LETTER | The new normal in strata management

LETTER | The coronavirus pandemic 2019 (Covid-19) has caught many joint management bodies and management corporation by surprise on the financial impact affecting the proprietors of strata developments, especially commercial developments and strata shopping malls.

With the Malaysian government implementing the movement control order (MCO) as a preventative measure, foot traffic in shopping malls and commercial strata properties abruptly came to a grinding halt.

This has drastically affected the economy. Sales dwindled. The proprietors and or their tenants appealed for a waiver or reduction in charges and contribution to the sinking fund to ease the financial burden of the proprietors.

Under the current law, the Strata Management Act 2013 compels a general meeting to be held, be it an annual general meeting (AGM) or an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to vary any charges or contribution to a sinking fund.

On April 8, 2020, the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s standard operating procedure (SOP) in the light of the Covid-19 barred all joint management bodies and management corporations from holding any AGMs and EGMs.

However, this restriction has now changed, due to the recently announced SOP for the recovery MCO by the by Housing and Local Government Ministry on June 10 that AGMs and EGMs are allowed, provided always that the SOP are met by the management committees of all joint management bodies and management corporations.

Such SOP includes but not limited to thermal scanning of all participants, mandatory use of face mask, social distancing of at least one metre apart at all times, disinfection of meeting venue before and after the meeting, important issues are only to be discussed, and a maximum duration of such meetings to four hours and with all participants to activate the MySejahtera Application on their smartphones during the meeting.

Most importantly for the safety of all participants, the organisers shall be at liberty to stop the meeting in the event the meeting turns out of control and social distancing is not adhered to by the participants.

In view of the above, all joint management bodies and management corporations are now able to resolve and pass resolutions at a properly called emergency general meeting to postpone all unessential expenses and to reduce the charges and contribution to the sinking fund to alleviate the proprietors’ financial burden.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.