Ruling comes after 3 days of intense hearings to meet en-bloc deadline
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.
FINAL VERDICT
‘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.’ - STB DEPUTY PRESIDENT ALFONSO ANG
NOT SURPRISED
‘It was an inevitable decision, we had a very strong case. Now that we get to keep our homes, I hope residents will band together and can be neighbours once again.’ - MINORITY OWNER NIAMH CHOO
NOT AT FAULT
‘It’s a thankless job, and we cannot blame them for taking this up.’ - MAJORITY OWNER IRENE CHEANG, who was more forgiving towards the sales committee
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