S.S. Tieh's Malaysian Law Updates

  The Strata Management Tribunal is statutorily entitled to draw on its own knowledge and expertise. Section 114(2)(e) of the Strata Management Act 2013 provides that:   “(2) The powers conferred upon the Tribunal under subsection (1) shall include the following: to draw on its own knowledge and expertise;...”   The words “... to draw on its own knowledge and expertise ...” which also appear in Section 21(3)(b) of the Arbitration Act 2005, have been interpreted by the Court of Appeal in Kasugi Prima Sdn Bhd v Cobrain Holdings Sdn Bhd and another appeal [2025] MLJU 676 to include determination of matters of procedure, facts, substance, and merits, as follows:   “[35] ... An arbitrator’s authority under section 21(3)(b) of the AA is NOT LIMITED to only determine matters of procedures (and can be invoked to determine matters of facts, substance, and merit) .”

The Strata Management Tribunal is bound by the 4 corners of pleadings filed before it. In Foo Kok Kheong & Anor v Tribunal Strata & Anor [2024] MLRHU 1285 , the High Court held that:   “ [44] In any event, I have gone through the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim of the applicants in AIS-4, which were not processed by the Tribunal due to technical non-compliance. The Counterclaim did not even challenge the legality of the levy, collection of maintenance charges and/or sinking fund. It only arose in this application for judicial review. Even if the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim were to be processed by the Tribunal, the applicants are bound by their pleadings. The Tribunal, just like any other Tribunal, must confine itself to the four corners of the pleading ; see Ranjit Kaur v Hotel Excelsior (M) Sdn Bhd [2010] 8 CLJ 629 FC.”