ST Forum : EN BLOC PANELS

Jan 25, 2010

EN BLOC PANELS

Save owners from sword of Damocles

MY ESTATE'S condominium en bloc sales committee, formed in November 2007, has been in hibernation because of unfavourable market conditions.

The committee has not found a single signature for a collective sales pact. Twenty-six months on, the committee is still alive because the law allows it to be.

Did lawmakers envisage that the sword of Damocles would hang over home owners' heads for years? Are stayers like me not entitled to live in peace, with some clarity on whether our homes will go en bloc or not?

If a condominium's management council can exist with the subsidiary proprietors' blessing only for one year, surely a collective sales committee should be limited to a similar lifespan.

In the absence of a time cap, the committee should be legally mandated to formally begin collective sales procedures within 12 months of formation, or close. A tighter, more practical schedule is needed for collective sales committees that will not fade away voluntarily.

Susan Prior (Ms)