SECOND READING (FINAL):- Amendments passed

Now we have it on record

Method of distribution report: 
"prior to signing the CSA, owners can always require the sale committee to provide a report. Owners have the ultimate say, they can ask for what they think is necessary for the process, or for them to participate in the process."

Valuation report: there is no one size fits all solution for the provision of valuation reports to guide owners when they are signing the CSA. Ultimately it depends on their risk appetite and comfort level of different owners. Valuation reports have a shelf life..... hence,  it's best to leave it to the owners to jointly decide on the number and frequency of valuations to be carried out. We do not mandate that it should only be given at one point in time, we mandate that it should be given at such a point in time, and at all other points in time it is up to the owners to decide whether they want further valuations at whatever cost is appropriate. 

Business proposals: It is best to leave these matters to the owners to request such information if they consider it appropriate. .. At the end of the day, owners are making choices  in respect to their properties which involve millions of dollars, you expect them to know what they want, and what sort of safeguards they wish.  

Reaffirmation from owners before the award of a sale tender: A sales committee has to act in accordance with the mandate specified in its CSA. It really depends on what mandate is given to the sale committee. If the owners empower the sale committee to make the decision for award of tender within a certain prescribed parameters, without the need for reaffirmation, then it is not the governments position to intercede, and tell the owners how they should run the process. Likewise, there is nothing in the legislation, either in the past or going forward, to prevent owners from specifying that the want the sales committee to seek such reaffirmation from the owners, before the sale tender is awarded. This can be provided in the CSA if the majority wants.



New En Bloc Rules Passed
by Jessica Cheam (ST Online)

At the second reading of the amendment Bill, Mr Shanmugam said it 'represents another step toward refining the en bloc sale regime in Singapore'.

He also told the House that between 2005 and 2009, there were 462 en bloc sales, of which half or 217 had been redeveloped or were being redeveloped.

These 217 projects comprised about 12,000 units but after redevelopment, this number has shot up to more than 26,000 units, he said.

He added that the ministry will continue to review the Act and 'will make further refinements if necessary'.
.

Suggestions ranged from including the age and state of a building to determine the consent level needed for a sale, to reducing the threshold of owners required to re-start an en bloc sales process. --

NEW rules tightening the collective home sale process were passed on Tuesday, but not before Members of Parliament called for further refinements to the bill.

Suggestions ranged from including the age and state of a building to determine the consent level needed for a sale, to reducing the threshold of owners required to re-start an en bloc sales process.

Addressing the concerns in Parliament, Law Minister K. Shanmugam said that the Government's task was to 'protect the interests of all strata unit owners, whether they are pro-sale or anti-sale' and that it should not 'micro-manage the process and prescribe too many requirements'.

Amendments to the Land Titles (Strata) Bill to streamline the en bloc sales process were first unveiled in Parliament last month.

They include a two-year restricted period for owners who attempt an en bloc sale after it failed once; a 60-day period for the Strata Titles Board (STB) to mediate in a sale, failing which it can issue an order to give the parties the option to pursue it in the High Court; and requiring stricter declarations of interests from sales committee members.

The changes will now become law sometime in June after it has been cleared by the President's office.

THE MINTON//Minton rise

 SOLD: $236 psf ppr

NEW DEVELOPMENT: $839 psf average

(as of Dec 2010) 

MINTON RISE AND FALL and RISE AGAIN
The 'wise' Sale committee and majority sold ex-HUDC Minton for a song in 2007; the lowest en bloc price ever.....
See sad blog here
.
And out of the ashes of that diabolical en bloc rises -

The Minton @ Hougang

Location : Hougang Street 11, Lorong Ah Soo (District 19)
Tenure : 99 years leasehold
Expected Completion : 2014
Site Area : 472,378 sqft
Total Units : 1144
Unit Types :
1 bedroom ~ 550 sqft (121 units)
2 bedroom ~ 980 sqft (337 units)
2 bedroom + study~ 1100 sqft (158 units)
Dual Key (2 bed+1 bed)~  1400sqft (44 units)
3 bedroom ~ 1200sqft (204 units)
3 bedroom (premium) ~ 1300 sqft (119 units)
3 bedroom + study ~ 1500 sqft (56 units)
4 bedroom ~ 1700sqft (84 units)
Penthouse ~ 2000-3500 sqft (24 units)

I'm looking for prices psf  and total strata area for sale to do a comparison; (the indicative pricing for this condo is 880 to 1000psf. The range for 1, 2 Br units would be closer to 950 - 1100psf).......... but a quick estimation says they paid $209m for the site and are now making something like $1 billion.

The original owners are probably back in HDB.
Talk about not knowing the true value of your estate!
Talk about unleashing the value for the developer!

Buyers snap up condo units despite stock market jitters

In absolute terms, the prices ranged from $480,000 to $690,000 for the one-bedroom units, $750,000 to $990,000 for the two-bedroom units, $950,000 to $1.32 million for the three-bedroom units, and $1.3 million to $1.65 million for the four-bedroom units.

180 units sold at The Minton

Property developer Kheng Leong has sold 180 units in The Minton condo project in Hougang over the weekend.

The units sold were part of the 300 units released in the 1,145-unit project at Lorong Ah Soo/Hougang Street 11. It has an average selling price of about $850 psf.

Property agents marketing The Minton project said that the sales result was below the expected output, which was patterned in the property market peak in March and April. The peak was prior to the growing eurozone debt crisis and the Singapore government’s announcement early this month that it will release a bumper land sale programme for the second half of 2010 to meet the demand in the residential property market.

A new project release such as The Minton would have already sold about 300 units in its first weekend, and with prices at about five percent to eight percent higher, said Joseph Tan, executive director of CB Richard Ellis.

Peter Ow, managing director (residential services) for Knight Frank, also noted that the 99-year leasehold project could have sold 300 units in its initial weekend if it had been released in the market two months ago.

“The government land sales announcement has definitely had an impact. When we talk to (potential) buyers, they’re now taking a bit longer to decide. They’re worried that with the new supply coming up, prices might fall.”

The most popular units at The Minton’s holiday-extended weekend preview were the one- and two-room units.

Luk Kwok Wing, general manager (property) of Kheng Leong, reckoned that prices of one-room units sold are ranging from $480,000 per unit to about $590,000 per unit. The two-room units, on the other hand, were priced at around $750,000 to $870,000 per unit. The project also comprises three- to four-room units, penthouses and dual-key units.

Buyers who snapped up the project were mostly young Singaporeans, including families. Overall, buyers had HDB addresses, in areas like Serangoon, Tampines and Hougang.

Mr. Luk added that buyers were generally attracted to the project’s lush landscaping and generous facilities situated in a large site area of nearly half a million sq ft.

The Minton condo will have a 20-metre heated pool, a 50-metre lap pool, a tennis court, an air-conditioned badminton hall, which doubles as a function room and a treehouse playground. It will also feature a sky-terrace, a big library and spas/gyms. Its grand clubhouse will accommodate activities such as billiards, table soccer, karaoke and yoga.

The Minton condo project is being developed by Kheng Leong, a privately owned property developer controlled by the Wee Cho Yaw family. It is situated on the former Minton Rise site, which the company purchased through a collective sale in 2007.

Source : PropertyGuru – 31 May 2010

THOMSON VIEW CONDOMINIUM

A matter of time

Tempers flared at Thomson View condominium yesterday when a scheduled extraordinary general meeting (EOGM) for the establishment of a new en bloc sales committee had to be called off due to a lack of quorum.

Thomson View’s appointed managing agent CKH Strata Management called off the meeting after it declared that the minimum 30 per cent of share value, made up of residents or their proxies, required to attend the EOGM was not fulfilled by 1pm – the scheduled time to start the meeting.

However, residents of the 15-year-old, 55,000 square feet condominium had a different view and accused CKH of being tardy in its administrative process hence causing the delay.

Some residents claimed there were far too few staff tending to the registration process at the registration counter and that contributed to the delay. They also said CKH should have given them some leeway as the delay was over administrative matters at the registration counter and residents also claimed that the law requiring the minimum threshold to be met by a specific time was not clearly stated as a caveat to residents in the EOGM notice.

The Land Titles (Strata) Act requires a quorum of a minimum of 30 per cent of the share value to be reached in order to begin the meeting.

CKH said it had called off the meeting because they wanted to abide by the current law of dissolving the EOGM if the quorum is not met by its scheduled time.

They maintained that allowing for the EOGM to continue may thwart the process of an en bloc sale if a minority group chooses to contest its validity at a later date.

“I’m only a managing agent and I have to act according to the law. If I was lenient, then people who were against the en bloc sale could declare this whole election of the new sales committee null and void as the law was not strictly adhered to,” said Mr Chan Kok Hong, managing director of CKH.

However, a proposed change to the Land Titles (Strata) Act announced last month has provided for an hour’s leeway for the quorum to be reached, but this new ruling is expected to take effect only in June.

The dispute was resolved when Mr Tan Kin Lian, former chairman of the previous sales committee and ex-chief executive of NTUC Income, offered to facilitate the reconvening of the next EOGM through email with the residents.

A resident, who only wants to be known as Mr Ng, said the inflexibility from CKH was uncalled for.

“People put in so much trouble to come in and the EOGM was cancelled just because some people cannot be reached or are late.

“The managing agent should be more flexible and give us half-an-hour more instead of saying there is no quorum,” he said.

Source : Today – 17 May 2010

The Managing Agent has no choice but to follow the rules as they stand - that is their professional duty. Any failure to do so could warrant a complaint to the relevant authority after which they may lose  their professional license. It is wrong for one group of owners to clamour for special consideration and preferential rule-bending - there are two sides to en bloc, and the MA has to remain impartial and not bow to pressure.

Reconvening the next EOGM through email? What is that all about?

Project Details:
Bright Hill Drive
Tenure: 99 years
District: 20
No. of Units: 206
Year of Completion: 1987
Full condo facilities

DRAGON MANSION

Strata Titles Board approves collective sale of Dragon Mansion

The Strata Titles Board (STB) has approved the collective sale of Dragon Mansion to RL Developments, a wholly-owned unit of Roxy-Pacific Holdings.
This makes Dragon Mansion the first collective sale site to have successfully obtained STB’s Sale Order under the stricter legislation governing collective sale that came into force in October 2007.
At a sale price of S$100.8 million, Dragon Mansion is also the only collective sale site which has achieved a sale price of above S$100 million since the onslaught of the global economic crisis.
Dragon Mansion, in the Spottiswoode Park area, comprises 72 units of 3-bedroom apartments.
Owners of each 1,399 square foot unit will receive S$1.4 million in sale proceeds.
The freehold site has a land area of nearly 42,000 square feet and is designated for residential use with a plot ratio of 2.8.
The new development could potentially yield a maximum gross floor area of approximately 117,000 square feet, which translates to an estimated 120 units of 1,000 square foot apartments.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 10 May 2010

LAGOON VIEW

 Lagoon View en bloc, too?
Source : Today – 10 May 2010

 2009 NewPaper article here

Witnessess

Property agents would like to see the LTSA rule about en bloc lawyers witnessing every CSA signing changed.  They are lobbying the MinLaw to rescind the law.

The MinLaw should remember why it drafted this rule in the first place - it has to go back and review all the complaints in the media from owners who were conned, cheated, lied to by property agents into signing. Various tricks were employed:

• Signatures that weren't properly witnessed
• Dates of signing left blank,
• CSA signature pages turning up in different months than they were signed.
• Suspicious 'extra' pages that some owners signed for additional amounts but were not properly recorded.
• Owners never receiving certified copies of their legally binding contract
• Owners lied to about the current consent level.
• Manipulation of unit numbers and number of owners in Statutory Notices.
• Statutory Notices not certified by en bloc lawyers
• Property agents turning up at places of work to harass owners into signing.
• Property agents knocking on doors at all hours harrassing owners into signing.

The property agents cannot be relied upon to do an honest job. They are deceitful and spin stories out of their elbows.  En bloc lawyers have their reputation and license to protect and hopefully can be relied upon to follow the law. They should demand upfront payment for witnessing signatures. Owners should go to the lawyer's office to sign and come away with a certified copy.  Every 4 weeks, Statutory Notices are to be put up on the Notice Boards and owners should demand not only the bare numbers but the names and date of signing as they go along.

No more monkey business when it comes to the requisite number . No more telling owners 80% has been reached when in fact it is only fluffed out with conditional signers who will be dropped after the sale. No more adding fresh signatures after the sale and back-dating their date of their signing to fill in holes. No more telling owners they have to sign as 80% have already signed.

Ministry of Law, if you read this, do not be persuaded by arguments of expediency. Solid procedure  before corner-cutting measures, please. 

Laguna park to try for Second Enbloc Attempt

Laguna Park residents to push for en bloc sale again

Residents at Laguna Park condominium in Marine Parade are giving the en bloc sale process a second try.

A new 10-member sales committee comprising eight new members has been set up.

At an extraordinary general meeting held on Sunday, some residents voiced confidence that a sale can be completed in three to six months, while others reportedly raised concerns about the recent changes in the Land Titles (Strata) Act which are intended to streamline the en bloc sale process and prevent lengthy disputes.

The previous attempt to sell the 33 year-old former HUDC estate for S$1.2 billion failed last year.

Channel NewsAsia – 2 May 2010

Achieving 80% but failing to find a buyer does not fall within the 'relevant event' category.