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).
Quick summary
Quick answer
Best for
Risk level
Buyer action
| 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. |
Where the line is drawn
This post works through ceiling slab, external wall, window, balcony, riser pipe — each falls on one side of a line most owners have never seen drawn. Water, sound and structure cross the legal boundary between your parcel and common property without respecting it.
What the Acts actually define
Section 4 of the Strata Titles Act 1985 defines common property as so much of the lot as is not comprised in any parcel, including any accessory parcel, or any provisional block as shown in an approved strata plan. Section 2 of Act 757 defines it in two forms — one for a development area intended for subdivision, one for a subdivided building or land — both hinging on the same idea: what is not inside a parcel, and is used or capable of being used or enjoyed by the occupiers of two or more parcels. A parcel, in turn, is one of the individual units comprised in the subdivided building which, except for an accessory parcel, is held under a separate strata title.
The default boundary is the centre line
Section 13(3) of Act 318 is the provision to remember: unless otherwise provided in the relevant storey plans, the common boundary of any parcel with another parcel or with the common property is taken to be the centre of the floor, wall or ceiling, as the case may be. So the inner half of your party wall is yours and the outer half is your neighbour's. The upper half of your ceiling slab belongs to the unit above; the lower half is yours. This single default resolves a large share of repair-cost arguments before anyone has to interpret anything.
Windows and doors are on your side
By-law 5(5) of the Third Schedule to the 2015 Regulations puts windows and doors located on the boundary of a parcel, which are not designated as common property, inside the parcel — and makes the parcel proprietor responsible for their repair, maintenance and cleanliness. That covers the glass, the frames, the seals and the ironmongery of your own windows and your entrance door, and it is the reason a management body will decline a request to reseal your window even though the leak appears to come from outside.
External walls, roof and shared pipes are not
Because they are not comprised within any individual parcel, external walls and the roof are common property, and the management body must keep the common property in a state of good and serviceable repair — s.21(1)(a) for a joint management body and s.59(1)(a) for a management corporation. Shared services are dealt with expressly: by-law 3(2) of the Third Schedule to the 2015 Regulations requires the management body to maintain, repair and upgrade sewers, pipes, wires, cables and ducts used or capable of being used in connection with more than one parcel or the common property, and by-law 3(c) of the Third Schedule to Act 318 says the same. Regulation 58(b) goes further in the leakage context: a defect in a water, drainage, sewerage or gas pipe or duct serving more than one parcel is deemed a defect of the common property.
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
Common property is defined as so much of the lot as is not comprised in any parcel, accessory parcel or provisional block on the strata plan (s.4, Act 318; s.2, Act 757). The boundary defaults to the centre line of floor, wall and ceiling under s.13(3) of Act 318. External walls, the roof, and any pipe or duct serving more than one parcel fall on the management body's side.
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| 1 | Get the storey plans — s.13(3) applies only where they do not provide otherwise. |
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| 2 | Before paying for a wall, floor or ceiling repair, work out which side of the centre line the defect sits on. |
| 3 | Treat your own windows and entrance door as your responsibility under by-law 5(5). |
| 4 | Refer external wall, roof and shared-pipe defects to the management body under s.21(1)(a) or s.59(1)(a). |
| 5 | For a pipe or duct serving more than one parcel, cite regulation 58(b) — the defect is deemed common property. |
Common questions
Where exactly does my unit end?
Unless the storey plans provide otherwise, at the centre of the floor, wall or ceiling — s.13(3) of the Strata Titles Act 1985.
Are my windows my responsibility or the management's?
Yours. By-law 5(5) of the Third Schedule to the 2015 Regulations puts windows and doors on the parcel boundary, that are not designated common property, inside the parcel, with the proprietor responsible for repair, maintenance and cleanliness.
Who repairs the external wall and the roof?
The management body. They are common property, and it must keep common property in good and serviceable repair under s.21(1)(a) for a JMB and s.59(1)(a) for an MC.
A pipe inside my wall serves the unit above too. Whose is it?
By-law 3(2) of the Third Schedule to the 2015 Regulations puts pipes serving more than one parcel on the management body, and regulation 58(b) deems a defect in such a pipe a defect of the common property.
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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Get the storey plans — s.13(3) applies only where they do not provide otherwise.
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Before paying for a wall, floor or ceiling repair, work out which side of the centre line the defect sits on.
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Treat your own windows and entrance door as your responsibility under by-law 5(5).
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Refer external wall, roof and shared-pipe defects to the management body under s.21(1)(a) or s.59(1)(a).