Category Archives: En-bloc / Collective Sales

I REFER to last Friday’s letter by the Ministry of Law, ‘Rights of all owners adequately protected’.

I am particularly troubled by the statement: ‘We have taken steps under the Land Titles (Strata) Act to ensure the rights of all owners are adequately protected and provide recourse for those who feel aggrieved for any reason.’ For any reason? According to current laws, the Strata Titles Board will consider only financial objections. Non-financial objections are deemed irrelevant. So anyone objecting to a collective property sale for non-financial reasons has no legal recourse.

Also, an objector to a collective sale may be ordered by the Strata Titles Board to pay the legal costs of the majority consenting owners if his objection fails. For an individual, the prospect of having to pay legal costs is intimidating and makes any application to the Strata Titles Board to object to a sale a non-starter. Continue reading →

A JOO CHIAT resident, opposing the collective sale of his apartment, took the case to the High Court, citing procedural irregularities and claiming that the manner of distributing the sale proceeds was unfair.

But at a hearing yesterday, the judge raised questions about whether such a property could be allowed under the law to be sold en bloc.

Justice Andrew Ang was hearing an appeal by Mr Goh Teh Lee, 52, the sole objector, against the decision of the Strata Titles Boards (STB) which approved the sale of the property in Koon Seng Road.

The collective sale of the houses and apartments was mooted at a residents’ meeting in November 2006.

The property consists of 24 apartments in a four-storey block – known as Koon Seng House – and nine pre-war terrace houses on the same plot of freehold land. Continue reading →