\n<\/p>\n
Several MPs raised concerns about the shortened timeline to collect signatures for a collective sale. \u00a0<\/p>\n
MP Fadli Fawzi (WP-Aljunied) said that the administrative burden on a volunteer collective sale committee is \u201cimmense\u201d, especially in larger condominiums.<\/p>\n
Gathering signatures involves door-to-door verification, coordinating with overseas owners, navigating complex probate matters for deceased owners and holding multiple town hall discussions to address individual anxieties, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA rigid six-month window may inevitably penalise large estates where a vast majority of owners may actually favour a sale, but where the sheer logistics may prevent the committee from reaching the final finish line in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He suggested having tiered timelines based on the size of the estate, or introducing an automatic grace period extension to the signature collection period.<\/p>\n
MP Wan Rizal (PAP-Jalan Besar) said a shorter period to collect signatures can reduce uncertainty and prolonged campaigning. But if the timeline is \u201ctoo tight\u201d, owners may feel rushed and tensions between neighbours may rise, he said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, MP Ang Wei Neng (PAP-West Coast-Jurong West) suggested a mechanism allowing larger developments to apply for an extension where there are \u201cgenuine practical difficulties\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis would strike a reasonable balance: protecting non-consenting owners from unnecessary prolonged pressure, while recognising that large developments should not necessarily be treated in exactly the same way as the small ones,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In response, Mr Tong noted that the period of signature collection is usually the \u201cmost difficult\u201d and \u201cmost polarising\u201d phase of a collective sale exercise for all owners, \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be sustained uncertainty and pressure in some cases, persistent lobbying. In one example, we received feedback that information on units that had not or refused to sign the CSA (collective sale agreement) were then named on social media, on WhatsApp, chat groups, other communication groups, to try and pressure these owners into agreeing to the sale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While this does not happen across developments, such practices tend to happen in longer signature collection periods, he said.<\/p>\n
He added that while they had considered the merits of a differentiated signature collection period, they decided against it as size is \u201cnot necessarily the only indicator of complexity\u201d in the context of an en bloc sale.<\/p>\n
Mr Tong added that a significant majority of signatures are typically gathered within the first four months, or within a concentrated window of one to two months. Several large developments were also able to reach the 70 per cent threshold within six months.<\/p>\n
This data informed how they approached the revisions, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
SIX-MONTH TIMELINE Several MPs raised concerns about the shortened timeline to collect signatures for a collective sale. \u00a0 MP Fadli Fawzi (WP-Aljunied) said that the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--IZ41m4YZ--\/c_crop,h_575,w_1022,x_1,y_82\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2023-11:afp_watermark_14112023,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2023\/04\/27\/000_Hkg9572017.jpg?itok=DTfLPe5n","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10238,5718,2110,863,4403,4399,5640,3175,1292,27679,6226],"class_list":["post-83278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-bloc","tag-collection","tag-concerns","tag-law","tag-mps","tag-passed","tag-raise","tag-shorter","tag-signature","tag-thresholds","tag-timeline","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}