I SYMPATHISE with Mr Yeo Loo Keng ('Stop collective sale - I'll suffer $106k loss'; ST, Nov 15), knowing full well what it is like to be a property owner facing financial loss in a collective sale.
I had purchased my home in 1996 - a year before the financial crisis, which brought down the property market - for $975,000, which corresponded to the valuation of the property.
In 2004, the estate was put up for collective sale at a reserve price of $950,000 for each unit. I was pressured by representatives of a major property agency, who were handling the sale, to accept an amount which was only slightly more than that, and which failed to take into account basics like stamp duty (3 per cent) and legal fees (0.5-1 per cent), let alone renovation costs or bank-loan interest. In fact, in an effort to be entirely reasonable, I was willing to forgo the latter, but did insist upon the former.
To ensure that I was acting within my rights, I consulted my MP and my lawyer, both of whom had expertise in this area. I was assured by both that I was entitled to full compensation for the stamp duty and legal fees 'at the very least'.
I was further advised to contest the sale before the Strata Titles Board (STB) if it went through and I was not being offered these amounts.
I then decided to discuss the matter with an STB official who, while sympathetic, could not guarantee that I would receive the full compensation I expected, saying that the rules were not absolutely clear in cases involving areas going beyond the required compensation for the actual purchase price.
Alarmed, I began making plans to dip into my cash savings, if necessary, to purchase a comparable home in another freehold estate, something I didn't even want in the first place - simply because I was among the 20 per cent of owners in my estate facing a potential financial loss.
Fortunately, the sale did not go through.
That was in 2004. I do not know whether the STB has modified its policies in the interim. If it has not, I would urge it to re-examine such issues carefully to protect the interests of minority owners facing financial loss who, ironically, are often the ones who have no desire to see a collective sale materialise in the first place.
Michael Rebaczonok-Padulo
