Facilities management is taking centre stage in the discourse of academic institutions because of its relevance to facilitating learning, teaching and conducting research. University buildings are an important part of these facilities and considerable resources are committed to their design, construction and maintenance. This article is based on the premise that if there is information on the criteria that influence the maintenance of university buildings, the characteristics of defects in university buildings and the criteria within the users value system, the maintenance and management of the university buildings will be initiated and implemented more effectively and efficiently compared with how it is currently executed. The main aim of the present research, however, is to determine the kind and nature of defects in university buildings in Malaysia. The article reviews the related literature and presents the outcome of a questionnaire survey. The questionnaires were administered to 50 university maintenance organisations. With a 66 per cent response rate, the findings suggest that some defects require maintenance more urgently than others. On this basis it is concluded that resources should be directed to the more urgent areas whereas less urgent ones can be included in the next planned maintenance programme. The research found that lift failure, faulty electrical systems and roof damage were defects that respondents considered highly critical and that required urgent maintenance intervention. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.