Highrise.my Blog

Last year, we published a series of articles on Highrise about Act 663, the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007. We’ve received some very positive feedback from our readers about the series and are glad to know that the articles have been helpful. Hence, we’ve decided to publish another series of articles, this time on Act 318, the Strata Titles Act 1985, as a continuation to Act 663.

If you’re familiar with Act 318, you will notice that the Act is targeted at two different groups of people – purchasers (that is, the parcel owners) and developers. In our series of articles, we will only be focusing on the parts that focus on the purchasers, specifically the Management Corporation (MC) bits. Those parts include:

• Part VI: Rights and obligations attaching to individual parcels and provisional blocks
• Part VII: Management of a subdivided building
• Part VIII: Termination of subdivision of subdivided building
• Second Schedule: Provisions for Management Corporation
• Third Schedule: By-laws for the regulation of subdivided buildings

For a purchaser, Act 318 picks up where Act 663 leaves off. So, let’s do a quick recap of Act 663 to refresh our memories.

Act 663 covers the maintenance and management of the building(s) and common property in a condominium, allowing the purchasers and the developer (who both forms the Joint Management Body (JMB)¹) to manage their own building and common property before the strata titles are issued and the MC is formed. The Act specifies regulations that cover everything from when the developer itself is responsible for the maintenance and management, through to the formation and operation of a JMB, and finally, the dissolution of it.

The MC will take over the responsibility of the maintenance and management of the building(s) and common property after the JMB relinquishes its obligations. Once the MC takes over the responsibility to maintain and manage the building(s) and common property, the will have to refer to Act 318 for all the regulations that govern an MC. But unlike Act 663, Act 318 should be read as if it forms part of the National Land Code² and is under the jurisdiction of the  Housing and Local Government Ministry and Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.

Before we delve into the details of Act 318, readers should be aware that there are differences in some of the terminology used between Act 318 and Act 663.

Act 663	Act 318
JMB (Purchasers + Developer)	MC (Purchasers)
Joint Management Corporation (JMC)	Council
JMC members	Council members
Building Maintenance Fund (BMF)	Management fund
Sinking fund	Special account
House rules	By-laws

For example, under the management of the MC, the sinking fund (as it was known under the management of the JMB) will be known as the special account. The terms used in the two Acts are different, but they refer to the same thing. Of course, please note that there might be differences in terms of the regulations that apply because we will now be looking at a different Act altogether.

One important distinction that readers should also note is that while the JMB is made up of the purchasers and the developers, the MC is made up of purchasers only. The developer will no longer be involved after the JMB is dissolved.

Next week, we’ll take a look at an introduction to the MC itself.

 

 

References:

1 Subparagraph 4(4) of Act 663

2 Subsection 5(1) of Act 318

Disclaimer: This post is brought to you by Highrise.my for your information only and does not constitute legal advice. Highrise.my shall not be liable for any losses as a result of relying on this blog.

Act 318, maintenance, management, common property, condominium, MC