Last Monday, our client, a management corporation of a stratified property, succeeded in its appeal before the Court of Appeal. The 3 Justices of the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed our client’s appeal after hearing submissions by both parties’ counsels that lasted over 1 hour. In allowing our client’s appeal, the Court of Appeal overturned the concurrent findings of the Strata Management Tribunal and the Penang High Court.
In 2019, having presided over a 3-day’s full-blown trial, the Learned President of the Tribunal dismissed our client’s claim for maintenance charges and other related charges against the defaulter on very technical grounds, i.e. on the service of Form 1. Though usually no lawyers are allowed to appear before the Tribunal, in this case, the learned President allowed both parties to be represented by lawyers as the defaulter himself is a practising lawyer.
Aggrieved by the Tribunal’s decision, our client commenced a judicial review application at the High Court to quash the Tribunal’s award. In 2020, unfortunately, Penang High Court affirmed the Tribunal President’s decision and dismissed our client’s judicial review application.
Dissatisfied with the High Court’s decision, our client appealed to the Court of Appeal and eventually succeeded in getting the High Court’s decision overruled with cost. The Court of Appeal declared the service of Form 1 on the defaulter to be valid according to Regulation 9 read together with Regulation 16 of the Strata Management (Strata Management Tribunal) Regulations 2015. The Court of Appeal further ordered our client’s claim to be remitted back to the Tribunal to be decided on the merits. Our lawyers, Veon Szu Khaw and Ming Ming Yeop argued the appeal before the Court of Appeal.
The citation of the High Court Case (now overruled): PERBADANAN PENGURUSAN SUNRISE TOWERS v TRIBUNAL PENGURUSAN STRATA & ANOR [2020] MLJU 1604, [2020] 1 LNS 1304 (overruled)
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