Strata Titles Management Disputes: Strata Titles Board Under the Strata Titles Act 1985 and Strata Management Tribunal Under Strata Management Act 2013

The Strata Titles Board (“STB”) is given the power to hear and determine disputes upon an application being made by the parcel owners or MC or any person or body having a registered interest in a parcel. However, there are various unconfirmed reasons for the failure of the establishment of the STB. Now the Strata Management Tribunal (“SMT”) is established under the Strata Management Act 2013 (“SMA”) which effectively abolished the STB. In a nutshell, SMT may hear disputes on costs or repairs of a defect, claims for the recovery of charges, sinking fund contributions and convening general meetings or invalidating of proceedings of meetings. The objective of this paper is to see whether the provisions in SMA with regards to the establishment of the SMT is sufficient to address the strata titles management disputes. The research method used in writing up this paper is the qualitative research in which it will rely on the analysis of the relevant statutes, rules, regulations, books, journals, articles, seminar papers, electronic materials and newspaper reports. The finding of this paper is that despite the high monetary jurisdiction, the provisions of the SMA regarding the establishment of the SMT together with the regulations to regulate the SMT clearly provide an inexpensive alternative to resolve strata management disputes. Without the need to bear a substantial amount of legal cost, the award made by SMT is as good as an order of the courts and is enforceable accordingly. It is hoped that any disputes shall be resolved more timely and efficiently with minimal costs since not all matters may necessarily be taken to court in order for it to get resolved.