CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS 

VOL. 63, 2018 

A publication of 

The Italian Association 
of Chemical Engineering 
Online at www.aidic.it/cet 

Guest Editors: Jeng Shiun Lim, Wai Shin Ho, Jiří J. Klemeš 
Copyright © 2018, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 
ISBN 978-88-95608-61-7; ISSN 2283-9216 

An Outlook on Strategic Framework Development Needs of 

Roles and Involvement of Joint Property Management in High 

Rise Green Buildings in Malaysia 

Darul Nafis Abasa, Rozana Zakariaa,*, Eeydzah Aminuddina, Redzuan Abdullaha, 

Jam Shahzaib Khana, Shaza Rina Sahamirb 

aFaculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia 
bFaculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Mara, UiTM, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 

 rozana@utm.my  

In Malaysia, high-rise residential buildings either with green building design or conventional, is still facing 

challenges associated with the property management. Uncertainty measure the financial obligations allocated 

for managing the property are among the key challenges. The management of high rise building is a 

multitasking and multidiscipline function that integrates various stakeholders. Malaysia recently has introduced 

the new Strata Management Act 2013, with a lot of improvement for strategically enhancing the management 

of strata building for the benefit of all, especially the proprietor, management body, management agent and 

occupants. It is hypothesised that the sustainable practices and methods through integrated design and joint 

body to manage high rise buildings will significantly play a major role to resolve the arising issues of property 

management. This paper aims to highlight the ongoing research development on strategic framework of role 

and involvement of consulting property management during the early stage of project development phase of 

high rise residential green buildings. It emphasises the importance of facilities manager contributions at the 

development phase of high-rise residential buildings to minimise their maintainability and clashing problems 

faced during the phase of occupancy. This paper briefs the proposed research development that planned to 

employ mix methods of qualitative and quantitative survey. In this study, the preliminary literature review lead 

for better understanding of Joint Property Management (JPM). The future outcome of this research is very 

useful as a Term of Reference (TOR) to the project team in green building development process. It is 

important for facilities manager to get involved in the whole life cycle of high rise residential green buildings 

development. 

1. Introduction

Land scarcity, the increase of price of landed properties, the trend of new lifestyles and escalating land prices 

particularly in urban areas makes high-rise residential building a more practical proposition from the economic 

point of view. Population growths coupled with dwindling land stock make high-rise living an alternative 

(Jamila, 1994). High-rise building residential apartment is a unique property and it differs from landed property, 

such as bungalows and terrace houses (Soebiyan et al., 2017). Its uniqueness presents itself in the 

management after the properties have been occupied, where facilities management becomes an issue 

(Linariza and Ashok, 2003). Another reason people prefer to stay in a high-rise residential building is the 

facilities and amenities that are provided within the housing area. Most probably, facilities provided at the high-

rise building apartment is more complete and more stylish compared to the low-rise building residential 

(Ahmad, 2003). The high-rise building apartment always being developed near the city and giving easier 

access to the public utilities and work. Most of the high-rise buildings apartments found were not effectively 

managed, thus, there is ignorance to the sustainable agenda in housing management (Yusuf et al., 2015). 

The main characteristic of living in high-rise building apartment is the individual ownership of a unit, shared 

ownership of common property and membership of a body corporate which is responsible for the development 

                               
 
 

 

 
   

                                                  
DOI: 10.3303/CET1863072

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Please cite this article as: Darul Nafis Abas, Rozana Zakaria, Eeydzah Aminuddin, Redzuan Abdullah, Jam Shahzaib Khan, Shaza Rina 
Sahamir, 2018, An outlook on strategic framework development needs of roles and involvement of joint property management in high rise 
green buildings in malaysia, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 63, 427-432  DOI:10.3303/CET1863072   

427

mailto:rozana@utm.my


and management (Christudason, 2004). Without a proper management to this property, there will be more 

complaints from unsatisfied homeowners. This makes the management such a complex and difficult task. A 

management body is needed to manage the building together with the public area (common property) such as 

parking area, lighting and other common facilities in the building that are shared together. Residents 

complained through the mass media and the issues were always about incompetent facility management such 

dysfunctional lifts, rubbish not collected according to schedule, vandalism, misused of sinking funds; as well 

as disputes among resident  (Liias, 1990). All the issues raised were centred on the three aspects in providing 

effective facility managements, namely financial, maintenance and people. 

Property management needs a precise planning from the early stages of the design phase to ensure an 

efficient serviceability of the building and to ensure the satisfaction of all involved stakeholders through an 

integrated design that addresses the whole life-cycle of high rise building.  

2. Background of Research Development  

Although the growth of high-rise buildings residential apartment and property management industry Malaysia 

is very fast, various challenges that hinder in reaching to the holistic level of facility management. Property 

management problems arising during the operation phase due to the absence of efficient measures for 

effective management of property. Among the major challenges that are always being considered as a 

problematic phenomenon is the maintenance and the financial liabilities associated with the poor property 

management. High-rise building residential apartment involve various stakeholders with different expectations 

from different perspective such as objectives, cost, values and outcomes and ensuring win-win relationship 

among all stakeholders of shared property (Olubodun, 2000). 

The distinct features of green high-rise building residential apartment can be efficiently maintained and 

significantly minimise the maintenance cost through implementation of proper planning, design, construction 

and preventive maintenance from the three dimensions of sustainability. In this paper, the idea is to address 

several critical questions need to be investigated: 

• Why stakeholders are not satisfied with the current traditional practices of property management 

systems? 

• What are the root causes and the remedies for poor property management and maintenance of high-

rise building residential apartment?  

• How to move towards to an excellent management of strata properties?  

• What are the effective measures and strategies to be developed to overcome the challenges?  

This paper aims to highlight the ongoing research development on strategic framework of role and 

involvement of consulting property management during the early stage of project development phase of high 

rise residential green buildings. To develop strategic framework and best practice work process through Term 

of Reference (TOR) and Design Standard as reference to Project Team, there is a need to investigate the root 

causes and the remedies for poor property management and maintenance of high-rise building apartment in 

Malaysia.  

3. Literature Review   

An ‘apartment’ or ‘flat’ is a dwelling that does not sit on its own parcel of land but is part of a larger building 

and typically has other dwellings above and or below it. An apartment building comprises several such 

dwellings (Ong, 2009). An apartment building can have other uses as well, such as retail or commercial 

premises, often on the ground floor. The owner of an apartment dwelling holds the title for that dwelling only 

(and potentially an ancillary area such as a car space) (Gibson and Orchard-Lisle 1994). The remaining areas 

such as the entrance foyer, lifts and communal gardens or open space are owned and managed by a 

Management Corporation (MC). An apartment building can be a low or mid-rise development and may contain 

only a handful of dwellings. An apartment building can also be a major, high-rise development with a large 

number of apartments (Allen and Falkenhagen, 2005). 

Current Condition Property management and maintenance are part and parcel of high-rise living, but the 

standard of management service provided by most of the property managers and developers are questionable 

(Sherwin, 2000). Most are not professional, lacking in experience and expertise of profit orientated 

knowledgeable management of a residential complex. Property management was not taken into consideration 

during the early planning stages of development (Bebko, 2000); though Lilas (1990) has significantly 

considered property management as a critical factor. The property managers are not consulted in determining 

428



the maintenance fee that should be collected, but it was solely determined by the developer themselves, some 

of which have no experience in property management (Caruana et al., 2000).  

In recent developed world, owners are now knowledgeable in the proper property management practices for 

their unit and therefore good management is essential and will enhance the value of the property (Cui et al., 

2003). This will significantly impact asset value and also it will enhance reputation of company (Dale, 2003). 

As compared to the past, owners might be satisfied with only the basic care-taking and cleaning service, but 

current owners demand that housing management should encompass a variety of services from cleaning and 

security services to comprehensive maintenance (Bloemer et al.,1999). Other than problems related to parcel 

owners, the weakness in the asset property management system is also related to the unprofessional practice 

of property managers in the country (Vanier, 2001).  

The creation of more and more strata types of developments has resulted in the need of professional property 

management (Andrew, 2005). Property management entails multi discipline of social and science task. The 

task includes collecting and evaluating of rental, selecting of contractor and building maintaining in an 

organisation. However, property management profession has revolutionised in-line with new evolution in 

property investment. This has resulted to bring up many baffled people and the fog persists to know who 

belongs to the property management. Many professions from other fields are involved in this industry, such as 

engineer, architect, lawyer and even the normal businessman. Mohd Noor (2004) generalised that the person 

who is responsible to carry out property management task is the person who has specific education and 

training in property management field. Many property owners have no experience and knowledge in managing 

their property (Douglas, 1983). The owners are pursuing outsourcing as a means of disengaging from 

essential process to those that are not critical to the core business. Consequently, they opt for out-sourcing 

the property management activities to a managing agent (Gurjit, 1995). Gurjit (2005) added that outsourcing 

provides an option to manage estate agents for property management. This study reviews the efficient 

property management which is essentials in property development industry. Through the research studies the 

strategic framework and best practice working process modelling towards an efficient property management 

can be developed and demonstrated. 

Managing the building facilities faces various challenges and obstacle in developing countries including 

Malaysia due to uncertainty measures and financial obligations allocated for managing the property (Suffian, 

2013). The management of high-rise building apartment is the multitasking and multi discipline function that 

integrates various stakeholders whereby professionalism is needed to ensure an efficient property 

management through a joint body (Christudason, 2004). Property management needs a precise planning from 

the early stages of the design phase to ensure an efficient serviceability of the building (Tiun, 2009) and also 

resistibility to the earth quick (Wang, 2017). This ensures the satisfaction of all involved stakeholders through 

an integrated design that address the whole life cycle of high-rise building apartment (Abd. Latif Azmi, 2006). 

Implementation of sustainable design during construction phase and a preventive maintenance during the 

operation phase will significantly contribute to avoid major repair and maintenances which will reduce the 

financial resources required for property management in the result (Kothari, 2004); assertively this has also 

been endorsed by (Mohd-Noor, 2011). 

Investigating the root causes and the remedies of the poor property management will create a good platform 

for developing guidelines and procedures (Ali et al., 2010). The created procedures can address the 

challenges and bring the property management stakeholders together to work in a collaborative working 

environment to achieve the optimised level of the investment objectives (Andrew, 2005). Balch (1994) 

idealised that stakeholders can suggest effective strategies for ensuring win-win relationship among all 

stakeholders of shared property facilities of the high-rise building apartment. It is hypothesised that the 

sustainable practices and methods through integrated design and joint body to manage high-rise building 

apartment will significantly play a major role to resolve the arising issues of property management (Bryman 

and Bell, 2007). It is expected that the outcomes of this research will contribute to step up the development of 

high-rise building apartment to be in line with Malaysian long-term goals of sustainable development (Cloete, 

1994). 

4. Research Outlook of Current Issues JPM and High Rise Building 

Malaysia recently has introduced the new Strata Management Act 2013, Act 757 to replace the previous 

Building and Common Property (Management and Maintenance) Act 2007. The new Act was introduced with 

a lot of improvement strategically enhancing the management of strata building for the benefit of all especially 

proprietor, management body, management agent and occupants. The Joint Property Management (JPM) and 

High Rise Buildings have immense impact in the race of sustainable development. To specify the strategic 

property management framework and best practices work process for a joint property management, a Term of 

429



Reference (TOR) which encourages the forward movement to reach higher performance levels for sustainable 

development in Malaysia is important. 

The research essentially covers five key areas of development: 

• Investigation of the issues and challenges related to property management of high-rise building 

apartment. 

• Comparison and evaluation of weaknesses in existing property management traditional style in 

managing the high-rise building apartment. 

• Determination of the requirement of new paradigm on roles and involvement of property 

management for green building 

• Development of strategic framework and best practice work process through Term of Reference 

(TOR) and Design Standard as reference to Project Team towards an efficient property 

management. 

5. The Methodology of Research Development 

Over the years, the development of high-rise residential buildings had increased significantly. Living in high-

rise building has become a trend in Malaysia today, especially among city dwellers in Klang Valley, Johor 

Bahru and Penang, which marks the start of the development of Strata Title Act that is applicable to stratify the 

subdivision building. In Malaysia, the recently introduced new Strata Management Act 2013, Act 757 replaced 

the previous Building and Common Property (Management and Maintenance) Act 2007. The new Act was 

introduced throughout the country with a lot of improvement in a hope to ease the management of strata 

building for the benefit of all especially proprietor, management body, management agent and occupants. In 

line with that, high-rise residential buildings in Malaysia become the scope of the study and the stakeholders 

of residential of the buildings are the target respondents. In this study, the target respondents are the 

stakeholders including (developers, owners, facility managers, architect, engineering consultants, contractors 

and end users). Figure 1 shows the detailed flow chart of study and methodology.  

 

Figure 1: A simplified structure of research development process 

430



Both quantitative and qualitative methods are the planned research methods used to achieve the objective of 

this research. The respondents will be professionals from multi-level stakeholders of property management 

industry in Malaysia. This mixed-method is concerned to identify, investigate and examine the issues and 

challenges related to property management of high-rise building apartment. For the qualitative methods, 

personal interview and on the other hand for quantitative method questionnaire survey will be used. The 

questionnaire is formulated based on the current issue and challenges faced by property management in 

Malaysia. The interview session will involve the property management personnel and questionnaires will be 

distributed to the residents of high-rise building apartment as the respondents. Structural Equation Modelling 

will be used to develop the significant criteria of the said strategic framework. 

6. Conclusion 

This research paper is an outlook of the development of strategic framework that has highlighted the roles and 

involvement of joint property management in high rise green buildings. The review findings, shows there is an 

urgency to design a strategic framework that designers can rely on for design evaluation and to eliminate 

operation and maintenance problems or issue from their design. There are vast issues or problem related to 

property management during the operation and maintenance which designers are unable to eliminate all of 

them effectively. Many problem or issue related to operation and maintenance is reoccur in many building 

whereas the designers are unsuccessful to obtain important feedback from property managers or facilities 

managers on these issues or problem. The future establishment of strategic framework of roles and 

involvement of joint property management in high rise green buildings is expected to assist the designer to 

improve overall building quality by consolidating efforts on a few major issues or problem arise during 

operation and maintenance stages and gathering existing knowledge from the property or facilities managers. 

By developing the Term of Reference (TOR) and design standard, it is hope that an efficient property 

management of high-rise residential building can be achieved in near future. This TOR and design standard 

has the potential to be adopted by governmental agency and be incorporated into their existing codes and 

standard. 

Acknowledgments 

This work was financially supported by Prototype Research Grant Scheme (PY/2017/01171), Research 

Management Centre, and research team members Green PROPMT. Thus, directly it is supported by Ministry 

of Education Malaysia. 

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