SERAI SAUJANA MANAGEMENT CORPORATION v 1. ) SERAI SAUJANA DEVELOPMENT SDN BHD 2. ) MANAGEMENT CORPORATION OF THE VILLA @ SERAI SAUJANA 3. ) TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD

Case Significance

Applies the principle that an equitable lease arising from an Agreement to Lease binds a statutory successor in title, defeating a management corporation's trespass claim against Tenaga Nasional Berhad over land housing an electrical sub-station.

This decision of the High Court of Malaya at Shah Alam disposes of two consolidated appeals arising from a Sessions Court judgment concerning land on which an electricity sub-station stands. The appellant in this appeal, Serai Saujana Management Corporation — the management corporation of a condominium block built on a lot in the Petaling District of Selangor — had sued the developer, Serai Saujana Development Sdn Bhd, the Management Corporation of The Villa @ Serai Saujana, and Tenaga Nasional Berhad in trespass to land, seeking recovery of vacant possession of the portion of the lot on which TNB maintains its electrical installation. The Sessions Court dismissed the trespass claim, and the management corporation appealed.

The appeal turned on the status of an unregistered lease and the rights of an occupier as against the registered proprietor. The court found that there was an Agreement to Lease between the developer and TNB, which gave rise to an equitable lease of the sub-station land in TNB's favour dating back to 2010. Although the appellant management corporation is a body corporate created by statute and a legal entity separate from the developer, the court held — following Pengurusan Perbadanan Endah Parade, which bound it — that the appellant was a successor in title to the developer and was therefore bound to the same effect by the Agreement to Lease. On limitation, the court held that because the Sessions Court action had commenced in December 2019 the claim was not time-barred, though not for the reasons the plaintiff had argued. Concluding that the equitable lease defeated the trespass claim, the court affirmed the Sessions Court judgment and dismissed both this appeal and the companion appeal, awarding costs of RM5,000 for each respondent in this appeal. The case illustrates how an equitable lease binds a statutory successor in title.