Impact of Having an Early Briefing among Residents/Owners in Reducing Strata Disputes in Malaysia

Strata living is now a trend of community life in urban areas. With the limited use of land as a residential area, strata development has become the main agenda of developers to meet the demand for housing needs. Nevertheless, the notion of living close to each other and shared facilities induced inevitable strata disputes among strata dwellers and relevant authorities alike in the past. It was so prevalent that it compelled the government to enact a new and more comprehensive Strata Management Act in 2015. This research aims to identify common strata disputes that arise, and whether an early briefing can help to reduce strata disputes in Malaysia. The researchers adopted quantitative methods using descriptive analysis from 56 respondents to achieve the objectives. The findings from this research demonstrate that those residents are keen to participate in an early briefing, and have demonstrated the importance of early briefings to residents in order to minimise disputes. Thus, early briefings can address residents’ concerns at an early stage, and this can reduce strata disputes in the future. It is hoped that this research can give insight into strata management and prove that early briefing can be adopted as a standard practice to lessen strata disputes in strata development and management in the country.