1. ) LONELY PLANET INN SDN BHD 2. ) ONG PHAIK KOOI 3. ) JOANN WEN LAW 4. ) LAW WEY ANN v AMBER COURT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

Case Significance

Instructive on the statutory definition of a strata 'defaulter', the share-unit computation of maintenance charges under the Strata Management Act 2013, and a management corporation's power to deactivate access devices and suspend common-facility use until arrears are paid.

This High Court decision at Kuala Lumpur concerns a strata-property dispute between parcel proprietors and a management corporation over the payment of maintenance charges and sinking-fund contributions. The plaintiffs were the proprietors of 66 condominium parcels in a strata development in Genting Highlands, and the defendant was its management corporation, a creature of statute under the Strata Titles Act 1985 that depends wholly on the proprietors' payment of maintenance charges and sinking-fund contributions to fund the upkeep of the common property. The plaintiffs' lengthy statement of claim, running to many prayers for declarations, injunctions and various heads of damages, was in substance directed at their refusal to pay those charges, their first prayer seeking a declaration that they were not 'defaulters' even though the Strata Management Tribunal had already issued awards ordering them to pay arrears. The court addressed the statutory definition of 'defaulter'. It held, under paragraph 6(1)(a) of the Third Schedule to the Strata Management (Maintenance and Management) Regulations 2015, that a proprietor who makes only partial payments remains a defaulter, and that maintenance charges are computed by multiplying the number of share units of a parcel, determined under the formula in the First Schedule to the Strata Management Act 2013, by the amount payable per share unit fixed by the management corporation, which the plaintiffs had not challenged. It confirmed that a management corporation is empowered by by-law 6(4) of the Third Schedule to deactivate the electromagnetic access devices issued to a defaulter and to suspend a defaulter's use of the common facilities until full payment, while a defaulter may pay under protest and pursue a claim at the Strata Management Tribunal, which has jurisdiction over such maintenance-charge disputes. The court also made significant evidential rulings, holding, following Live Capital Sdn Bhd v Pioneer Conglomerate Sdn Bhd, that documents merely marked for identification are not proved or admitted and carry no weight, that Order 32 rule 13 of the Rules of Court 2012 does not apply to trials, and that under Order 38 rule 1 parties must call witnesses to testify once a trial has commenced. The judgment is instructive on the definition of a strata 'defaulter', the computation of maintenance charges and a management corporation's enforcement powers.