Ravi Chandran
Holland Hill Lodge is a freehold residential development site at 5 Holland Hill
Sri Capital Market announced on 12 October that it has been appointed as the exclusive marketing agent for the enbloc sale via public tender exercise of Holland Hill Lodge. Sri Capital Market said, the development’s land price of S$25.8 million works out to be S$1,741 per square foot per plot ratio, inclusive of the additional bonus balcony space.
Mr Paul Ho, chief officer at iCompareLoan, said: “because of its size, the en-bloc sale may draw much interest from boutique and mid-sized developers or investors.”
Holland Hill Lodge occupies a residential site of 9,033 sq ft, and has a plot ratio of 1.6.
Under the URA’s 2019 Masterplan, the new development on site can potentially be redeveloped up to 15 new residential units,
SRI Capital Market’s managing partner Low Choon Sin said the site “serves as an ideal opportunity and alternative to ultra-high net worth individuals, by allowing them to explore redevelopment option into a single block of luxurious apartment to house multiple-generation families or even for single-family living,”
Holland Holl Lodge is located near a variety of dining and lifestyle options at Dempsey Hill and the Holland enclave. It is also within close proximity to Farrer Road MRT Station and Holland Village MRT Station. Prominent schools like Nanyang Primary School, St Margaret’s Secondary School, and Anglo-Chinese International School are also in its vicinity.
Mr Paul Ho, chief mortgage consultant of iCompareLoan said affected en bloc sale homeowners have to act quickly and decisively.
Whatever decision owners facing en bloc sale make, it is better to make it fast so that the sale (or non-sale) can be concluded with minimal delay and maximum benefit to the owners. One way he said was to conduct a Collective Sales Agreement (CSA) as well as concurrently collect a “Non Collective Sales Agreement (NCSA)”, so that once a NCSA reaches 20%, the collective sale process is called off. There is really no point to drag on.
As collective sale process takes 20 to 30 months to complete, during this time, the owners typically do not have sufficient funds for down-payment and their CPF OA funds are tied up in the property, hence they cannot buy a new condominium early.
By the time the transaction is completed in 20 to 30 months later, the property prices would have already moved up 10 to 20 per cent. This is already evidenced by sellers of older estate asking higher prices. Hence if the process takes 20 months to 30 months, owners may need to consider the cost of a replacement unit by that time, else they may want to hold up a higher selling price.
Mr Ho pointed out that the rules are quite onerous and stringent and is governed by the Land Titles (Strata) Act – section 84A. Over the years, additions and amendments by the Ministry of Law to the en bloc law have made the collective sale rules even tighter.
He said that many of the home owners who refinanced their home loans to fixed rate home loans or those with 2 years locked-in or 3 years locked-in period will incur full home loan redemption penalty. This penalty is usually 1.5% of the loan amount. This tends to affect those who have bought their properties in recent years as their loan size tends to be bigger and their corresponding home loan redemption penalty higher.
Mr Ho suggested that people affected by en bloc sale must read up on its process. If one’s home is at risk of en bloc, the owner could consider a home loan where there is no locked-in penalty, but instead entails a higher housing interest rate cost. The next best option is to look for packages with a waiver of locked-in penalty due to sale of property. Such owners may contact a mortgage broker to assist them to find such packages with waiver of locked-in penalty.
In order to understand how and whether to go into an En Bloc sales and sign on the Collective Sales Agreement (CSA), the owners will need to know how long it will take you to complete the En Bloc sales in case it is successful.
| Stage | Milestone | Duration (Est.) | Timeline (months) |
| 1 | 1st EOGM to appoint CSC. | 1 month | 1 |
| 2 | 2nd EOGM to appoint Marketing agents, solicitors and approve CSA. | 1-2 months | 2 – 3 |
| 3 | Signing of Collective Sales Agreement (CSA) | 12 months | 3 to 15 |
| 4 | Owners meeting prior to launch of public tender for sale | 1-2 months | 4 to 17 |
| 5 | Launch and close of tender | 1 month (Max) | 5 to 18 |
| 6 | Award of tender. | – | |
| 7 | Negotiate sale by private treaty (if bidding falls below reserve price) | 10 weeks (Max) | 7.5 to 20.5 |
| 8 | Apply to STB or High Court | 3 – 9 months | 10.5 to 29.5 |
| 9 | Completion of sale | 3 months | 13.5 to 32.5 |
| 10 | Handover of vacant possession | 6 months | 18.5 to 38.5 |
The maximum and minimum duration of the en bloc sales process as indicated in the cumulative timeline in the table is roughly between 18.5 months to 38.5 months.
The earliest any home owners can receive any en bloc sales proceeds could be around 13.5 months and the latest will be 32.5 months.
