Strata maintenance fees: what you are actually paying for, and what you can dispute
Two identical units, two different bills. If that has ever confused you, the explanation is one number on your invoice that most owners never look at, and it also decides your vote at the AGM.
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Why your neighbour pays less
Strata maintenance is not charged per door. Under the Strata Management Act 2013, every parcel in a development is allocated share units, and every charge, maintenance, sinking fund, and your voting weight, is proportional to them.
Share units are set at the point the strata title is applied for, using the formula in the First Schedule of the Act. The formula weights the floor area of each parcel by its type and adds a weighting for accessory parcels such as car park bays and store rooms. So a unit with two car parks carries more share units than an otherwise identical unit with one, and pays more every month, for the life of the building.
That is the first thing to check. Your share units are on the maintenance invoice, and they should reconcile to your strata title. If they do not, the management body has a correction to make.
Two pots, both yours
The monthly bill usually has two lines that get read as one.
Maintenance charges fund the running of the building: security, cleaning, lifts, landscaping, insurance premiums, management fees, utilities for common areas. This is the operating account. It is spent as it comes in.
Sinking fund contributions are different in kind. This is capital saved for major works: repainting, lift replacement, roof repairs, re-waterproofing. The Act sets the sinking fund contribution at not less than 10% of the maintenance charge; a general meeting can vote it higher, never lower. It is not the management body’s money to spend on operations. It is a reserve that belongs to the owners collectively, and a healthy one is the difference between a RM3,000 special levy when the lifts fail and no levy at all.
Ask for the sinking fund balance at the AGM. A building fifteen years old with a thin sinking fund is telling you something about the next five years.
What the fee is not allowed to cover
The management body, the JMB before strata titles are issued, the MC after, can only spend on what the Act permits: maintaining and managing the common property. Things that belong inside your parcel, like your own air-conditioning units or the pipes serving only your unit, are yours.
The grey zone is where disputes live. Piping that serves several units, a balcony that is structurally part of the façade, a window frame, these are argued over in every development. The Act’s definition of common property covers everything in the development that is not comprised in any parcel, together with anything used or capable of being used by more than one parcel. In practice that means anything serving several units, or forming part of the building’s structure or exterior, is common property. If the management is charging you individually for something that is common property, or refusing to fix something that is, you have grounds. Get more information with our guides on rental deposits from iMoney’s property articles hub.
The two things you can actually dispute
Not everything is worth a fight. Two things are.
A wrong share-unit figure. This is arithmetic, not opinion. If your invoice shows share units that do not match your title, write to the management body with both documents. They are obliged to correct it.
A charge that is not permitted. If a levy has been raised for something outside the Act’s scope, or without the resolution the Act requires, it can be challenged.
For both, the route is the Strata Management Tribunal. It hears disputes between owners and management bodies where the amount does not exceed RM250,000, the filing fee is modest, lawyers are generally not permitted, and it can order refunds and corrections. Ignoring a Tribunal award is itself an offence. Two things the Tribunal will not do: hear a complaint that the fee is simply too high, and hear a landlord-versus-tenant dispute about rent or deposit, which is a tenancy matter, not a strata one. That is a decision for the owners at the AGM, which is where your share units matter for the second time, because they are your vote.
What not to do
Do not withhold payment as a protest. Under section 34 the management body serves a written demand giving 14 days to pay; after that it can charge interest, list you as a defaulter, deactivate your access card, bar you from common facilities, and pursue you in court or at the Tribunal, including by seizing movable property under a warrant of attachment. Ignoring the demand is itself an offence. A dispute over RM200 a month can become a legal cost many times that. Pay, dispute in parallel, and let the Tribunal order the refund if you are right.
The AGM is where the fee is decided
The monthly figure is not handed down. It is proposed by the management and approved by owners, in a vote weighted by share units. Most owners never attend, which is why a small group of the most engaged decide everyone’s bill.
If your fee has risen and you do not know why, the answer is in the AGM minutes and the audited accounts, both of which you are entitled to see.
Sources: Strata Management Act 2013 (Act 757), First Schedule, ss.2, 52, 60, 77–78; Strata Management (Maintenance and Management) Regulations 2015; Strata Management Tribunal guidance. Not legal advice.
Frequently Asked Questions on Strata maintenance fees
Share units, set under the Strata Management Act’s First Schedule, determine your proportion of every maintenance charge and your voting weight at the AGM.
No, the Strata Management Tribunal won’t hear a complaint that a fee is simply too high, only disputes over a wrong share-unit figure or a charge outside the Act’s scope.
The management body can serve a 14-day demand, then charge interest, deactivate your access card, and pursue you through the Tribunal or court, so withholding payment is not a safe protest.
