Strata & Building Management
Your neighbour's renovation cracked your wall or blocked your light — what you can claim
Part 7 of the Third Schedule requires prior written approval before renovation starts (by-law 27(1)), allows the management corporation to take a compliance deposit and set a completion timeframe (by-law 27(2)), and bars hacking, drilling or nailing within 300 mm of concealed pipes and conduits (by-law 29(1)).
Quick summary
Quick answer
Best for
Risk level
Buyer action
| Best for | Residents in a neighbour dispute, and buyers weighing high-rise living against landed on quality-of-life grounds. |
|---|---|
| Risk level | Low-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. |
What the by-laws actually allow
The question here is renovation deposits, permitted hours and the management's consent conditions are the evidence trail for a claim. A rule your building invented is only enforceable if it was made the way the Act requires.
Approval comes first, twice
By-law 27(1) requires a proprietor to obtain prior written approval from the management corporation before starting renovation works. By-law 28(1) requires it again for specific changes — relocating doors or windows, or shifting plumbing. Two separate approval points, and the second catches exactly the works most likely to affect a neighbour. A contractor who starts on a Monday because the committee 'said it was fine' has not satisfied either.
Deposit and timeframe
By-law 27(2) allows the management corporation to require a compliance deposit and to set the time within which the works must be completed. That deposit is the practical lever the scheme holds, and it is also the fund from which rectification is often taken if something is damaged. Read the conditions attached to your approval carefully — the completion date in that document is the one that matters, not the one your contractor quoted.
The two technical limits
By-law 29(1) is specific and worth quoting to your contractor verbatim: hacking, drilling and nailing are strictly prohibited within 300 mm of concealed pipes and conduits, and contractors must use a metal detector. Separately, by-law 28(2)(a) provides that hacking or drilling of shear walls for rewiring must not exceed permissible limits. These are the provisions that stand between a routine renovation and a structural or leakage problem that surfaces months later.
Hours, and what actually governs disturbance
Part 7 does not specify exact daily hours, which surprises people. What it does require is that the works be completed within the time set by the management corporation under by-law 27(2), and that they must not cause inconvenience or danger to others under by-law 27(10). So a complaint about renovation noise is framed on by-law 27(10) and on the general nuisance provisions rather than on a curfew that the Third Schedule does not contain — unless your scheme has passed an additional by-law setting hours, which it may do by special resolution.
Verify this against your own building
Get a copy of your scheme's additional by-laws and the resolution that passed them. A rule that cannot be traced to a properly passed resolution is a request, not an obligation.
Buyer checklist
Part 7 does not set daily working hours. What it sets is a permission regime and two hard technical limits. Prior written approval under by-law 27(1), and again under by-law 28(1) for relocating doors or windows or shifting plumbing. A compliance deposit and a completion timeframe under by-law 27(2). No hacking, drilling or nailing within 300 mm of concealed pipes or conduits under by-law 29(1), with contractors required to use a metal detector. And an obligation under by-law 27(10) that works must not cause inconvenience or danger to others.
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| 1 | Obtain prior written approval under by-law 27(1) before any work starts, and again under by-law 28(1) for doors, windows or plumbing changes. |
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| 2 | Read the conditions and the completion date attached to the approval under by-law 27(2). |
| 3 | Give your contractor by-law 29(1) in writing — no hacking, drilling or nailing within 300 mm of concealed pipes and conduits, metal detector required. |
| 4 | For rewiring involving shear walls, check the permissible limits referred to in by-law 28(2)(a). |
| 5 | If a neighbour's works are disturbing you, frame the complaint on by-law 27(10) — inconvenience or danger — not on a curfew Part 7 does not contain. |
Common questions
Do I need approval before renovating?
Yes. By-law 27(1) requires prior written approval from the management corporation before renovation works start, and by-law 28(1) requires it again for relocating doors or windows or shifting plumbing.
Can the management take a deposit?
Yes. By-law 27(2) allows the management corporation to require a compliance deposit and to set the timeframe for completion.
What are the drilling restrictions?
By-law 29(1) strictly prohibits hacking, drilling and nailing within 300 mm of concealed pipes and conduits, and requires contractors to use a metal detector. By-law 28(2)(a) limits hacking or drilling of shear walls for rewiring to permissible limits.
What hours can renovation work be done?
Part 7 does not specify exact daily hours. It requires completion within the time set by the management corporation under by-law 27(2), and that the works must not cause inconvenience or danger to others under by-law 27(10). A scheme may set hours by additional by-law.
Lewis Chong
REN 69566 · IQI GlobalProperty advisor helping KL, JB, and Penang buyers make data-backed property decisions.
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Lewis Conclusion
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Obtain prior written approval under by-law 27(1) before any work starts, and again under by-law 28(1) for doors, windows or plumbing changes.
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Read the conditions and the completion date attached to the approval under by-law 27(2).
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Give your contractor by-law 29(1) in writing — no hacking, drilling or nailing within 300 mm of concealed pipes and conduits, metal detector required.
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For rewiring involving shear walls, check the permissible limits referred to in by-law 28(2)(a).