Strata board rules: It's no go for Tampines Court sale

July 26, 2008
Strata board rules: It's no go for Tampines Court sale
Ruling comes after 3 days of intense hearings to meet en-bloc
deadline
By Jessica Cheam

ANY hopes of collecting a windfall for their flats by the more than
400 owners of Tampines Court were dashed yesterday when their
collective sale was thrown out by the Strata Titles Board (STB).

While the majority owners were devastated, minority owners sobbed in
relief when the STB read out its decision to a packed room at its
Maxwell Road office.

STB deputy president Alfonso Ang said: 'From the evidence...the
transaction is not in good faith, taking into account the sale price
and the method of distributing the proceeds of the sale.'

Lawyer N. Sreenivasan, who represented the minority owners, had
argued on Tuesday that the sales committee had not obtained an
updated valuation of the 560-unit estate when the deal was signed
last year. The valuation used was dated from 2005.

The controversial $405 million deal also involved an amount of $10
million called the beta sum that is meant to compensate owners for
financial loss.

Mr Sreenivasan said this was unfairly distributed among owners at the
discretion of the sales committee.

The arguments seem to have struck a chord with STB, whose decision
was considered unusual by industry analysts as the board is perceived
to generally approve sales.

Yesterday's ruling came after three intense days of hearings as the
board fast-tracked a conclusion.

The High Court had ordered the STB to bring forward an Aug 7 hearing
to Monday so objectors could be heard before the sale agreement
expired yesterday.

A decision by yesterday was crucial as the buyers - Frasers
Centrepoint and Far East Organization - would not grant an extension.
The STB's ruling now means the sale is dead.

Lawyers from Phang & Co, who represented the majority owners, said
they were 'discussing options'. But with no sale extension, an appeal
to overturn the STB ruling will be futile.

Meanwhile, unhappy majority owners are wondering what went wrong.
They stood to collect a payout of about $700,000 each - as much as
$300,000 above the purchase price, depending on when they bought
their home in the 99-year leasehold estate. One majority owner who
declined to be named said she was frustrated that the sale took so
long.

'We don't understand why the sales committee was dragging its feet,'
she said.

The committee seems to have shot itself in the foot. The sale
conditions had all been met by July 25 last year, yet the committee
delayed seeking standard STB approval until Jan 7 this year.

It said it wanted to wait for an STB ruling on the Gillman Heights
sale as its fate could have had a bearing on the Tampines Court deal
as both were former Housing and Urban Development Company estates.

But another majority owner, Ms Irene Cheang, was more forgiving
towards the committee: 'It's a thankless job, and we cannot blame
them for taking this up.'

Minority owner Niamh Choo, who had tracked the sale process on her
blog, tampinescourt.blogspot.com, was 'ecstactic' at the result.

'It was an inevitable decision. We had a very strong case,' she said.

'Now that we get to keep our homes, I hope residents will band
together and can be neighbours once again.'

The STB has yet to disclose the grounds for rejection. It may do so
at a later date.