July 21 hearing for Tampines Court case

Source : Straits Times - 19 Jul 2008

THE Tampines Court en-bloc sale was handed a lifeline by the High Court yesterday when it ordered the Strata Titles Board (STB) to bring forward a crucial hearing date.

Just a week ago, the sale had seemed as good as dead when the STB refused to change an Aug 7 hearing date. This meant the hearing would take place after the July 25 expiry date of the sales deal.

And the buyers - Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint - had already said they were unlikely to extend the deadline.

But the court yesterday granted an appeal by the majority owners. This means the STB must now hear remaining objections to the sale on Monday, four days before the deal expires.

Even with the new hearing date, STB registrar Bryan Chew said there was no guarantee a decision will be made by July 25.

‘(It) depends on how long the witnesses take on the stand,’ he said.

Thereafter, lawyers have to make their submissions and the board has to deliberate.

Senior counsel Michael Hwang, who was acting for the majority owners, told The Straits Times that the High Court application was made on two grounds.

First, that the hearing was set for a date beyond the six- month life of the specific board constituted to hear the estate’s sale.

The owners also contended that it was wrong for STB to fix that date when it knew the sales agreement would expire on July 25.

Lawyer N. Sreenivasan argued for the minority owners and said that the STB was not obliged to complete a sale by a date set by the sellers and buyers.

The estate’s deadline squeeze stemmed from a sales committee decision to delay seeking STB approval for the deal until the board had ruled on the Gillman Heights sale.

The decision on Gillman Heights could have had a bearing on the fate of the Tampines Court deal as both were former HUDC estates.

The Tampines Court committee eventually applied for sale approval on Jan 7, although all the necessary conditions had been met as early as July 25 last year.

Meanwhile, the sale has caused much tension and division in the estate.

‘The whole en-bloc process has been dragging for too long and is upsetting residents,’ said owner Mansur Husain.

Majority owners feel the sale price - about $700,000 for each unit - is above what the homes could get on the open market. But minority owners believe the amount is too low, given that private home prices in Tampines have shot up in the last year.

An independent analyst, Savills’ director of marketing and business development Ku Swee Yong, said fair value is likely from $500,000 to $700,000.

Some homes can command premiums based on individual attributes, he said. Comparing prices of Tampines Court to those of new condos in the area is ‘not too accurate’ as the estate does not have comparable facilities, he pointed out.