1. ) NG SHIH SHING 2. ) RICHARD IM v 1. ) NUSMETRO PROPERTY SDN BHD 2. ) TRIBUNAL PENGURUSAN STRATA

Case Significance

Confirms that section 17(1) of the Strata Management Act 2013 imposes a mandatory duty on a developer to convene the first annual general meeting of the joint management body within twelve months of delivering vacant possession, and that the section 17(5) exemption is narrow and does not license continued developer control.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam concerns an application for judicial review by two proprietors of units in a condominium against the developer and the Strata Management Tribunal. The applicants sought a declaration that a tribunal award of 18 March 2024 was tainted by an error of law and was irrational and unreasonable, an order of certiorari to quash that award, and a mandatory injunction to compel the developer to convene the annual general meeting of the joint management body for the condominium. The dispute turned on the developer's obligation to hold the first annual general meeting of the joint management body under the Strata Management Act 2013. The applicants, who had been given vacant possession of their unit in October 2020, complained that the developer had failed to convene that meeting as required by section 17(1) of the Act, which makes it mandatory to hold the first annual general meeting of the joint management body within twelve months of delivering vacant possession. The developer had relied on section 17(5) to exempt itself from that obligation and to justify its continued control over the strata management of the condominium. Construing the provisions, the Court held that their language was unequivocal: section 17(1) imposes a mandatory duty to convene the first annual general meeting within twelve months of delivery of vacant possession, and the exemption in section 17(5) applies only where a management corporation comes into existence before that first meeting falls to be convened. Finding that the developer could not rely on section 17(5) to avoid its duty, the Court allowed the application, quashing the impugned award and granting relief directed at securing the convening of the annual general meeting. The decision confirms that the formation of a joint management body, in which developers and purchasers share responsibility for the management of a strata scheme, is a mandatory statutory milestone that a developer cannot defer or displace by continuing to manage the property itself beyond the period the Act allows.