Not Feasible To Raise En Bloc Consent Level To 99%

Source : The Straits Times, May 03, 2008

I REFER to the letter 'Raise en bloc consent level to 99%' by Ms Susan Prior (April 19) .

Her letter seems to me to be a way of asking the relevant government authorities to revert to the 100 per cent consent ratio for collective sales. How so?

For apartment buildings and condominiums with 50 units or fewer, a 99 per cent consent ratio means that 49.5 units have to agree to the collective sale.

As this is absurd, rounding up to the nearest whole figure means 50 units, that is, 100 per cent. Similarly, for developments with 99 units or fewer, a 99 per cent consent ratio means 98.01 units. Rounding up means that 99 units have to agree, or 100 per cent again. Over the years, how many projects that had been sold collectively had 99 units or fewer each?

I would say a significant number, going from my clippings of such reports published in the papers.

If Ms Prior's suggestion is adopted, these developments would not have succeeded in being sold collectively.

However, I do agree that fairly new condominiums should not go under the en bloc hammer. My proposal is for the relevant authorities to consider disallowing buildings less than 20 years old from being demolished, unless there are extenuating circumstances, like a structural defect.

This does not prevent developers from buying and refurbishing them via a collective sale if they find that option financially viable.

Secondly, to allow for urban renewal to continue but at a more gradual pace, the consent ratio could be amended as follows: Buildings 20-24 years old (80 per cent); 25-29 years old (75 per cent); 30-34 years old (70 per cent); 35-39 years old (65 per cent); more than 40 years old (60 per cent).

Ace Matthews

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DO IT THE OLD WAY

'Why not put an immediate stop to this entire flawed, resource-wasting, socially divisive process and revert to a... supply-and-demand property market situation?''

MR DENNIS BUTLER, responding to a letter by Madam Ong Boot Lian calling for an end to the collective property sale mediation process