OAKSWOOD HEIGHTS

Spottiswood Park Road
Freehold
84 units
UOL buys Oakswood Hts for 132 Million
6 Aug 2007

This condominium was sold en bloc in June 2007 and the Strata Titles Board approved the sale in May 2008. The minority owners (exactly how many I do not know) took issue with having to pay the costs and expenses of the sale and the matter went to the High Court. The judgement, issued 13 Jan 2009, can be found below, free to view for 3 months. The minority owners were the defendants in the case and lost.

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3 "The defendants, as minority owners in the collective sale of the condominium, argued through counsel that the order did not specify that the minority was bound to pay such costs; secondly, that the quantum was not determined and thus no costs was payable; and thirdly, this application was really an appeal against the Strata Title Board’s order......... "

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The Honorable Choo Han Teck wrote:

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"4 In the nature of such contracts, the actual amount of the costs in question would not normally be determined at the time the agreement was made because much work remained to be done. All that was required under the contract was to make provision for the principle and mode of payment of such items so that the only consequential litigation that could have arisen would be the issue of the reasonableness of the quantum eventually determined. Hence, the defendants could challenge the amount payable but not the obligation of payment; that, in my view, was amply and clearly provided in the agreements in question."

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Leong Soh Har Michael and Others v Kek Beng and Others[2009] SGHC 15

When Old is better than New

Angry buyers clash with developer Wing Tai over defects
Today Online - 2 Jan 2009
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Even high-end owners are not getting much bang for their buck these days. What with sub-standard finishes, shoddy workmanship (though still within the building guidelines) and cheap glass replacing railings and even walls, reports of falling glass panels are bound to increase over the next few years. Add to that a foreseeable upsurge in maids falling as they attempt to clean the grimy outsides for overly fastidious apartment owners.

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Far better to have old fashioned iron balconies, as in Tampines Court, that let in the breeze as well as the light, don't fry the potted plants and don't need cleaning. Even after 22 years they are not likely to fall out. Glass panels might have a fleeting aesthetic appeal, but honestly, would you put your weight against one 20 floors up?

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Song (see side bar for tune):

Little boxes on the hillside

Little boxes made of ticky tacky

Little boxes

Little boxes

Little boxes all the same

There's a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses all went to the university

And they all got put in boxes, little boxes all the same

And there's doctors and there's lawyers

And business executives

And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same

And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry

And they all have pretty children and the children go to school

And the children go to summer camp

And then to the university

And they all got put in boxes, and they all come out the same

And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family

In little boxes, little boxes all the same

There's a green one, and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same