SP MEETING 24 Feb 2018

Venue: Blk 131 void deck, no slide presentation
Present: 2 Lawyers and Marketing Agent. 1 CSC member
Crowd: quite large, I estimated around 300
Atmosphere: Cordial
Heckling: Nil

I know some of you are waiting for me to give a run down on the proceedings and what we learnt today. I will do that, but not today as I am busy with family visiting.  I will do so over the next few days.

In a nutshell:

• Owners will not have to top up the difference in the LUP.
• The end date for Sim Lian to continue/back out of the sale: 27 APRIL 2018
• Date of Completion 27 July 2018 (or sooner).
• Moving out is + 6 months from completion date - so 27 Jan 2019
• Sim Lian wants to reduce the 6 months free rental stay to 4 months. This cannot be done without 100% of owners agreeing, which will never happen, I for one disagree.
• Sim Lian is closely monitoring the social media so we should all keep quiet. 
• Helloooooo Sim Lian, welcome to my blog! 
• If the sale does not go through the Buyer has 6 months from Date of Remission to get his Stamp Duty refunded ( not 6 months form Sale Date)
• SL initially wanted to build 2500 units, now it's 2200
• In Principle Planning Approval (OPP) is outstanding
• SL hoping for OPP approval before 1 March; when the new DC rates come out. 
• SPs are encouraged to pressure our local MP to nudge the authorities to speed up the Approvals.
• MA commits to updating owners through Circulars/Notices/FB
• Owners will go to the Lawyers Office to collect their Bank Draft (Sales Proceeds) minus all the costs, charges & deductions of the sale.
• Lawyer will provide a breakdown of all said costs, charges & deductions.* [the subject of a future post]

Completion Date

I hope the MA does not mind me clipping this tiny bit (15 seconds only) - it pretty much says what we all wanted to hear.
Audio (15.05)

"Yes, that is our deadline. That means the latest they can, you know, delay the whole completion, is up to 27 April., and you have 3 months to complete, 6 months for rent free period."

I hope this puts to bed the confusion sown by the legal letter in Jan. The fear then was that unless Sim Lian expressly withdrew then the long stop deadline would be bypassed like the OPP deadline with or without Approvals. Honestly, they shouldn't have asterisked  the LSD, it put a question mark on it's validity.

Okay, listened to some more today: The female lawyer confirmed the MA completion date.  It may seem like I was asking the same question again and again - I was - I wanted confirmation from both MA and lawyer. I think I even got it confirmed a third time with the main Lawyer... later in the tape, will see.  I won't put it on an audio clip because she might not like that, but this is a transcript of what she said 

(50.57) Me: Can this deal stretch for 6 more months, 1 more year?

Female lawyer: Will the deal keep stretching on indefinitely? As we shared earlier the last date for Sim Lian to confirm whether or not they are proceeding with the deal is the 27th April. there is no extension beyond that. By the 27th, they have to say yes or no. 

Me: Sorry, if they say yes, then it goes on forever?
Female lawyer: If they accept the deal by the 27th April, then the completion will take 3 months from the 27th of April. 
Me: Excellent (meaning: nailed it)

Oh dear, I had to re-listen to the nonsense our CSC member had to say:- 

"I think we have forgotten some very important things. Now there is a rule in Singapore that from the Date of Purchase of any common land, the developer will have to build and sell everything within 5 years. That is a standing rule. From the date of the signing of the agreement about 6 months has passed. They will have to give you 6 months for you to move out and before that date comes there will be another 3 months delay for them to issue cheques blah blah blah blah. So you talking about more than 1 year already gone. Now Sim Lian will not drag you on, they will want to be in as much as a hurry as you. They don’t have a lot of time. They only have 3 years plus left for them to knock down everything here, rebuild and sell every unit, otherwise they will have to start paying additional charges"

-build and sell everything within 5 years: 
Wrong. They have to build within 5 years but they then have a further 2 years to sell all the units. (so 7 yrs in total), though in practice they start selling units off the plans long before the TOP. The last 2 years does not apply to local developers and even if developers have partial foreign ownership there are currently 2 loopholes they can legally utilise to avoid paying the penalties. 

From the date of the signing of the agreement: Wrong, the 5 yr clock does not start ticking until the date of STB Sales Order (see SLA Circular). It's only been 2 months, hardly time to panic yet.  3 months completion is normal in all property sales and 6 months to move out is also normal in collective sales, We have not asked nor been given the moon. All is normal.

In fact, the Objections- far from delaying the sale -  have actually bought the Buyer some precious time. Think about it: had there been no objections, then the STB would have issued the Sale Order sooner, and the Buyers PCP (5yr Project Completion Period) would have started earlier. The Approvals have nothing to do with the STB process and  would still be outstanding.

Got fed up listening
Moving on