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Court gives Lentor condo management

corporation 3 months to get 90% nod
or remove awnings

The court had ordered the awnings to be removed if the management corporation of Bullion Park condo cannot get 90% approval from
unit owners to keep them. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

K.C. Vijayan
Senior Law Correspondent

PUBLISHED AUG 9, 2021, 5:00 AM SGT

! " ...
+ Whatsappunit at Bullion Park
SINGAPORE - The owners of a 15th-storey , Linkedin
condo in Lentor
Loop objected when their neighbours one floor below erected an awning over their
- FB Messenger ) Telegram
balcony that collected dust and caused excessive glare. This first happened in 2011.
. Reddit / WeChat
They took the condo management to the High Court when the Strata Titles Board
(STB) declined their application last
0 year to have the 14th-storey
Pinterest 1 Printunit owner remove
the installation.
Purchase Article 2 Copy Permalink
The court last month reversed the STB's decision and ordered the awnings removed
https://str.sg/3wS2
unless the management corporation can, within three months, get 90 per cent
approval from unit owners to keep existing awnings over balconies on the 14th-floor
units.

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The issue involved only 14th units which were unique in having balconies in the
tower blocks of the condo development.

The court allowed the appeal of 15th floor unit owner Mu Qi and her husband, who
had sought an order to remove the awning over the balcony of the unit below their
apartment.

Justice Ang Cheng Hock ruled that the condo's management corporation (MC) had
not obtained the requisite 90 per cent approval of the condo development's unit
owners as required under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act for
the alterations.

The STB had declined to order the MC to remove the unauthorised structures
because the affected 14th-floor unit owners were not named as parties in the
proceedings.

"Whether the STB erred in law in coming to this conclusion is the main issue in the
appeal before me," noted Justice Ang in decision grounds last month.

The couple had applied to the STB for the MC to remove the awnings installed on
the external walls of the 14th-floor units and for the MC to reinstate the external
walls of the development that had been demolished by the owners of the 14th-floor
units and replaced with sliding glass doors.

Justice Ang said the erections and alterations were made on "common property" for
which the MC was rightfully sued.

"The STB made the point that the affected 14th floor (unit owners) ought to be
heard in their defence," said Justice Ang in judgment grounds last month.

"I agree to the extent insofar as they might have some claim against the MC for
having misled them into believing that their additions and alterations were legal
and authorised."

But he said the owners would have no leg to stand on if the MC was ordered to
remove any illegal structures and return common property to its original form.

Justice Ang said the only possible defence is if the owner of a particular 14th-floor
unit could show that he needed the awning for valid safety reasons.

The STB had declined to order the MC to remove the unauthorised structures. PHOTO: MU QI

On the application of the MC's lawyers Lim Seng Siew and Eric Lip for a three-
month grace period, Justice Ang sent the case back to the STB to make the
necessary orders for the respondent to remove the fixed awnings and restore the
demolished external walls if the necessary 90 per cent resolutions for the
modifications could not be obtained in three months.

The lawyer for the couple on the 15th floor, Mr Jenson Lee Xiancong from Taylor
Vinters Via, said on their behalf to The Straits Times that his clients had no
alternative but to commence legal proceedings, noting that during the 2018 and
2019 annual general meetings, the MC tried obtaining the required 90 per cent
support by drafting resolutions in a certain manner but failed on both occasions.

"During the past 10 years, our clients suffered a lot of pain due to the heat, reflection
of the light, noise, blocked views, dust, security issues as a result of the extensive
awnings.

"The husband also has a chronic condition and their daughter, an allergy condition,
but they had to bear with these adversities.

"This High Court decision has vindicated our clients' claims and grievances and
they hope that, with this High Court decision, no one will have to go through what
they have gone through over the past decade," he added.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Condo spat over bid to evict stray cats from basement carpark area

MC drops appeal in condo dispute over shoe cabinet in corridor

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