A matter of time

Tempers flared at Thomson View condominium yesterday when a scheduled extraordinary general meeting (EOGM) for the establishment of a new en bloc sales committee had to be called off due to a lack of quorum.

Thomson View’s appointed managing agent CKH Strata Management called off the meeting after it declared that the minimum 30 per cent of share value, made up of residents or their proxies, required to attend the EOGM was not fulfilled by 1pm – the scheduled time to start the meeting.

However, residents of the 15-year-old, 55,000 square feet condominium had a different view and accused CKH of being tardy in its administrative process hence causing the delay.

Some residents claimed there were far too few staff tending to the registration process at the registration counter and that contributed to the delay. They also said CKH should have given them some leeway as the delay was over administrative matters at the registration counter and residents also claimed that the law requiring the minimum threshold to be met by a specific time was not clearly stated as a caveat to residents in the EOGM notice.

The Land Titles (Strata) Act requires a quorum of a minimum of 30 per cent of the share value to be reached in order to begin the meeting.

CKH said it had called off the meeting because they wanted to abide by the current law of dissolving the EOGM if the quorum is not met by its scheduled time.

They maintained that allowing for the EOGM to continue may thwart the process of an en bloc sale if a minority group chooses to contest its validity at a later date.

“I’m only a managing agent and I have to act according to the law. If I was lenient, then people who were against the en bloc sale could declare this whole election of the new sales committee null and void as the law was not strictly adhered to,” said Mr Chan Kok Hong, managing director of CKH.

However, a proposed change to the Land Titles (Strata) Act announced last month has provided for an hour’s leeway for the quorum to be reached, but this new ruling is expected to take effect only in June.

The dispute was resolved when Mr Tan Kin Lian, former chairman of the previous sales committee and ex-chief executive of NTUC Income, offered to facilitate the reconvening of the next EOGM through email with the residents.

A resident, who only wants to be known as Mr Ng, said the inflexibility from CKH was uncalled for.

“People put in so much trouble to come in and the EOGM was cancelled just because some people cannot be reached or are late.

“The managing agent should be more flexible and give us half-an-hour more instead of saying there is no quorum,” he said.

Source: Today, 17 May 2010