Friday, 31 October 2008

High Court wants STB to hear Regent Court sale appeal

The Regent Court collective sale may yet happen: the High Court has thrown the case back to the Strata Titles Board (STB) to continue its hearing for the sale application.

1 comment:

Guanyu said...

High Court wants STB to hear Regent Court sale appeal

31 October 2008

The Regent Court collective sale may yet happen: the High Court has thrown the case back to the Strata Titles Board (STB) to continue its hearing for the sale application.

The STB threw out the sale late last year but yesterday, Justice Judith Prakash upheld the sale committee’s appeal against that decision.

It has been more than a year since the collective sale deal for the Serangoon Road estate was struck. The collective sale frenzy last year has since died, with a significant deterioration in sentiment in the real estate market.

Regent Development agreed to buy Regent Court in April last year for $34 million. There were several objectors, with one claiming a financial loss of $93,935.75.

Last December, the STB threw out the estate’s sale application. It agreed that the objector had suffered financial loss, meaning that the sale proceeds would not cover his initial purchase price.

The sale committee, which wanted the sale to go through, appealed against the decision. It contended that the estate purchaser Regent Development had given an undertaking that it would top up the difference of $93,935.75 once the sale went through, ensuring that the objector would not suffer a loss.

But the STB did not consider this payment and took into account only the objector’s purchase price and the sale price.

The case was heard only recently as disgruntled owners had wanted to disband the sale committee.

That move failed and the appeal went ahead. Justice Prakash did not give reasons for her decision yesterday. Drew and Napier represented the sale committee.