Changes to en bloc sale legislation effective today

The Land Titles (Strata) (Amendment) Act, enacted by Parliament on May 18, will take effect from today, July 15, the Ministry of Law said yesterday.

The key provisions of the new Act include:

Refinement of the Strata Titles Board's role to focus on mediation for en bloc sale applications.

Imposition of a two-year restriction period, from the date of the initial failed en bloc attempt. The first retry requires approval from 50 per cent of the combined share value or number of owners. For the second and subsequent re-tries, approval from 80 per cent is needed.

The automatic dissolution of any Sales Committee that has not received any signatories to its Collective Sales Agreement (CSA) within one year of the Committee's formation. For existing committees who have not collected any valid signatures for their CSA as of the date of commencement, the one-year period begins on the date of commencement of the new Act.

Expansion of the disclosure requirements to stipulate that candidates standing for election to the Collective Sale Committee must declare the extent of ownership that he or any connected person has in the strata development.

Stipulation of a one-hour waiting time for the quorum of 30 per cent of share value to be reached, failing which the Extraordinary General Meeting would be dissolved.