CHEAH TING FENG v PERBADANAN PENGURUSAN BANYAN TREE SIGNATURES PAVILION KUALA LUMPUR

Case Significance

Illustrates that a court will not grant an interlocutory injunction to restrain enforcement of a duly passed strata management by-law, which remains presumptively valid until set aside at trial, where doing so would grant the substantive relief prematurely.

This High Court decision concerns an application for an ad interim injunction to restrain a management corporation from enforcing a by-law that prohibits short-term rental activities in a stratified residential development. The plaintiff, the beneficial owner of a large number of residential units in a mixed-use development, operated short-term rental or transient accommodation across his units through an appointed operator, with listings appearing on online booking platforms. The defendant, the management corporation established under section 17 of the Strata Management Act 2013 and responsible for the collective management of the common property, had passed a by-law prohibiting such short-term rental activities. The plaintiff sought interim injunctions to restrain the management corporation from enforcing or imposing fines and invoices, from issuing further notices or fines relating to the prohibition, and from deactivating his access cards or restricting entry to his units and facilities, pending disposal of the main suit. Applying the settled principles governing interlocutory injunctions — whether there is a serious issue to be tried, whether damages would be an adequate remedy, where the balance of convenience lies, and whether the injunction would preserve rather than alter the status quo — the court declined to grant the relief. It reasoned that the by-law had been duly passed by the proprietors at a general meeting and lodged with the Commissioner of Buildings, so that it remained presumptively valid and enforceable until declared invalid at trial, warranting judicial restraint at the interlocutory stage. Granting the injunction would in substance suspend a by-law passed by the collective decision of proprietors and confer on the plaintiff the very relief sought in the main action, contrary to equitable principle and the statutory framework of the Strata Management Act 2013. The court dismissed the application with costs in the cause, and directed the main suit to proceed. The judgment illustrates the restraint courts show before enjoining enforcement of a presumptively valid strata by-law.