A review so soon? Possible MinLaw Review of Amended Enbloc Law

If you haven't heard the news, this quietly came out this weekend on the BT paper - MinLaw may be planning a review of the revised enbloc law. You can read the full article on condosingapore here.

I'm surprised that a review is happening so quickly, barely 6 mths after the amended law kicked into being in early October. Why am I surprised?

• It would make more sense to do a review of the law, in its entirety. That is, it'd be a better use of manpower and resources to wait for at least 1-2 years, see how the new law has worked through from start to finish (STB stage), so that any kinks in the entire stream can be analysed and worked out. Does that make sense?
• Right now, given the dearth of enblocs going into the market, most estates attempting enbloc would have gone through, at most, the first 2-3 EOGMs. I suspect no estate post-Oct have hit the Public Tender stage at all. Most tender announcements are for pre-Oct attempts (80% achieved before 4 Oct 2007). So, the most anyone can say anything about the new amendments, is what's going on in these EOGMs.
  
• The BT article stated categorically that MinLaw has been keeping track of its feedback from the public via it's service enquiry line (eg contact@mlaw.gov.sg) and other channels. Now most "affected owners" may have written in to complain about the problems with the new law, especially with regards to EOGMs, the constitution of the SC, the selection of lawyer/agent, ie the early stages. If they complained about other stages of the enbloc process, it'd largely be an academic exercise because it has not happened yet in their estates. Any other complaints or suggestions will have to refer to the situation pre-Oct amendments, and I'm sure lots of us, in the middle of last year, wrote in during the Public Consultation with our 2 cents worth on the pre-2007 law.
  
• However, what is happening now in the market?
  
• Not more than 5 enblocs since the new law. Bad for business - for agents, lawyers, developers, construction industry, or and stamp duty.
  
• Problems from estates trying to kickstart the enbloc process.
  
• Difficulty trying to obtain requisitions for EOGMs
• Problems holding EOGMs of which some have quickly devolved into ugly shouting matches
• Increased costs from legal and agency fees
• The last point I'm taking with a pinch of salt because it is in the interest of firms to gain as large a profit as possible from the enbloc sale. The increased costs is not a concern to firms except when owners are now seriously reconsidering going for an enbloc try.
  

So let's see - Thus far, maybe only EOGMs, forming of SC, hiring of lawyer/agent, looking at CSAs have happened. A review at this stage would be premature if it's only about such problems. So why trigger a review?

I'd conjecture that the lack of enbloc attempts since the amendments has suddenly worried the Ministry, esp if given feedback from stakeholders such as developers, SCs, marketing agencies and enbloc lawyers. After all, the amendments were meant to strike a balance between protecting the rights of owners, and facilitating enbloc sales. Some would argue that the balance has tilted to the left a bit too much, with enbloc sales being stalled, halted or derailed.

So stakeholders might want clarity about the new law. Nothing wrong with that. More clarity is good for everyone. What everyone should start to get worried about, is if stakeholders want the law RELAXED.

What can you, as a concerned owner, a stayer who wishes to keep his/her home, do?

Chances are you'd have gone through the early stages of the enbloc attempt under the new law. Write to MinLaw about your experiences with the problems in the early stages. Some examples may be:

1. Bullying or disorderly behaviour during EOGMs.
2. Lack of procedures concerning voting procedure - raising of hands (dubious count) vs proper ballots.
3. Lack of clarity on the possibility of an owner to submit a motion for the EOGM.
4. Lack of clarity on what it means to "consider" something at EOGMs ("consider" is used in the Third Schedule of the LT(S)A Section 7 which details the purposes of the EOGMs).
5. Lack of clarity on whether owners can ask questions and obtain responses from the SC, agent or lawyer, during EOGMs. Some estates have refused owners to speak during EOGMs.
6. Can items in the CSA override the intention of holding EOGMs? Eg in some CSAs are clauses that states if you sign the CSA, you automatically agree to be included in all future requisitions by the SC for EOGMs. This means the SC need not start 'from scratch' to get people to requisition the EOGM, but can rely on everyone who signed the CSA, irregardless of whether you disagree later on with the sale.
7. Problems with Management Council members who are in the SC, and who refuse to provide a fair representation from minority owners or people who wish to query the enbloc sale.
8. Sequencing of EOGMs - Lack of clarity on whether some EOGMs as outlined in the Third Schedule can be collapsed into others, so instead of holding 3 EOGMs to vote in the SC and select lawyer/agent and CSA, all can collapsed into 1. Is this allowed?

Think about these items and whether you've encountered them (or any others that I may have missed). Write here in the comments section (where I'll gladly compile, but please leave a contact email for further correspondence!), or directly to MinLaw's feedback unit.

If you don't, all MinLaw is going to get in terms of feedback for the review would be from stakeholders who may well say (among other things):

1. Amendments have effectively stalled the process and prevented the urban renewal of Singapore, the basis of the enbloc law.
2. Suggest that EOGMs be compressed into 1 or 2 at most.
   
3. Any requisition for EOGMs should automatically apply for subsequent EOGMs.
4. No motions allowed to be entered, no voting allowed, no Q&A for more than 10 seconds
5. In general they will paint a bleak picture of EOGMs and the process being stonewalled by administrative and logistical difficulties as well as resistance from anti-enbloc owners.
   

Would you prefer these immediately prior points to become reality? If not, get ready to consolidate your thoughts onto paper.

Good luck.

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Tags: EOGM, EOGMs, collective sale, collective sales, en bloc, en-bloc, en-bloc sale, enbloc, enbloc sale, singapore

Meeting your MP - A Guide

There's rampant discussion about the Horizon Towers debacle in the various forums, so we'll do something completely different.

For some, going to meet a Member of Parliament is a useless gesture. For others, meeting an MP is an alien idea. Some people, distraught enough with the enbloc of their homes, might be brave to venture into the unknown and make their MP earn his/her keep in a "Meet the People Session". Here's what happens at a Meet the People Session:-

1. First things first - you need to locate your MP. Each constituency/GRC has a number of MPs with each MP usually assigned a specific location in the GRC (in this case). Go to the Community Development Council's (CDC) website here. On the bottom right you see a "District Detector". Enter your postal code and it'll pull up which CDC you're in as well as a link to the CDC's website. Click on that and go to the website which will have a Meet the People Session page. Locate your MP from there.
   
2. You can find more information about your MP from the Singapore Parliament website (which contains their CVs). You can find Meet the People session times/days here too but NOT the location where the MP is attached to.
   
3. Once you've found your MP, head to the session location and be prepared for a long wait. Most Sessions begin in the evening (7pm onwards). Like most Singaporean activities, get ready to queue.
   
4. You will first be verified that you are indeed in the right constituency for the Session. In other words you cannot go to Potong Pasir if you are not IN Potong Pasir. They will turn you away if you're not verified. Once you've passed verification, you'll be given a Queue Number.
5. Depending on how many people before you, you may have to wait for up to 1 hour before you're called up for "Registration".
6. During registration, you'll need to present your IC card, and fill in your details on a computer for their record and for future visit purposes. Then you wait (approximately) an hour for a volunteer to draft out a petition for you.
   
7. Bear in mind some of the people who wish to meet the MP for various reasons may not be native English speakers (or in some cases, know how to write). So the volunteer prepares a written petition that will be recorded and passed to the MP when you meet.
   
8. Impress the volunteer - write your own petition! This is useful because the MP can bring back a copy of your own petition for follow up, rather than a quick summary written by a volunteer.
   
9. When presenting your case to the MP, be polite and to the point. Air your grievances and the problems with the enbloc in your estate (doesn't matter what stage you're at). The idea is the more petitions/complaints/letters to the ministries about enbloc, the more likely they have to do something, especially in response to the MPs.
   
10. The time from start to finish can be several hours (3 hrs or so) so be prepared. The result? You'll get a formal letter from your MP which will be addressed (depending on your issues raised) to the permanent secretaries of the Ministries of Law and National Development, requesting that they look into the matter on the MP's behalf.
    

The fact is there's been a few people (not a lot) who have approached their MPs so far. The MPs have to be accountable to their constituency members, irregardless of socioeconomic class status. Bring up issues on transparency, due process, conflict of interests, bad faith, cowboy antics, poor legislation covering enblocs, new amendments to enbloc laws etc.

The MPs are, as a senior member of government once said, "as good as it gets". Let's see if they're willing to pull their weight on the increasingly disturbing matter of enbloc sales.

Tags: Meet the people session, Member of Parliament, collective sale, collective sales, condo, en bloc, en-bloc, en-bloc sale, en-bloc sale, enbloc, enbloc sale, property, real estate, singapore, Enblocing Singapore

More Anti-Enbloc Blogs, En Bloc Blues & 2nd Public Consultation

Quite a few items to report this week...

Firstly, several blogs have popped up. It's great to see that civil society and activism is strong and vibrant in Singapore, especially since minority owners have barely any space to voice their concerns and dissent.

Dairy Farm Estate at Upper Bukit Timah has started the en-bloc process, and a group of conscientious owners has set up a blog on their estate, to discuss the prospects of selling their homes collectively. You can find the blog here. Tampines Court has also started an anti-enbloc blog, which they said is better late than never! You can find the Tampines Court blog here. And there's another general anti-enbloc blog started by M Goei. You can find her blog here. (I have updated their addresses on my links page as well.)

Secondly, if you haven't read it yet, the Straits Times have done an excellent SEVEN page spread on the flip side of en bloc sales, which they titled "En Bloc Blues". You can find the articles in the CondoSingapore Forum (Many thanks to Mr Funny for putting these up for readers) as well as sites such as sghousing. Thanks must go to the reporters Joyce Teo, Fiona Chan and Keith Lin who contacted many of us and for putting up a balanced view of en blocs. The various articles are available here (titled "En bloc blues", "Riding the en bloc wave", "Many forced to downgrade..", "This is my home..").

Thirdly, the Ministry of Law has started a second round of public consultation. In response to the 100 over feedback from the public (presumably largely from minority owners and dissenters) from their first public consultation, MinLaw has now started to solicit feedback from the pro-sales folks - property consultants and law firms. Information available here.

Finally, some forums have new discussions on en bloc sales over at Stomp and ChannelNewsAsia. I have likewise updated the En Bloc List (will try to do that on weekends when possible). In the following week, I hope to share an analysis/deconstruction of a transcript and minutes of an EOGM where it is blatantly obvious that majority owners will do anything to force the minority owners into a very uncomfortable spot for their holding out on the sale (and hence the majority's profits).

Tags: En Bloc Blues, Anti-Enbloc, Anti-En bloc, collective sale, property, enbloc sale, enbloc, en-bloc sale, en-bloc, en bloc, condo, collective sales, real estate, singapore

Another Anti-enbloc Blog - Botanic Gardens View

Well, this is a disappointment.

I've always found that Botanic Gardens View was an excellent example of what a good management council could do to an aging estate - by pursuing an aggressive upgrading and maintenance policy to upkeep the property, and improve it's sale/rental yield. Situated at Taman Serasi, facing the new buildings at Botanic Gardens, this estate is over 30 years old (built in 1970) and while it does not have much in the way of facilities, its location is really superb - next door to the Gardens, near a hospital, at the doorstep of Orchard Road, embassies nearby etc.

Heard from a colleague who stays there that there were talk of en-bloc early this year, then everything went silent, and today CBRE wrote to everyone, telling them that the protem sales committee (PTSC) has selected the agents and lawyers, the CSA is almost ready for signing at their FIRST owner's meeting. They're fast tracking it, obviously hoping to hit the 80% before parliamentary changes to collective sale legislation occur later in the year. Included in their proposal is the application to maintain the gross plot ratio of 1.78+ (their existing buildings are 10 storeys I think, but the current Masterplan plot ratio for BVG is 1.4 or 5 storeys should they wish to redevelop.) Can they do that, given that there are explicit restrictions to the area around Botanic Gardens, as clearly outlined in the Masterplan 2003 and the circular, where it states "the current height restrictions will remain to protect the visual amenity of the Singapore Botanical Gardens"? This of course applies to new redevelopments near BVG and not to BVG which was built before MP2003's revision.

Not good news from my colleague who loves the place and whose family calls it home. A group of owners there have started a blog (it's still new) to gather dissenters to the enbloc of Botanic Garden View:- http://botanicgardensview.blogspot.com

Residents of the estate do feel free to express your thoughts of the enbloc at their blog.

Tags: botanic garden view, botanic gardens view, singapore botanical gardens, collective sale, property, enbloc sale, enbloc, en-bloc sale, en-bloc, en bloc, condo, collective sales, real estate, singapore

Resistance is NOT Futile - Anti-Enbloc Blogs on the Rise

[Added a post below. Keeping this post as first entry for now]

It is always difficult being the minority, whether it's in terms of collective sales, or other markers of differentiation (race, ethnicity, SES, and even those with different political views). Some say the internet is a fantastic avenue for opening up spaces for such minorities. Maybe it is, but a lot depends on how visible these spaces are.

So what I have found, and have been approached to connect with, are other 'anti-enbloc' blogs that have appeared recently. I'm sure others will appear in the near future, as en blocs continue to frustrate many owners who do not wish to sell or move, for various reasons.

Anti-En bloc Blog for Teresaville (Lower Delta Rd): Save Teresaville
Anti-En bloc Blog for Pearlbank Apartments (Outram Park): No Enblock!
Anti-En bloc Blog in General: Pariah's En Bloc Block

Some advice from yours humbly that's been running this blog for a while now:-

1. Always have a way for others to contact you, be it comments or (better) email.
2. Advertise your blog on technorati, google, etc for maximum publicity.
3. Link up with other blogs (like those listed above) for visibility.
4. Search around the internet for others that may have talked about your estate's en bloc attempt, and invite them to discuss in your own blog.
   
5. Try not to moderate your blog. If you're pushing for transparency in collective sale attempts, the same should apply to your blog. It's only fair that even majority owners have a right to say something on your blog, even though you may not agree with their comments.
6. Most important of all - be civilised and rational. En blocs can create rifts and tempers may flare, but you gain nothing by being irrational against others who may disagree with you. It's an ugly world out there, but that doesn't mean you have to be too.

If there are other people that are attempting to start their own anti-enbloc blogs for their estates, let me (and those listed above) know. Of note, and I won't publicise it here, is the fact that there are signs of pro-enbloc blogs online too :) :)

Good luck :)

UPDATE:
This from Channelnews Asia - Members of Parliament to raise questions about the property market, including "measures to ensure that en blocs are transparent". START BUGGING YOUR MPs NOW!!!!

Tags: anti-enbloc, anti-en bloc, anti-collective sale, anti-en-blocs, Enbloccing Singapore, en bloc, collective sale, property, enbloc sale, enbloc, en-bloc sale, en-bloc, condo, collective sales, real estate, singapore

Feedback Unit's REACH Discussion on En Bloc Legislation

REACH, the Feedback Unit's public forum, has posted a discussion thread on the proposed en bloc legislation changes. You can find it here. By all means, feel free to chip in there as I do believe the Feedback Unit reads the discussion.

Reach's Our Common Space Forum Discussion - Proposed Changes to En Bloc Sale Legislation

While I'm not familiar with the forum protocols, I think you can submit responses to the discussion thread anonymously (like I did) or you can register an account. In either cases, I'm sure your IP address is logged so anonymity is an illusion :)

Tags: Reach forum, feedback unit, en bloc sale legislation, en bloc sale changes, collective sale, property, enbloc sale, enbloc, en-bloc sale, en-bloc, en bloc, condo, collective sales, real estate, singapore, Enblocking Singapore, Enblocing Singapore, Enbloccing Singapore

The Time is Now - Ministry of Law Public Consultation

This is the moment we've been waiting for.

To all those who have suffered from enbloc sales, the Ministry of Law is holding a public consultation on the proposed amendments to the en bloc sale legislation. Information can be found here (includes consultation paper and draft legislative amendment document). While the main intent is to discuss the 3 particular amendments (additional consent, empowering STB to increase sales proceeds for minority owners, improvements made to en bloc sales procedures), if you send to them a well-argued, well-justified critique (and importantly, suggestions) of the current en bloc sale legislation, I do not think they would turn you down.

All of us minority owners and people who may be going through enblocs now, we have from 2nd April to 12th May 2007 to send our reviews and comments to the Ministry of Law. There are two methods of delivery to the Ministry:

1. By Mail: The Ministry of Law, 100 High Street, The Treasury, #08-02, Singapore 179434. Attn: Mr Gary Goh.
2. By Email: MLAW_enbloc@mlaw.gov.sg

Please send constructive comments and critiques to the Ministry... It's no point sending a major complaint letter as it'd get nowhere except the governmental bin. Bear in mind as this is a public consultation, it won't be just minority owners voicing out to the government; the Ministry will receive letters from property agencies like CBRE, Knight Frank, etc about why the changes are bad form. They'll get letters from law firms that handle enbloc sales with legal counters to the amendments. There will be sales committee members who will write in to attempt to stop these changes too. So it's not just minority owners who will be writing in but everyone who wants the status quo to remain.

This means you MUST write in and voice your concerns, issues, suggestions. Or the majority will gain the upper hand again.

Some suggestions for you to think about:-

• You are going through an enbloc sale and you're not happy. List down the reasons why you are not happy with the way the sale was conducted, the bullishness of sales committees or agents, the aggressiveness of majority owners etc. For each of these reasons, think about how they can be converted from a complaint into a suggestion. So if the sales committee was being a major bully to every minority owner, how about suggesting, like true elections, anonymous voting at selected period in the enbloc process? An accounting firm can handle the voting and it can be done in writing rather than the way it's done now (collecting signatures so that everyone who signed the CSA knows who has not). Be imaginative but pragmatic. Give valid reasons why you're suggesting such improvements.
• You've been through an enbloc sale and you're not happy. Again, your complaints will get you nowhere unless you can change them into critiques and suggestions. Did you feel your entire estate was suddenly pushed into the enbloc at lightning speed without clear protocols? What procedures would you want to include to ensure this does not happen again?
  
• You've been evicted from your enblocked home and now you're worried that your new home will be removed from you in a few years' time. A good suggestion from The Pariah is to have legislation over how frequent an estate can hold an enbloc sale during the fixed period of time. So say after the first failed attempt, make a suggestion to the Ministry that it should regulate the next time it can be done (say 4 years). How about a permit that must be obtained (like COE) to allow any sales committee to even begin the enbloc. Such a permit would require say a surveyor's report indicating the state of the estate, showing how any upkeep costs would no longer be sustainable, ie justify why an enbloc should be done. This would cut down on environmental wastage and give many owners some security that no single group of ambitious owners can take away your home without sufficient justification.
  

You get the idea. Constructive criticism and suggestions are key in governmental discussions. Lamenting the fact that you lost your home must be balanced with how the government can improve things so that it will not happen to you or anyone else in the future.

Let's get this rolling people. Start writing to the Ministry! Don't sit there thinking others will do the work for you.. please put your frustration, sadness, anger and thoughts onto paper and let the government know enough is enough.

Tags: Ministry of Law, Proposed enbloc amendments, en bloc changes, en bloc amendments, public consultation, Singapore en bloc legislature, collective sale, property, enbloc sale, enbloc, en-bloc sale, en-bloc, condo, en bloc, collective sales, real estate, singapore, Enbloccing Singapore, Enblocing Singapore, Enblocking Singapore

Fight the Future - Communication Channels for the Minority

What can be done, for the minority owners? What happens if you're in the tail end of the inevitable steamroller called the en-bloc sale in your development, and you can't do anything about it.

Or can you?

There are communication channels, particularly to the newspapers and more importantly, to the government even the opposition, where you can voice your concerns about en-bloc sales. But why should the government care, you say.

Firstly, they should be concerned about the ethics of the whole process, especially since built into the conditions for rejecting an en-bloc sale, is the notion of 'good faith' and 'at arm's length'. The Select Committee's original recommendation to Parliament on 19th April 1999 on this matter points to the ethical imperative:

..the [Strata Title] Board will have power to refuse an order for sale only on the grounds that [1] the purchase price which a minority owner will receive is less than the price he paid for his unit, including all allowable deductions; [2] the purchase price a minority owner receives is not sufficient for him to discharge the encumbrances (ie mortgages and charges) on his unit; [3] the minority owner is forced to be part of a joint venture agreement with the developer; or [4] the sale is not in good faith and at arm’s length considering the factors … that the Board will review a case (regardless of whether there is an objection) to see whether on the face of the application it is satisfied that the transaction is in good faith and at arm’s length, after taking into account the sale proceeds, method of distributing the sale proceeds and the relationship of the purchaser to any of the unit owners. It will also ensure that the sale and purchase agreement does not require a minority owner to be part of a joint venture agreement with the developer of the land …

The last condition (4) refers to the ethics of the sale - the need for it to be done not only in good faith but at arm's length. You need to impress on the government that there are serious ethical issues with the way en-bloc sales are done now - Sales Committee's conflict of interest (Myth #2), ownership issue (Myth #3), arbitrariness of 10 year definition (Myth #5). There are also serious consequences of the aftermath of an unsuccessful en-bloc sale - place becoming rundown due to the SC/MC conflict of interest (Myth #2), enmity among neighbours if the SC lets known who are the minority.

Secondly, the government should be worried about the 20% or more minority group, MOST IF NOT ALL of which are (in all likelihood) Singaporean owners, people who do not wish to sell and do not wish to move from their home. An en-bloc sale can be traumatic to many of these minority owners, and it is likely to be manifested during election time (for those constituencies with elections!) in negative ways for the prevailing political party. Unhappiness with the government doing nothing about the en-bloc sale, not even reassessing it or putting restrictions on the sale to curb it, may well provide the impetus for citizens to vote less rationally.

It is ironic that the last person to ask about en-bloc sale was Mr Chiam See Tong in Nov 2006.

So what are the communication channels?

1. Your Member of Parliament. Contact them via email or via Meet-The-People sessions. You can find your MP here. The list of constituencies is here. If enough people bring up this issue to them, even they'll get worried. Then again, you might be affecting their future potential en-bloc properties!
   
2. Feedback Unit. They have a portal Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry @Home (REACH.. doh) here.
   
3. The opposition party who would love to bring up these issues in Parliament. Useful if you feel your MP has condos involved in en-blocs too (or is in a law firm that deals with en-blocs!). Chiam See Tong's party is here and there's Workers' Party too. No, seriously.
   
4. Straits Times Forum here. The Today newspaper ran en-bloc forum letters for a while but the audience for Today is significantly different from the more mainstream ST.

Good luck and let's hope there will be change for a better future.

Tags: en-bloc forum, Enblocing Singapore, collective sale, real estate, property, enbloc sale, enbloc, en-bloc sale, en-bloc, condo, collective sales, singapore