For four years, Mr Bharat Mandloi and his family put their renovation plans for their Horizon Towers apartment on hold because they were awaiting the results of the collective sale.
Mr Bharat, 50, the director of a commodity trading business, is glad that the whole 'roller-coaster ride' is finally over. He had bought the flat 15 years ago and rented it out while he was living abroad.
When the idea of the collective sale was raised in 2005, he was elected as a member of the sale committee. However, he dropped out of it about seven months later when he felt that it was in too much of a hurry to sell the estate and did not try for a better price in the soaring market.
Mr Bharat is a permanent resident here. His family relocated to Singapore from India in the 1990s but moved around the world before coming back here.
Relations between the residents remained very cordial during the three years or so when the collective sale was in limbo, he said. He remained in the group that wanted to sell the estate. He said that he and other owners were shocked at the Court of Appeal judgment.
However, Mr Bharat, who is now on the condominium's management committee, added that the mood is more of relief than disappointment. 'I've got lots of calls from other residents asking me: 'Is this it? Or do we still have to do some more to push for the sale?' I think we're all relieved it's over at last.'
Meanwhile, the management committee has a long list of things to decide on. 'Many things like building repairs and upgrades were pending while we were waiting for the judgment, so now we have to decide what we're going to do.'
The family did not buy another house as they felt the market was moving too fast. 'Now that we know it's not going to be sold, we're discussing whether we want to move or not. After all, it's a 30-year-old property.'
Source: Straits Times, 5 April 2009
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