JMB and MC: Who Manages a Strata Development

• The developer must hold the JMB's first AGM no later than 12 months after vacant possession of a parcel is handed to a purchaser (s 17(1)(b)).
• Every purchaser gets at least 14 days' written notice, with a copy put up in the development (s 18).
• The developer presents a 12-month budget at that meeting (s 18(4)).
• The JMB registers its name with the COB within 30 days of the first AGM (s 20).
• If no purchaser attends or agrees to sit on the committee, the COB may appoint a managing agent (s 19(2), s 86).
• If an MC already exists before the JMB's first AGM, no JMB is formed (s 17(5)).

The MC comes into existence when the strata register book is opened. Its developer period runs until one month after its first AGM, which the developer must hold within one month after owners other than the developer hold at least a quarter of the share units (s 46, s 57). During that period the developer may not borrow money or sign maintenance contracts that run past its end (s 49).

The JMB is dissolved 3 months after the MC's first AGM, and within 1 month of that AGM it must pass its money, additional by-laws, accounts, assets and records to the MC (s 27).

• An MC committee has 3 to 14 people, the number set at a general meeting (Second Schedule para 2(1)).
• If the MC has no more than three owners, the committee is all of them, or a nominee for an owner that is a company (para 2(2)). KPKT: with only two owners, no election is needed.
• With one owner, that owner can make any decision a committee could make (para 2(3)).
• Committee quorum is two when there are no more than four members (para 4(a)).
• A member must be at least 21 and an owner, joint owner, a company's nominee, or a close family member nominated by an owner of two or more parcels. A proxy cannot be elected.
• No officer may hold the same post for more than two years in a row, and no member may serve more than three terms in a row (para 2(5), (6)).
• A member loses the seat after, among other things, missing three meetings in a row without permission or being three months in a row behind on charges or sinking fund.
• Committee allowances may be paid only at rates the COB approves. JPN's procedure in force from 3 June 2026 suggests RM0 to RM500 for residential schemes.

A JMB or MC may engage any person or agent to maintain and manage the common property (s 21(2)(f), s 59(2)(f)), with a management agreement. If that person is not a registered property manager, they must first lodge a bond worth 12 months of fees or RM50,000, whichever is higher, and the agreement and bond are filed with the COB within 30 days, RM20 each (MM Regulations reg 21, reg 32). A JMB cannot sign a maintenance or management contract for more than 12 months (s 21(3)).

• AGM once every year, with no more than 15 months between AGMs. KPKT's example: an AGM on 30 November 2025 means the next by 31 December 2026.
• An EGM within 6 weeks of a written request from owners holding a quarter of the share units, or a COB direction.
• Notice: at least 14 days for a general meeting, 21 days for a special or unanimous resolution, 30 days for a comprehensive resolution. The AGM notice includes the last minutes and the audited accounts.
• Any owner may ask, at least 7 days before, for a motion to go on the agenda.
• The list of voters goes on the notice board at least 48 hours before the meeting.
• Quorum: half of the owners entitled to vote, in person or by proxy. If none after half an hour, the owners present form the quorum.
• The owners present elect the chair for that meeting, who has a casting vote.
• Minutes go on the notice board or to every owner, and to the COB with the audited accounts, within 28 days.

Each owner has one vote per parcel on a show of hands, and votes equal to the parcel's share units on a poll. One person can be proxy for only one owner at a meeting, and the proxy form must be lodged at least 48 hours before. An owner with charges, sinking fund or other money unpaid on the seventh day before the meeting cannot vote for that parcel.