SINGAPORE – Owners of older condominiums could find it easier to get urgent estate problems fixed under a new proposal to reduce the consent threshold for essential works.
And to tackle higher maintenance costs and insufficient funds, management corporation strata titles (MCSTs) could also be told to make key financial information available to owners and prospective buyers.
In addition, to prevent a small group of owners from dominating decisions by collecting a large number of proxy votes, measures are being considered to cap proxy holdings per household.
These were among the proposed changes to the Building (Strata Management) Act undergoing a comprehensive review, Second Minister for National Development and Finance Indranee Rajah said in Parliament on March 4.
As part of a separate review of safety rules, condominiums and other private buildings could also get lift and escalator safety upgrades partially paid for by the Government, she added.
Explaining the rationale for the changes during the debate on the Ministry of National Development’s budget, Ms Indranee said that some MCSTs and owners face rising maintenance costs, ageing facilities and the challenges of collective decision-making to make improvements. Such issues must be addressed to ensure estates remain liveable and meet residents’ needs, particularly those of seniors, she added.
The review comes at a time when more private residential developments in Singapore have crossed the 30-year mark. Over 1,000 of 3,750 such developments are at least 30 years old.
In August 2025, The Straits Times reported that such older developments are increasingly
struggling with maintenance issues
. These could include lift breakdowns that take years to fix, or sinking funds that are inadequate to deal with spalling concrete and water seepages.
