There are plenty of issues in Australia with poorly completed strata residential apartments. Owners are left saddled with huge defect repair bills after the developer has been liquidated or otherwise managed to avoid liability.

But imagine losing access to your apartment because the developer retained ownership of the common property and subsequently sold it to a third party.

That is the case in Malaysia with the saga of Sea Park Apartments where, due to the laws at the time, the developer was able to separately strata title six blocks of apartments while retaining ownership of the common area land, including the car parks and essential services such as sewerage and fire hydrants.

Crucial building plans which may have assisted apartment owners in their court battle mysteriously disappeared from the local Council and the Land Office.

The Sea Park Apartments saga has gone on for almost 20 years. In hindsight, the strata owners probably should have closed the transaction at the time the developer offered to sell the common areas to them in order to make the best of a bad situation. However, as the strata owners always thought they collectively owned the common areas (and only received their freehold titles a few years prior to the offer), one could understand any reluctance. Apparently, the main issue was the vehicle to be used for common property ownership.

For residents who live there, some for over 40 years, there seems no end in sight for this dispute.

The Apartments With No Entrance

October 2023

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