High Court dismisses K Residence parcel owners’ claims against developer and landowner

• Judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh ruled on July 22 that the court had found no contractual relationship between the parcel owners and the directors.
• The court also held that the sales and purchase agreements were solely between the purchasers, and the developer and the landowner.

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 8): The High Court last month dismissed a suit filed by 37 parcel owners of K Residence against developer KL Landmark Sdn Bhd, landowner City Properties Sdn Bhd, and its directors Tan Sri Yap Yong Seong and Sean Yap.

Judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh ruled on July 22 that the court had found no contractual relationship between the parcel owners and the directors.

The court also held that the sales and purchase agreements were solely between the purchasers, and the developer and the landowner.

“The plaintiffs’ (the parcel owners) attempt to pierce the corporate veil and impose personal liability on the directors was rejected as baseless,” a press release by landowner City Properties said.

The landowner’s press release states that the court had also found that the expert valuation report was relied on by the plaintiffs to prove that the alleged diminutive value of their properties was methodically unsound.

“[The plaintiffs] failed to consider valuation and sales data from K Residence as comparable, thereby undermining its credibility. As most of the plaintiffs had not sold their units, the court recognised that there was no proof of any actual or realised financial loss” claimed the landowner in the press release.

“Additionally, the court held that the plaintiffs failed to prove any misuse of the maintenance fund, or misconduct in the management of the condominium,” the release said.

With this, the landowner added that the suit brought by the parcel owners in 2018, where the parcel owners had alleged that their condominium units had diminished in value due to KL Landmark’s purported breaches of statutory duties under the Strata Management Act 2013 during the developer’s management period, and misuse of maintenance funds and mismanagement, had come to an end.

Furthermore, the landowner said in the release that the court had ordered the parcel owners to pay RM300,000 in costs to the defendants.
KL Landmark was represented by Raymond Mah and Daphne Redhual, while senior counsels Porres Royan and Kamraj Nayagam appeared for City

Properties and its directors, while the parcel owners were represented by Colin Andrew Pereira.

When separately contacted by The Edge, one of the affected plaintiffs confirmed that they would appeal Ahmad Shahrir’s decision, and said that a notice of appeal had been filed.

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