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.
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Quick answer
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Risk level
Buyer action
| Best for | Owners questioning what they pay, and buyers modelling the holding cost of a high-rise before they commit. |
|---|---|
| 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. |
Where the charge comes from
What follows takes apart some of these are lawful under the Act, some are not, and the difference decides whether you comply or file at the tribunal. This is a holding-cost question, so it belongs in your model before you buy — not in a complaint after you own.
Who counts as a defaulter
The prescribed by-laws in the Third Schedule to the Strata Management (Maintenance and Management) Regulations 2015 define a defaulter as a proprietor who has not fully paid the charges or the sinking fund contribution within 14 days of receiving the notice. That definition matters because everything that follows attaches to it — and because the restrictions imposed on a defaulter extend to their family, tenants, lessees and occupiers. A tenant who has paid rent in full can find themselves locked out of the gym because the landlord did not pay.
Water and electricity: no express power
Neither Act 757 nor the 2015 Regulations contain an express power to cut off, disconnect or suspend water or electricity supply to a parcel as a remedy for arrears. By-law 6(5) authorises the management body to stop or suspend a defaulter from using common facilities or common services — disconnecting a utility supply to a private parcel is not expressly within that category. The only utility provision pointing the other way is by-law 28(3), which prohibits a proprietor from tapping water or electricity from the common property without the management corporation's prior written approval. If your supply has been cut over arrears, put the request for the statutory basis in writing and keep the reply.
Facilities and your car park bay: expressly allowed
By-law 6(5) is explicit. The management body may stop or suspend a defaulter from using the common facilities or common services it provides, including any car park bay in the common property that has been designated for the defaulter's use. The pool, the gym, the function room, the designated bay — all of these can be switched off lawfully while you are in arrears. This is the remedy that actually changes owner behaviour, which is why well-run buildings reach for it rather than for anything more dramatic.
Your access card, and the RM50 cap
By-law 6(4) allows the management body, once the 14-day payment period in the notice has expired, to deactivate any electromagnetic access device issued to a defaulter — card, tag or transponder — without prior notice. In a high-rise where lift access runs off a card reader, that is a significant restriction. The deactivation stays in place until the arrears are fully settled, and on settlement the management corporation may impose a reactivation charge not exceeding RM50. While the device is deactivated, the management may require the defaulter to sign a defaulters' register book each time they need assistance entering or leaving the building or development area.
Verify this against your own building
Ask management for the latest audited accounts, the current charge rate per share unit and the sinking fund balance before you rely on anything here. Rates and building costs differ; the statutory framework does not.
Buyer checklist
Cutting your water or electricity supply has no express basis in Act 757 or the 2015 Regulations. Suspending the pool, the gym, common services and your designated common-property car park bay does — by-law 6(5). So does deactivating your access card, tag or transponder without prior notice once the 14-day notice expires, with a reactivation charge capped at RM50 — by-law 6(4).
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| 1 | If water or electricity has been cut, write and ask for the section or regulation relied on — there is no express power in Act 757 or the 2015 Regulations. |
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| 2 | Check the date the 14-day notice period actually expired before accepting that access deactivation was lawful. |
| 3 | If a reactivation fee above RM50 is demanded, point to by-law 6(4) — that is the cap. |
| 4 | Tenants: confirm the landlord's account is clear before signing, because by-law restrictions apply to occupiers too. |
| 5 | Keep every notice and every written reply; if you later go to the tribunal, the sequence of dates is the case. |
Common questions
Can management cut my water or electricity because I owe maintenance charges?
Act 757 and the 2015 Regulations contain no express power to do so. By-law 6(5) permits suspension of common facilities and common services, which is not the same as disconnecting a utility supply to your parcel.
Can they stop me using the pool and gym?
Yes. By-law 6(5) expressly allows the management body to stop or suspend a defaulter from using common facilities or common services.
Can they take away my car park bay?
If it is a bay in the common property designated for your use, yes — by-law 6(5) names it specifically.
Can they deactivate my access card without telling me?
Yes, once the 14-day notice period expires. By-law 6(4) allows deactivation without prior notice, and permits a reactivation charge of not more than RM50 once the arrears are settled.
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.
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.
Lewis Conclusion
Ask one question when a new parking rule appears on the notice board: which special resolution, passed at which general meeting, authorised it? If nobody can answer that, what you are looking at is a committee preference wearing the clothes of a by-law.
When management is legally liable
Committee members face personal liability under s.26(5) for a JMB and s.62(5) for an MC if they fail to maintain, audit, or permit inspection of accounts — fines up to RM250,000 and imprisonment up to three years. The management body must keep common property in repair under s.21(1)(a) and s.59(1)(a). By-laws exempt the MC from liability for vehicle towing, removal of unauthorised animals, and disposal of unclaimed items, but there is no general provision making the body liable for theft or loss. Claims go to the tribunal under ss.102 and 105(1).
Lewis Conclusion
If the committee has failed on accounts, the personal exposure is real and expensive — cite s.26(5) or s.62(5). If you are suing over theft or vehicle damage, ask a lawyer whether the by-law exemptions in the Third Schedule will apply — the body does not have blanket liability for loss, but the contract between you and the body may impose one.
Break-in, theft or car stolen from the car park: is management liable?
Act 757 and the Third Schedule by-laws contain no general express provision making a management body liable for theft or loss of a resident's property. Where the by-laws do address liability, they exempt the management corporation — for damage during towing or clamping, removing animals, and disposing of unclaimed obstructions.
Lewis Conclusion
Insure your own contents and do not treat the guardhouse as cover. The Act gives a scheme the power to provide security and the money to pay for it, but it does not turn a security failure into an automatic claim against the building.
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If water or electricity has been cut, write and ask for the section or regulation relied on — there is no express power in Act 757 or the 2015 Regulations.
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Check the date the 14-day notice period actually expired before accepting that access deactivation was lawful.
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If a reactivation fee above RM50 is demanded, point to by-law 6(4) — that is the cap.
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Tenants: confirm the landlord's account is clear before signing, because by-law restrictions apply to occupiers too.