Under the current regime, the Board assesses all collective sale applications and is empowered to make rulings where objections to the sale arise. The proposed changes seek to reduce costs and time taken in resolving these disputes by redefining the role of the Board to a mediatory one, and allowing disputing parties to apply directly to the High Court thereby avoiding the need to go through the adjudication process by the Board. These changes are a response to recent highly acrimonious and long-drawn en bloc applications.

Unless otherwise stated, the proposed changes below apply to all applications made to the Board on or after the date the proposed amendments come into operation (the "Date of Commencement").

The proposed section 84A(2A) states that every collective sale application must be made to the Board at first instance. Where there are any objections filed by minority owners relating to the said application, the Board must mediate on such objections within 60 continuous days under the proposed section 84A(6A).

If the objections are withdrawn before the end of the stipulated 60 days, the Board must approve the application and order the collective sale unless the Board is satisfied that the transaction is not good faith after taking into account the factors listed in section 84(A)(9).

This change does not apply to applications that have been made to the Board prior to the Date of Commencement.

whichever first occurs, one or more of the objections remain not withdrawn.

Essentially, this means that all proceedings before it in connection with the application will be discontinued. No stop order shall be made unless the Board has given notice to every objector and to the authorised representatives of the applicants of its intention to make such an order and if, at the end of a period of seven days after the service of such notice, one or more of the objections so filed remain not withdrawn.

These are the same factors the Board currently take into account in the adjudication process.

The Board or the High Court shall also refuse a collective sale application if:

Currently, section 84B allows a subsidiary proprietor who had leased out his lot to apply to the Board to determine the amount of compensation payable to the lessee. It has been proposed that this section be repealed thereby removing the power of the Board to arbitrate on such an issue.

The rationale behind the proposed removal is that in practice, most tenancy agreements already contain provisions addressing early termination in the event of a collective sale affecting the tenanted unit. Parties can easily settle the issue of compensation for the displaced lessee through contractual agreements. Further, for the Board to adjudicate on such an issue would be incompatible with its redefined primary role as mediator.

Changes have been proposed to be made to paragraph 7 of the Third Schedule to do away with certain EOGMs previously required to be held by the sale committee. Currently, EOGMs are required to be held to inform subsidiary proprietors of the consent level, the sale proposal and process, the number of bids and bid amounts, and the terms and conditions of the sale and purchase agreement with the eventual buyer. Since no decision is required of the subsidiary proprietors at such meetings, such updates will instead be done by way of a simple owners' meeting which are easier to call and do not incur any costs. This change applies to all updates on the specified items carried out on or after the Date of Commencement.

While EOGM requirements relating to the appointment of lawyers and property consultants and to the approval of the apportionment method and terms and conditions of the collective sale agreement are retained, paragraph 7(1) will also be amended to clarify previously ambiguous expressions. Instead of using the words "to consider", the language of the provision is now to appoint lawyers, property consultants and to approve the apportionment method and terms and conditions of the collective sale agreement.

Amendments to paragraph 5 of the Second Schedule provide that an EOGM convened for the purposes of a collective sale will stand automatically dissolved if the requisite quorum (i.e.: owners representing at least 30% of the aggregate share value) is not present within an hour after the start of the EOGM. Under the existing regime, the EOGM cannot proceed if the quorum is not present at the appointed time of the meeting.

The proposed amendment ensures that there is sufficient representation from subsidiary proprietors to discuss issues relating to the proposed collective sale. This proposed amendment applies to all EOGMs held on or after the Date of Commencement, including those EOGMs for which notices have already been served.

Currently, subsidiary proprietors are kept informed of the proposed collective sale application by way of notices which have to be placed in their mail boxes. Some sale committees have faced difficulties in complying with such a requirement as some mailboxes are locked to prevent junk mail. Only the postal service has access to the mailboxes. The proposed amendment to the First Schedule allows the aforementioned notices to be sent by ordinary mail. Copies of the documents may also be obtained directly from the marketing agent or the sale committee.

This proposed change applies to all sale committees that have yet to serve the relevant notices, on or after the Date of Commencement.

The proposed amendments under the Second Schedule raises the level of support for a requisition for an EOGM to be held to discuss a collective sale, if the proposed meeting is held within two years of a previous failed attempt happening on or after the Date of Commencement. This proposed requirement serves to prevent the depletion of management corporation funds and to discourage repeated attempts to convene EOGMs to restart the collective sale process when there is insufficient interest from the owners.

Currently, the council of a management corporation shall pursuant to a requisition for an EOGM signed by subsidiary proprietors who represent not less than 20% of the aggregate share value of all the lots in the strata title plan or who form not less than 25% of the total number of subsidiary proprietors, convene the EOGM regardless of when the requisition is made.

Under the proposed amendments, the first requisition in that period of two years after a failed attempt (i.e.: the first retry) must be made by at least 50% of the aggregate share value of all the lots in the strata title plan or by subsidiary proprietors who form not less than 50% of the total number of subsidiary proprietors. The requisition pursuant to a second or subsequent attempt within the two years must be made by at least 80% of the aggregate share value of all the lots in the strata title plan or by subsidiary proprietors who form not less than 80% of the total number of subsidiary proprietors.

A "failed attempt" means an instance where:

At the end of the two year restriction period, the requisition level will reset to the usual level of 20% by share value or 25% of the total number of owners. The next failed attempt with be deemed a first retry for which a fresh two year restriction period will apply.

This proposed amendment applies to all failed attempts which occur on or after the Date of Commencement.

The amendments to the Third Schedule expand the disclosure requirements of persons standing for election to the sale committee. Currently, a person standing for election only has to disclose any interest in any property developer, property consultant, marketing agent or legal firm.

The additional requirements under the proposed amendments compel the potential committee member to also disclose the nature and extent of any conflict of interest of potential conflict of interest arising from:-

The potential committee member must make the relevant declaration at an EOGM before he is elected failing which his election is void.

For sale committees constituted prior to the Date of Commencement, purely as a transition arrangement, standing sale committee members have to make the relevant declarations within 30 days of the Date of Commencement. For sale committees constituted before, on or after the Date of Commencement, a member of a sale committee must also declare to the chairperson of the committee any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest within seven days after he becomes aware of it. For both scenarios, the sale committee shall affix the declaration to a conspicuous part of each building in the development within seven days of the making of the declaration.

The proposed amendments allow the owners to make a more informed choice on who they want to elect into their sale committee and encourage transparency in the collective sale process. However, they do not apply to applications that have been made to the Board prior to the Date of Commencement.

The proposed paragraph 12 of the Third Schedule clarifies that in the case where a sale committee has not received any signatories to its collective sale agreement within a period of 12 months after it is constituted, the sale committee will dissolve automatically.

For existing sale committees that have not collected any valid signatures for the collective sale agreement as of the Date of Commencement, the 12-month period begins on the Date of Commencement, regardless of how long the sale committee has been in office. For sale committees constituted after the Date of Commencement, the 12-month period will begin on the day the sale committee was elected at an EOGM.