KUALA LUMPUR – A recent high court ruling has set precedent for joint management bodies (JMB) of condominiums to sue developers over common property defects.
Malaysiakini reported the Shah Alam High Court’s judgement on September 18 in the case of AraGreens Residences, whose JMB filed for tort of negligence against the high-rise property’s developer, HSB Development Sdn Bhd.
The JMB held that the developer had breached its duty of care for common properties, which resulted in the JMB suffering damages for defects and faults.
These defects included “water dampness at basement car parks, defective swimming pools with numerous peeling tiles, damaged wooden decks, water retention and ponding on the futsal court, an unusable rock-climbing wall that lacked safety certification, and wet driveways at basement car parks”, Malaysiakini’s report said.
The court held the developer liable for these defects and ordered it to pay the JMB RM459,946 in compensation.
The JMB filed its suit five years ago, which was a last-resort attempt to get the developer to rectify the defects.
It is unclear if the developer will file an appeal against the high court’s judgement. It has 30 days to do so as of December 11, Malaysiakini reported. – December 29, 2023