Neptune showdown
In stark contrast to the serenity of the nearby East Coast Park, a stormy en bloc tussle is brewing at the 752-unit Neptune Court estate — complete with threats of a police report and potential lawsuits.
Some 100 owners who do not want to move have roped in lawyer Edmond Pereira to prevent their interests “from being circumvented”.
Meanwhile, eight members of the original committee — nominated by residents to consider the en bloc sale — have broken away and formed their own pro tem sale committee, in hopes of hastening the process.
A showdown is slated for Sunday, when the breakaway group, which has appointed its own lawyer and property consultant, starts garnering signatures for its Collective Sale Agreement.
Out to stop them are what’s left of the original committee who — having roped in more members, and with the backing of the Neptune Court Owners’ Association — have urged residents not to sign.
At least 600 owners, or 80 per cent of the estate, must agree to sell the 32-year-old development, for the bid to go through.
Representing the “stayers”, resident Philip Williams is also one of the two remaining members of the original committee, which he maintains is the bona fide one.
Prior to the rift, he alleged, proceedings were not transparent. Mr Williams claimed he was “excluded from the meetings”. His attempt to get the committee disbanded failed.
The managing director, who has lived at Neptune Court for 15 years, told Today: “What we want now is to work with the owners’ association and follow the due process in accordance with the resolution, where strict conditions were laid down for residents to vote on the selection of lawyers and property agents.”
The en bloc bid was initiated last year on a cordial note, when residents elected a 10-men committee to study the possibility.
But after an acrimonious year’s impasse, things came to a head last Saturday, when eight committee members quit to form a pro-tem sale committee. The reason: They disagreed with the owners association’s decision to call for another round of proposals from real estate agencies.
The breakaway group explained, in a letter to residents, that they had invited proposals from 12 real estate agencies before deciding on one by law firm Phang & Co and property consultants Chesterton, which they felt was the “most likely” to meet owners’ needs.
The group said: “Timing is important, if not crucial, for this collective sale exercise. Some of us feel the re-invitation is not necessary, given the work that has gone into the due process and diligence by the committee.”
But on Tuesday, the owners’ association shot back with a circular describing the actions of the breakaway group as “most regrettable”.
The association, which is seeking legal advice, said it wants the “assurance that owners have been given a chance to listen to more presentations” before making “a truly informed choice”. It would not accept responsibility the actions of the “self-appointed” committee.
On his part, Mr Williams wants the breakaway group to hand over documents pertaining to the sale — failing which, he said, he would make a police report.
But the group’s lawyer S K Phang, who runs Phang & Co, said they have refused as they “do not know in which capacity” Mr Williams had made the request.
Dr Phang is also seeking legal advice over a flyer distributed by Mr Williams, in which he had purportedly made disparaging remarks. Said the lawyer: “I need to protect my professional reputation and that of my law firm… subject to the advice, I will have to ask the person or persons responsible for the malicious libel to withdraw the same and for an apology.”
He noted that Mr Williams’ earlier failure to dissolve the original sale committee was a sign it had residents’ “strong support”. According to Dr Phang, the breakaway group has conducted three dialogue sessions attended by some 600 residents.
Source: Today, 10 May 2007
WANT to privatise?
Sure, pay us $144 million first, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
That’s how much it has valued the piece of land at Neptune Court, which it owns.
This means each household there will have to fork out about $191,000 to privatise their 99-year-leasehold estate before they can even think about selling it en bloc.
There are about 752 households in Neptune Court at Marine Parade and they have been leasing the land from the MOF for the past 32 years.
It looks like their proposed $1 billion enbloc dream will be scuttled for now.
As a rough comparison, residents in HUDC estate Eunosville will have to pay about $30,000 for the privatisation of their estate.
There are 330 apartments in Eunosville, located opposite Eunos MRT station.
At Neptune Court yesterday, there was an air of disbelief as groups of residents gathered to discuss the high price they have to pay.
A letter from the Neptune Court Owners’ Association was pasted on the notice boards by each lift landing, saying that the estimated cost of privatisation was about $144m.
This is probably one of the highest privatisation fees here.
The letter was put up on Wednesday.
Retiree Alex Lee shook his head while trying to calculate how much he has to fork out.
He paid about $500,000 for his 1,700 sq ft unit about 10 years ago.
Another resident, who has lived there for over 30 years, was also shocked at the amount.
This resident, who declined to be named, paid about $50,000 for his 1,600 sq ft unit.
He said: ‘I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the amount. I don’t understand how they (MOF) arrived at this amount.
WHO WILL PAY?
‘Who’s going to cough up this money? It’s very high. And even if the privatisation is successful, will the en bloc process be successful too?
‘I don’t think many residents here in their right mind will pay this amount. But I’m sure those en bloc die-hards will find a solution.’
The land area there is about 780,000 sq ft - about the size of 15 football fields.
All the residents we spoke to baulked at the amount MOF is asking for.
The Neptune Court Owners’ Association didn’t want to comment.
The MOF said that $144m for the common properties is a preliminary estimate provided to the residents so that they may decide whether or not to pursue privatisation.
This estimate was derived by comparing the capitalised value of the annual net rents at Neptune Court with those of a comparable private condo.
Said a MOF spokesman: ‘Should the residents decide to privatise the estate, the valuation will be updated based on the prevailing market conditions.’
In privatisation, the residents essentially pay HDB (or the MOF in this case) to take over the ownership of common property, such as carparks and landscaped areas.
Owners pay about $25,000 to $30,000 each for privatisation, which covers the cost of common property that has been transferred to owners, legal costs, survey and other processing fees.
Credo Real Estate’s managing director Karamjit Singh was surprised by the huge sum.
He said: ‘Normally, privatisation fees per household ranges from $12,000 to $30,000. This is a huge amount. It will be difficult to get residents to fork out $190,000.
‘Selling en bloc is slim but not impossible. It will be possible if the Government is willing to do a tripartite deal where it gets paid out of the sales proceeds paid by the developer.’
The estate started its en bloc efforts in May last year.
The committee hired law firm Phang & Co and property consultant Chesterton International to kickstart the privatisation and en bloc sale, according to a report in The Straits Times in May.
It offered owners a sale agreement that promised a reserve price of $1.37m or $1.67m, depending on the unit size.
The New Paper - 24 Nov 2007
Privatise Neptune Court? - pay $144m
Straits Times- 2 Dec 2007
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Neptune Court privatisation surprise
The New Paper - 8 June 2009
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So, was the Ministry of Finance playing the en bloc game too? Trying to fleece owners out of substantial sums of money? If the present figure of $40m is closer to the market value, what then was $144m based upon? Pure greed? What was the thinking back then? That the Ministry should reap some of the 'windfall' should the estate go en bloc? "let's slap on our own premium and ride the en bloc wave"?
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Well, someone in the Ministry must have had a rethink - or maybe the Ministry of National Development stepped in and told the MOF to let the estate go; that the national agenda of maximisation of land use is more important than making a quick buck off the residents' backs.
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Will they jump at the 'opportunity' to privatise now? $50k is still a lot of money and believe me - IT IS NOT WORTH IT!
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Neptune Court was sold under a different scheme to the HUDCs - not sure what the difference was - and there is a Neptune Court Owners Association (NCOA). So, it is not HDB run (as highlighted by a comment below), but the land is government owned.
Will neptune ever enbloc
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