Get to know new Act, developers told

DEVELOPERS should familiarise themselves with the Strata Management Act 2012 which is expected to come into force soon, says a legal expert.

“The Act imposes very stringent punishment on developers who fail to comply,” said Tan Gek Im of Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, one of the biggest law firms in the country.

Describing the Act as “pro-purchasers”, she said purchasers who were unhappy with unreasonably high sinking funds and maintenance charges imposed by the developer could have them reviewed by the Commissioner of Buildings under Section 12(7).

“However, the review is only possible if a management corporation (MC) has yet to be formed because once there is an MC, the purchaser becomes part of the management,” she said.

She said when the new Act and the amendments to the Strata Titles Act came into force, residential and commercial unit owners would be able to apply for a separate subsidiary MC.

This would prevent disputes, which were common under the old law, between residential and commercial unit owners, she said.

“The new Act also provides for the setting up of a Strata Management Tribunal to resolve many types of disputes commonly experienced by apartment owners including claims for the recovery of service charge and sinking fund and claims to nullify a resolution passed in a general meeting,” she said.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung had earlier reportedly said the Strata Management Act 2012 would be enforced bet­ween the middle and third quarter of the year.

Tan was speaking during a free ‘Corporate Clients’ Day’ talk in Wawasan Open University on Thursday.

The event was organised by Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill.

Some 150 participants who attended the talk were also treated to a cocktail reception.

In his speech, the firm’s senior partner Datuk D.P. Naban said the Corporate Clients’ Day had been successfully held in Kuala Lumpur for the past several years.

“This is the first time we are having it in Penang and we hope to make it a regular event here,” he said.

Partner Chia Loong Thye, who was also the moderator, said the talk, comprising four presentations by the firm’s partners, touched on areas of the law that were current and relevant, namely taxation issues, intellectual property rights as well as Islamic and conventional financing. - The Star