisture or water penetration on a ceiling that forms part of the interior of a lower parcel, it is presumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the defect is from the parcel, the common property or the limited common property situated immediately, wholly or partly, above that affected ceiling. Read that carefully: the trigger is evidence on your ceiling, and the presumed source is whatever sits immediately above it — which may be a neighbour's parcel, but may equally be common property such as a slab, a shared pipe or a roof.
Why a presumption rather than proof
Water does not respect the boundary the Act draws through the centre of a slab. Tracing a leak to its source usually requires opening up finishes in a unit that is not yours, belonging to someone with no incentive to co-operate. Requiring the affected owner to prove causation before anything happens would make most claims impossible. So the Act reverses the position: the evidence on the lower ceiling is enough to start, and the party above must displace the presumption with proof to the contrary. That is why the first thing you do is document the ceiling, not hire an investigator.
Pipes and ducts serving more than one parcel
Regulation 58(b) of the 2015 Regulations closes the most common gap. Any defect in a water pipe, drainage pipe, sewerage pipe, gas pipe or duct serving more than one parcel is deemed to be a defect of the common property or limited common property. So a shared riser leaking inside your neighbour's wall is not your neighbour's private problem — it is the management body's. Regulation 58(a) sits alongside it, requiring that any determination of the cause of a leakage take the s.142 presumption into account, so the two provisions work together at the inspection stage.
What displaces the presumption
Proof to the contrary. In practice that means the party above producing evidence that the water is not coming from their parcel or from the common property above — a dye test, a pressure test on their pipework, or an inspection showing the source elsewhere. Until that evidence exists, the presumption stands and the repair obligation follows it. This is also why an upstairs owner who simply refuses access does not improve their position: refusing access does not rebut a presumption, and it carries its own penalty.
Verify this against your own building
Photograph and date everything before repairs begin, and put every request to management in writing. In a leak or defect dispute the contemporaneous record is usually worth more than the argument.
Buyer checklist
Where there is evidence of dampness, moisture or water penetration on a ceiling forming part of the interior of a lower parcel, s.142 presumes — in the absence of proof to the contrary — that the defect originates from the parcel, common property or limited common property situated immediately, wholly or partly, above that ceiling. Regulation 58(a) requires that presumption to be taken into account in determining the cause, and regulation 58(b) deems a defect in a pipe or duct serving more than one parcel a defect of the common property.
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| 1 | Photograph the affected ceiling with a visible date before any repair or repainting. |
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| 2 | Give written notice of the leakage to the management body — that is what starts the statutory procedure. |
| 3 | Do not pay for your own investigation first; s.142 presumes the source is immediately above. |
| 4 | If a shared pipe or duct is involved, cite regulation 58(b) — the defect is deemed common property. |
| 5 | Keep a log of dates: notice given, inspection carried out, certificate issued, works done. |
Common questions
Do I have to prove where the leak is coming from?
No. Section 142 of Act 757 presumes, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the defect is from the parcel, common property or limited common property situated immediately above the affected ceiling.
What evidence triggers the presumption?
Evidence of dampness, moisture or water penetration on a ceiling forming part of the interior of the lower parcel.
The leaking pipe serves several units. Whose problem is that?
The management body's. Regulation 58(b) of the 2015 Regulations deems a defect in a water, drainage, sewerage or gas pipe or duct serving more than one parcel to be a defect of the common property or limited common property.
Can the upstairs owner rebut the presumption?
Yes, with proof to the contrary — evidence that the water is not from their parcel or from the common property above. Simply refusing access does not rebut it.
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.
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.
Lewis Conclusion
Every step in Part XV has a number of days attached to it. Write those dates down as they pass, because a management body that misses its own statutory deadlines is a management body you can escalate against — and an upstairs neighbour who blocks access is committing an offence, not just being difficult.
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.
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Photograph the affected ceiling with a visible date before any repair or repainting.
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Give written notice of the leakage to the management body — that is what starts the statutory procedure.
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Do not pay for your own investigation first; s.142 presumes the source is immediately above.
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If a shared pipe or duct is involved, cite regulation 58(b) — the defect is deemed common property.