Court gives go-ahead for Albracca en bloc sale
Court gives go-ahead for Albracca en bloc sale
One owner had objected to the deal and case went to court after Strata Title Board mediation failed
Sat, Jul 28, 2018
THE ALBRACCA condo at Meyer Road was granted a sale order by the High Court on Friday afternoon, following proceedings last month to decide on the fate of its collective sale.
The 11-unit development was sold for S$69.1 million to Sustained Land last July, but one owner - who represented himself in court - had objected to the sale.
The Business Times understands the court ordered costs against the objector, who has to pay the legal fees and disbursements of the other owners.
It is not known if the owner will appeal Friday's decision.
Douglas Ong, the director of Sustained Land, said he was happy given the "long-drawn" matter.
The collective sale committee of The Albracca is represented by De Souza Lim & Goh.
A few other en blocs this year have encountered speed bumps after they were met with stop orders by the Strata Titles Board (STB), after some owners filed objections to the sale and did not withdraw these objections following mediation by the Strata Titles Board.
These include the 20-unit The Wilshire condo along Farrer Road, which was sold for S$98 million to a joint venture of Roxy-Pacific subsidiary RP Ventures and Tong Eng Group managing director Teo Tong Lim's private family office TE2 Development. BT understands its stop order was issued on July 11 due to one objector, and an application has already been filed to obtain a sale order. Roxy-Pacific's management did not comment in response to Business Times' queries.
As previously reported by BT, owners at Goodluck Garden in Toh Tuck Road, and Cairnhill Mansions on Cairnhill Road, will also be headed to court to settle the fates of their collective sales.
When there are objections to a collective sale, the Strata Title Board (STB) will mediate - but its role is not to assess the merits of the said objections, said Tan Ching Chern, partner at Withers KhattarWong.
Stop orders are issued when objections remain, and the collective sale committee has two weeks following the stop order to apply to the High Court to obtain a sale order.
The High Court will then consider the merits of the application, and decide whether there are grounds to justify it not being granted the sale order.
