Housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming today highlighted the long-standing issue of poor property management services in Malaysia, which he said had led to a decline in property asset values, especially for stratified buildings.

Nga said there were only 594 licensed firms serving the 2.91 million strata property units in Malaysia – making each firm responsible for managing nearly 4,900 units.

“The lack of licensed firms leads to poor service quality for joint management bodies (JMB) or management committees (MC), as well as the proliferation of unlicensed property managers across the country,” he said in his keynote address at the International Strata Symposium.

“By establishing a new Act specifically for property managers, we aim to improve the quality of property management services in Malaysia.

“This will ensure that the maintenance fees paid by property owners or tenants are properly utilised, such as for lift and parks maintenance, facility refurbishments, waste collection and sewage system repairs.”

He said many property owners and tenants – especially in strata schemes – had seen a decline in their property’s value resulting from poor management of their buildings by unqualified, poorly trained, and even dishonest property managers.

Nga said the ministry had engaged with several associations and interest groups in recent months to formulate a comprehensive Act that would focus solely on regulating property and building managers.

Currently, property managers are regulated alongside valuers, appraisers and estate agents under the Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers Act 1981.