Federal Court strikes out appeal bid for management corporation to impose different unit rates

• In dismissing the application, the Federal Court bench held that the issues raised by PD1’s management corporation were neither novel nor of public importance such that they would warrant further scrutiny; thus, the COA’s decision stood.

PUTRAJAYA (Dec 1): The Federal Court has struck out an application by Phileo Damansara 1 (PD1) development’s management corporation for permission to appeal its attempt to impose different rates of maintenance charges over units in PD1.

In a unanimous decision on Nov 25, the Federal Court bench, led by Federal Court judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and flanked by Datuk Seri Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, had quashed PD1’s bid to appeal against the High Court and Court of Appeal (COA) decision which had not allowed PD1’s management corporation to impose the different rates of maintenance charges.

The respondent, SCP Assets Sdn Bhd, who owns all the car parks in PD1, had successfully challenged PD1’s bid to appeal at the Federal Court.

In dismissing the application, the Federal Court bench held that the issues raised by PD1’s management corporation were neither novel nor of public importance such that they would warrant further scrutiny; thus, the COA’s decision stood.

In the COA decision on July 2 this year, the appellate court held that PD1 is a purely commercial development. The management corporation’s attempt to categorise offices, shops, and carparks into separate usage classes to justify different rates lacked factual or legal foundation.

The COA also held that the management corporation’s basis to allocate cost was found to be “hypothetical”, “arbitrary”, and unsupported by actual, historical maintenance expenditure.

Central to the appellate court’s decision was Section 60(3)(b) of the Strata Management Act 2013, which allows a management corporation to impose different rates of charges only where parcels are used for “significantly different purposes”.

The management corporation was represented by Lai Chee Hoe and Deyvinah Ganesalingam, while SCP Assets was represented by Ashok Kandiah, Ling Chee Wei, and Celinne Teh.

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