Thursday, October 12, 2006
[RealEdge] BT : Eng Lok Mansion en bloc sale to go ahead
| Published October 12, 2006  | |||
| Eng Lok Mansion en bloc sale to go ahead Tribunal rules in favour of the majority of unit-owners
By UMA SHANKARI
THE collective sale of Eng Lok Mansion will go ahead, the Strata Titles Board ruled yesterday.
The freehold development, on a prime site next to Gleneagles Hospital in Napier Road, has been the subject of a contest between the majority of unit-owners who have agreed to an en bloc sale, and two owners trying to block the sale. In March this year, Eng Lok was sold to developer Napier Properties for $138 million or $1,218 per sq ft per plot ratio - a record at the time. The 64 owners stood to get about $2.16 million each. But soon after, 80-year-old Chow Ai Hwa said she would contest her 62 neighbours to stop the sale. She was also acting for her son, who owns a unit in the property. Madam Chow, who has lived at Eng Lok Mansion for 37 years, said the owners should have been paid more for their units. She also contested the way the sale proceeds were to be divided equally among all the owners, pointing out that some apartments were bigger than others. Yesterday, the five members of a Strata Titles Board tribunal hearing the case decided that the sale should go through, after considering the objections raised by Madam Chow. The tribunal said there was no problem with the valuation report produced ahead of Eng Lok's sale. 'We are satisfied that the valuation was not suppressed in order to achieve the collective sale,' the Strata Titles Board said in a grounds-of-decision document. The method of distribution was also examined throughly by the board, the document said. Since the majority of owners had agreed that the proceeds should be divided equally, there was no reason why that decision should be changed, the board said. In addition, the tribunal awarded $6,000 of costs to Eng Lok Mansion. David De Souza, acting for Eng Lok with his partner Jeanette Lee, was pleased with the decision. 'As always, there was some uncertainty as to what the decision would be, but I wouldn't say that it came as a surprise,' he said. | |||
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