Waiting for Godot

We have been reassured by many pro-enblocers pushig this sale that the 'New Rules' will be followed, that the amendments to the LTSA are enough to ensure that there will be no repeat of the disastrous sale attempt in round 1. We are to  put our faith in the  mechanisms that failed us so badly before.

Ask them to quote which new rules they are referring to, and you will most likely get a blank stare or expert waffle of some sort.  It is well to take a re-look at the  Land Titles Strata Act to remind ourselves of these new 'safeguards', and see whether in fact the CSA will follow exactly the statutory law, or change the wording to something entirely different.

On the matter of mode of sale, we are told in the Third Schedule that:

Collective sale by public tender or auction
11. —(1) The collective sale of all lots and common property in a strata title plan shall be launched for sale only by way of public tender or public auction.

(2) A valuation report by an independent valuer on the value of the development as at the date of the close of the public tender or public auction shall be obtained by the collective sale committee on the date of the close of the public tender or public auction.

(3) Notwithstanding sub-paragraph (1), the collective sale committee may, within 10 weeks from the close of the public tender or public auction, enter into a private contract with a purchaser for the sale of all the lots and common property in a strata title plan. 

There is no mention of an Expression of Interest (EOI) because this method caused so much aggravation and unhappiness in past collective sales. The new rules seek to put order where chaos reigned before. There is no leeway for any other mode of sale, either.  Take note of small words, such as 'shall'  and 'only' as they are not the same as, for example, 'may' and  'any other'. 

Remember that.

On the matter of Rescission of Agreement (ie, backing out once you have signed) we are told in the First Schedule that:

5. The collective sale agreement shall be accompanied by a notice, in the prescribed form, that may be used by the subsidiary proprietor to rescind his agreement to be a party to the collective sale agreement.

6. A subsidiary proprietor may rescind his agreement to be a party to the collective sale agreement by serving a notice of rescission referred to in paragraph 5 within the cooling-off period which shall be a period of 5 days (excluding any day which is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday) after the day on which the collective sale agreement was signed by him.

7. The notice of rescission shall be signed by the subsidiary proprietor and shall be served personally on the advocate and solicitor appointed by the collective sale committee before 5 p.m. on the last day of the cooling-off period.

8. A subsidiary proprietor shall not be entitled to serve a notice of rescission more than once for the same collective sale agreement.

Once only,  so if you use up your solitary chance at the beginning, during the cooling off period, you can not rescind again later in the process,  Also, there is no mention that  the owner who rescinds has to give up any of his rights along with the rescission. If 'rescission' has the same legal meaning as 'withdrawing' from the agreement for any other reason , then watch out, because you may find yourself in a catch 22 situation and unable to withdraw.

Remember that