EN-BLOC DEVELOPMENT SALES

Mr Tan Soo Khoon asked the Minister for Law whether he will take steps to ensure in cases of en-bloc development sales that (a) all owners of strata units in a development are informed (i) progressively and on a regular basis of the percentage of owners who have given consent for the sale prior to reaching the required approval percentage and (ii) of further developments on the proposed en-bloc sale regardless of whether they had given their consent or not; and (b) a maximum period for the required percentage approval to be obtained be specified, and where this cannot be obtained, a reasonable period should lapse before another attempt to obtain approval is made.

The Senior Minister of State for Law (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Minister for Law): Sir, our ground feedback is that there are no serious problems with the procedures to secure consent for an en-bloc sale. By and large, the procedures set out in the Land Titles (Strata) Act have worked well.

Nevertheless, my Ministry is reviewing the procedures on en-bloc sales, in light of experience gained, since the law was enacted in 1999. We will consider Mr Tan's suggestions in this review.

While we are unable to state definitely now what will be the specific amendments which we will make, my Ministry is sympathetic to Mr Tan's call for greater transparency in the process of securing the required majority to get an en-bloc sale. We will also favourably consider his idea of fixing a maximum period for obtaining the required percentage approval.