Sarawak Legal update on the Strata Management (Management and Maintenance Directions 2024)

On 24 December 2025, the Commissioner of Buildings issued a new set of directions under the Strata Management Ordinance, 2019 (Ordinance).

The Strata Management (Management and Maintenance) Directions 2024, (Directions) set out mandatory and detailed rules that management bodies (including the developer), owners and other occupiers or interested parties must follow until they adopt their own by-laws. Once this happens, the directions are merely a guideline.

Previously, the schedule of the Sarawak Strata Management (Management and Maintenance) Regulations 2022 (Regulations) set out topics that the by-laws should cover such as security, pets, landscaping, refuse control, etc. But there was no detailed guidance to empower or limit what management bodies could enact.  

Why Necessary

Enacting directions to impose by-laws is practical. They ensure consistency between developments and balance the interests of all the parties involved. West Malaysia enacted template by-laws in the schedule of the Strata Management (Maintenance and Management) Regulations 2015. However, they were not enacted in the Sarawak Regulations so they have now been provided for by way of the Directions.

Because there were no guidelines for house rules, developers used deeds of mutual covenants (DMCs) in conjunction with house rules. The DMCs are the document between purchasers and developers which sets out the rules on communal living and the respective rights and obligations in relation to the development. DMCs are signed when the sale was executed. They tend to be one-sided against purchasers and because of the delay between signing and operation, may not reflect legal changes.

The directions are a positive development. They cover most of the rules that developers, purchasers or lawyers expect to find in a DMC or by-laws.

Unresolved Issue

An unresolved issue is the overlap between the directions and DMCs. According to the directions, they prevail if no by-laws are enacted at a general meeting. Yet, the Ordinance provides that deeds, contracts and other documents are only invalid if they are inconsistent with the Ordinance or Regulations. The duplication causes uncertainty if parties do not know which rules apply. If directions apply alongside DMCs, the complete sales documentation becomes wordy and hard to follow.  

Second, DMCs are bilateral contracts between the developers and purchasers. By-laws are multilateral rules adopted by the management body, whether or not any individual purchaser agrees. To rescind DMCs, a further bilateral document must be executed to terminate it. This gives rise to compliance costs. In practice, especially for properties without title, DMCs and by-laws operate in tandem causing overlap.

Enforcement

When a purchaser or developer fails to observe DMCs or house rules, enforcement tends to involve contractual remedies such as imposing interest, restricting access to facilities or small-level fines for parking, waste management, etc.

However, the Directions include a general penal provision. This is different from the by-laws attached to the West Malaysian regulations. The Directions state that:

“any person who refuse or neglect or fail to comply with or acts in contravention of any of these Directions commit an offence and shall be liable to a fine of up to RM 20,000 or to imprisonment of up to 2 years”.

It is not clear why the Directions include this. DMCs and house rules are civil agreements between developers, management bodies and purchasers. They regulate the administration of a condominium. The Regulations and Ordinance already provide for penal provisions for breaches of duties imposed by legislation.

The risk of criminal liability for what is essentially a civil relationship seems draconian. The likelihood that a person is reported to the police because an adult fails to accompany children on the common property or that a pot is not placed in a suitable container could lead to unnecessary squabbles between neighbours.

Our suggestion is that if a joint management body adopts the Directions, the penal provision should be left out and any disputes be resolved in a neighbourly or contractual way.

Summary

The Directions are a positive development because they provide guidelines for the rules that developers and management bodies can adopt. They reduce compliance costs, are easily available and can substantially reduce the lengthy sales documentation.