HIGH-rise residents in Penang who face housing management woes can start filing their complaints at the housing and strata management tribunal office in Kepala Batas.

Tanjung MP Ng Wei Aik, who is also the national DAP parliamentary spokesperson on housing matters, said hearing of the cases would however only commence after the setting up of the tribunal is passed by the state assembly in November.

He said those who could wait until then, could file their complaints with the Housing Tribunal and Strata Management Department at the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry in Putrajaya.

“I wrote to the department which said that residents who do not want to wait until after the resolution is passed in the state assembly could file their cases in Putrajaya,” Ng told the media at the Tanjung DAP office on Friday.

Penang enforced the Strata Management Act 2013 (Act 757) in June this year which streamlines the issuance of strata titles and makes it faster for an owner to obtain the title from the housing developer.

The act was introduced to replace Act 663 of the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007.

The setting up of the tribunal under the new Act allows both landlords and tenants to be brought to court as compared to the previous Act which only allowed action to be taken against landlords.

Ng said the tribunal’s Kepala Batas office was already in operation and could receive cases for processing although hearing would only begin after November.

He said the fees for filing the cases were between RM50 to RM200.

For more details, contact the tribunal (Tribunal Perumahan and Pengurusan Strata) at Wisma Persekutuan Seberang Perai Utara, Level 7, Zon B, Jalan Bertam, 13200 Kepala Batas or call 04-5759022.