What to test in every room of a new condo at key collection, and which defects go to the developer or the JMB.
Check a new condo at vacant possession (VP) room by room, test everything that runs on water or power, and send the developer one numbered, written defect list. Under the statutory sale and purchase agreement the defect liability period is 24 months from the date you take vacant possession, and in a strata unit it covers your parcel, the building and the common property. Inside the unit the claim is yours; lobbies, lifts and the facade go through the JMB or MC. Start before any renovation, and keep dated photographs of every room, including the ones with nothing wrong.
A condo has two sets of defects, and they are claimed by different people. Everything inside your parcel — walls, floors, wet areas, windows, the developer's fittings — is yours to list and send to the developer. Lobbies, corridors, lifts, the roof, the facade and the car park are common property, and the common property defects guide explains that the JMB or MC claims those for all owners. ClickBina's handover guide quotes the statutory wording: under Schedule H the 24-month defect liability period covers the parcel, the building and the common property.
| Area | Whose list | What you do on VP day |
|---|---|---|
| Inside your unit, including the balcony and yard | Yours | Inspect, record and list every item |
| Your unit's external wall face and window seals | Yours (it affects your parcel) | Check from inside; note staining under window heads |
| Riser or shaft behind your bathroom | Usually common property | Note any staining you can see from your side |
| Corridor, lift lobby, car park bay | JMB or MC | Note it and pass it to the management or committee |
| Roof above a top-floor unit | Common property | Inspect your ceiling closely; report what reaches your unit |
Find the VP date on the developer's letter and write it down: it starts the defect clock. The vacant possession and handover guide covers the paperwork and what to ask before you sign anything. Bring a torch, a bottle of water, tissue, a tape measure, a plug-in socket tester, a coin for tapping tiles and a phone with the date stamp switched on. Before you touch anything, photograph every room wide, then read and photograph the water and electricity meters. If you are asked to sign a form confirming the condition, list your defects on the face of it first.
Walk the room slowly with the torch held flat against each wall and the ceiling. Raking light shows patched plaster, uneven skim, paint drips and a freshly painted square that hides an earlier repair. Tap the floor tiles with a coin: a hollow, drummy sound means the tile is not fully bonded. Open and close the main door and any sliding door to the balcony, check the lock and the gap round the frame, and look along the skirting for gaps and chipped corners.
Each bedroom gets the same treatment: walls and ceiling under raking light, floor tapped, window opened, closed and locked, and the window track filled with a little water to see whether it drains outward. Look under the window head for staining and along the sill for gaps in the sealant. Check every light point and switch, and every socket with the tester. If the developer supplied wardrobes, open every door and drawer and check the hinges and the finish.
Run the sink tap hot and cold, look under the sink for drips at the joints, and fill the sink to watch it drain. Pour water on the yard floor and watch where it goes: it should reach the floor trap and leave nothing behind. Check the cabinets the developer supplied, the worktop joints and the sealant line along the backsplash. If the unit has pre-installed aircon piping, ask for the developer's test records before anyone connects a unit to it.
Bathrooms are where the expensive defects hide. Pour water at the far corner of each shower and watch it run to the trap; a flat or back-falling screed leaves a puddle. Run each floor trap with a bucket of water and listen for gurgling or slow clearance. Flush every toilet, check the cistern refills and stops, and look behind the pedestal for drips. Press the skirting and the base of the wall outside each bathroom: sound plaster is hard, damp plaster gives. The handover water damage check sets out every water test in order.
Pour water at the balcony door line. It must run away from the room, never toward it, and the threshold should sit above the balcony floor. Check the railing is firm, the floor trap is clear and the aircon ledge drains outward. Look at the sleeve where the aircon pipes pass through the wall: an unsealed gap there lets rain into the wall.
Open the DB board and check every circuit is labelled. Press the test button on the earth-leakage breaker (RCCB): it should trip at once. Then plug the socket tester into every power point, room by room, and try every switch, light point, fan point, water heater and the doorbell or intercom. On the plumbing side, run all the taps together to compare pressure, and finish with the meter test: close everything, photograph the water meter, wait, and photograph it again. Movement means water is going somewhere it should not.
| Room | Test | What fails it |
|---|---|---|
| Every room | Raking light on walls and ceiling | Patch repairs, cracks, staining, uneven paint |
| Every room | Coin tap on floor tiles | Hollow or drummy sound, cracked tiles, wide grout gaps |
| Bathrooms, yard, balcony | Pour test to the floor trap | Water ponding or running toward the door |
| Bathrooms | Bucket down each trap; flush each toilet | Slow drain, gurgling, a cistern that keeps running |
| Windows and sliding doors | Water in the track | Water draining inward, missing sealant |
| DB board | RCCB test button; circuit labels | No trip, unlabelled circuits |
| Every power point | Plug-in socket tester | Dead socket or a fault light on the tester |
| Whole unit | Water meter, everything off | The meter moves |
You will see things outside your door that are wrong: a cracked corridor tile, a lift that judders, a stained lobby ceiling. Note them, photograph them, and pass them to the management office or the JMB, which makes one consolidated claim for the building. Keep them off your own parcel list so the developer cannot argue about whose item it is. If water from the common property reaches your unit, the stain inside is still yours to record.
Number every item and give the room, the exact spot, what you saw and the photo reference: for example, "Item 7: master bathroom, floor ponds at the corner by the door, photos 41 to 43". Group water items together so they can be inspected in one visit. Submit the list in writing, keep proof of delivery, and use the developer's defect portal as well if there is one. The handover guide quotes the statutory wording that the developer must make good within 30 days of receiving your written notice. To build the list as you walk, tick your defects room by room with ClickBina's checklist tool. The guide to claiming new-house defects covers follow-up letters and what to do if the developer stalls.
A careful owner with this checklist finds most finishing defects. It is worth bringing someone when the risk is concentrated: a top-floor unit, large balconies or planters, a unit where you already saw staining, or when you cannot take an afternoon off. ClickBina offers a defect inspection service in KL & Selangor: we inspect the unit, write the numbered defect list with photo references, and can carry out the rectification the developer does not cover. If we find signs of a leak, leak detection is a separate visit at RM300 – RM800. A site visit to price repair works is RM150, waived if you proceed, and it is not the inspection fee. We reply within the hour, we are registered with SSM, and the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges.
Methodology: this checklist is general guidance, not legal advice. Your own sale and purchase agreement and dates govern your claim; ask the solicitor who acted on your purchase about anything you are asked to sign.
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