Strata Wars: Navigating Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) disputes in construction and community

The Strata Wars: Navigating MCST disputes in construction and community seminar on 10th July 2025 was chaired by Mr. Damien Xing, Senior lecturer at National university of Singapore, who was accompanied by speakers Mr. Kelvin Chia, Managing Director at Lumen Law Corporation, and Mr. Daniel Chen, Partner, Litigation & Dispute resolution at Lee & Lee. 

Mr. Damien Xing opened the seminar with a good overview of the journey we would take through the MCST world and how disputes can arise when parties are involved in a Strata development. This really set the scene for the speakers to dive into the detail, sharing some background to MCST and previous cases involving MCST disputes.

Following this introduction Mr. Kelvin Chia shared a detailed background of MCST and issues that can arise in disputes over defects between the MCST and the parties involved in the construction. This complicated subject was broken down into four categories: Cause of action, Limitation Period, Independent contractor defence, and Managing experts and defects lists, then Mr. Kelvin Chia expertly discussed each with references to previous cases and insights into the legislation.

Mr. Daniel Chen then shared experiences of the other side of MCST with issues related to disputes with the Subsidiary Proprietors (SP) or disputes between SPs. This was a fascinating insight into the causes for disputes that can arise when owning a property in Strata development and the By-laws in place to manage the property. Using previous cases Mr. Daniel Chen expertly explained the issues with disputes related to common property, disputes related to Strata Lots, and the By-laws & additional By-laws.

It was great to see a strong turnout from professionals across the construction disputes world—lawyers, technical experts, engineers, and surveyors. This resulted in some good in-depth discussions during a well-organized post-event networking session.

Click HERE to view more event photos.

Contributed by:

Daniel Hobson - Manager, Accuracy