1. ) CITY PROPERTIES SDN. BHD. 2. ) KL LANDMARK SDN. BHD. 3. ) LEONG LI NAR REALTY SDN. BHD. 4. ) ANNE YAP SIM EE 5. ) LEONG LI NAR 6. ) M B PROPERTIES SDN BHD 7. ) YAP YONG SEONG REALTY SDN BHD 8. ) AMPLE PARAMOUNT SDN. BHD. v BADAN PENGURUSAN BERSAMA AVENUE K DAN K RESIDENCE

Case Significance

Illustrates the limits on a joint management body's power to disenfranchise unit owners over disputed charges and the statutory allocation of enforcement powers under the governing strata management legislation.

This High Court decision at Kuala Lumpur concerns a challenge by unit owners to the validity of annual general meetings conducted by the joint management body of a strata property, where the owners had been barred from voting over disputed charges. The plaintiffs were unit owners of a property, and the defendant was the joint management body responsible for managing it. The plaintiffs sued to invalidate three annual general meetings held by the joint management body, at which they had been prevented from voting on the footing that they had failed to pay arrears of charges, contending that the charges had not been calculated in accordance with the law and seeking a declaration directing the body to impose charges lawfully. The court determined that the dispute raised a legal issue capable of resolution by legal argument and, under Order 33 of the Rules of Court 2012, directed the parties to submit on the validity of the three meetings in light of the plaintiffs having been prevented from voting. Two considerations governed the outcome. First, the court found that the plaintiffs had not been shown to be in arrears of any charges and dues, undermining the stated basis for barring them from voting. Second, on the statutory scheme, the court held that the power to enforce the governing Act lay with the Commissioner, who could delegate it only to a public officer or an officer of a local authority, and could not be delegated to the joint management body, so that the body had no power to bar the plaintiffs from voting. On those two factors the court allowed the plaintiffs' claim to invalidate the three annual general meetings, together with the other ancillary orders sought, and awarded costs of RM2,000.00. The judgment is a useful illustration of the limits on a joint management body's power to disenfranchise unit owners over disputed charges and of the statutory allocation of enforcement powers under the governing strata management legislation.