Thoughts on the AGM

We apologise for the lack of updates since the AGM due to a technical glitch on our blog. But in the meantime, we received an email from a concerned resident who attended the AGM and wished for us to put the email on the blog. This concerned resident has raised pertinent issues.

"At the AGM on 7 June, John Lee and 2 other members of his collective sale committee (CSC) were elected as Management Council (MC) members, together with 2 others nominated by John Lee, presumably supporters of the en bloc sale.

This was a result of John Lee and the CSC gathering a large number of proxy votes. Thus, the new MC for the estate comprises of John Lee and 4 of his CSC members and supporters, i.e. 5 out of the total of 7 positions on the MC!

It should be noted that of those 5 nominated by John Lee and a Mr Soon (who was in the previous Pro-tem sales Committee), only John Lee and one other MC member, Ms Leesa Lovelace, actually attended the AGM - the others were all absent. And it appears that Ms Lovelace left the AGM before the elections were conducted. We only have John Lee's word that they had consented to their nomination for election to the MC.

If they did not even bother to attend the AGM (or in the case of Ms Lovelace, stay for the entire AGM), how much interest will they have in running and maintaining the estate in the best interests of the residents and subsidiary proprietors? How much attention will they pay to the needs of the estate?

Although an objection was raised by an owner at the AGM that there was a clear conflict of interest in having CSC members also sitting as members of the MC, this was brushed aside and John Lee and his CSC members and supporters were voted into the MC with the help of their proxy votes.

But, if I were one of John Lee's CSC members elected into the MC, I would be very hesitant indeed to take his word that there is no conflict of interest, just because he says so.

In fact, I would be rather concerned as to my own position. To an objective observer (as a court of law will be) it is very clear that the interests and duties of the CSC members are very different from, and clearly conflict with, those of the Management Council. If I were in their position, I would certainly seek independent legal advice on this point, before I get myself too deep into a hole.

And what hole would I be getting into? The CSC members would do well to bear in mind that they will have onerous contractual, common law and fiduciary duties to the subsidiary proprietors who sign the collective sale agreement as well as those who may become bound by it. At the same time, if they take up their positions as MC members, they will be subject to onerous statutory and common law duties owed to all the subsidiary proprietors who make up the MCST.

Each of them may therefore find themselves liable for damages to the subsidiary proprietors who sign the collective sale agreement, or to the subsidiary proprietors who comprise the MCST, or even to both sets of subsidiary proprietors, in respect of their actions and decisions while sitting on both the MC and the CSC.

They can be assured that their actions and decisions as MC and CSC members will be scrutinised very carefully, and that they will individually and collectively be held accountable for any breaches of their duties.

I hope each of them has the resources to meet such liabilities in the event that they arise, as these may well be substantial. In any event, they should consider their individual positions very carefully.

Thus, if I were one of them, I would not be too quick to celebrate my election into the MC. Now every decision made at CSC meetings as well as MC meetings will be fraught with peril, as the possibility of breaching one or the other of their conflicting duties and liabilities will always be present. John Lee may well have made the position of these CSC members untenable and certainly unenviable.

They can also be assured that there are subsidiary proprietors who are prepared to take them to the very last stage of legal proceedings in the event of any breaches or if any damages are suffered by subsidiary proprietors due to their actions or decisions while sitting as members of the MC or the CSC.

They should therefore not be too happy about having secured 5 out of the 7 positions on the MC, and think that with such an overwhelming majority, they can make decisions without due regard to their individual and collective duties and liabilities. Subsidiary proprietors will be watching their actions very, very carefully.

Finally, to those who gave their proxy votes to John Lee or other CSC members, I think you have done yourself, and the other subsidiary proprietors, a real dis-service.

You might think that having loaded the MC with CSC members and en bloc sale supporters will be advantageous to you. However, as mentioned above, that will not necessarily be the case, as it may do more harm than good.

And if you think about it carefully, what happens to your property value if the en bloc sale does not succeed in the end or is successfully challenged, and in the meantime, the MC has run down the estate deliberately or by inaction or negligence? Don't forget that John Lee has failed in his en bloc sale attempt made at the height of the property frenzy last year, and that the property market has soured considerably since then.

Even if you don't live here and have rented out the place or are keeping it for investment, your long-term rentals and investment value will be adversely affected. How will you recover your losses then, and who will you look to, to make good your losses?"

There is certainly a lot of food for thought raised by concerned resident.

Coming EOGM and BGV AGM

Dear fellow owners and residents,

We have a couple of things to mention today. First, there is a letter from Mr John Lee of the Sale Committee (a) calling for another EOGM and (b) asking for proxy votes for the AGM, which, as you know, will be held this Saturday, 7 June 08. Curiously, despite this letter being dated the 22nd of May, neither of the two main contributors to this blog has received sight or sound of it (just to make it clear, we are not actually surprised at this). Just in case this discrimination is directed at other owners besides ourselves, we are happy to republish the letter on this blog as a public service. Second, there is the AGM.

Concerning the EOGM, we fully expect that the course of events will be the same as for the previous two EOGMs. That is, the Sale Committee and its minority supporters will be the principal attendees and everyone else will stay away, having better things to do than argue about the division of spoils from the sale of other peoples' homes. Some of us will be there, of course, so that you will have a reasonably objective account of events. However, the division of proceeds is something that should interest at least some of us owners. I refer to those of us would be willing to sell for the right price (ie not during this current extremely bad market). It is usual in en-bloc sales for the owners of larger or better-situated flats to suffer, since their share of the proceeds of sale rarely reflects a fair apportionment taking into account the superior value of, for instance, larger flats on higher floors. Since as our addresses make clear we are both in this position, we will make no comment but simply leave it to you all, dear fellow owners and residents, to reflect upon your own interests in this matter and decide for yourselves whether the protection of those interests merits your attendance at this EOGM. Since neither of us is in the slightest degree interested in selling our homes, how their price is to be divided up is a matter of indifference to us.

Concerning the AGM will be held this Saturday, 7 June 08. We thought that we would take this opportunity to urge everyone to attend. The AGM deals with the real, bread and butter issues of the management of our estate, not merely with the attempt to sell it out from under us. These are things that will affect all us in our daily lives: who will comprise the Management Council for the coming year? What has happened to the ongoing five-year maintenance programme? Will this estate continue to be maintained in good condition? We are all aware of what can happen when the Management Council of an estate is hijacked by people whose only interest is to sell.

We are pleased that Mr Lee's letter also expresses his intentions to maintain this estate in good order. However, this does not remove the inherent conflict of interest involved in being both a member of the Sale Committee ( which serves the interests of those who wish to sell our estate) and of the Management Council (which exists to maintain the estate in good condition for all of us, including the majority who do not wish to sell). We know that calling on the Sale Committee to do the right thing and end its members' involvement in the Management Council is a hopeless endeavour. We, the owners, are the only ones who can compel them to do so. How?

Quite simply, by voting against any candidate for the Management Council who is simultaneously a member of the Sale Committee. Mr Lee makes no secret (except to us, of course) about his desire to collect proxy votes, ostensibly to support his blameless and worthy endeavours to maintain this estate in good condition. We find this frankly unbelievable. The inhabitants of this estate are sensible people. No reasonable proposal for the management and maintenance of this estate has ever been refused by the AGM. Apart from the attempt by the Sale Committee and its cohorts to sell our homes against our wills, there is no major dispute or disagreement among the owners concerning the maintenance and management of this estate (really, does anyone here actually support the parking of heavy vehicles in the car-park? Is there a secret pro-heavy-vehicle faction among the owners, who must be fought tooth and nail?). We fully believe that there is no purpose behind this collection of proxy votes except the attempt to remove all remaining members of the Managment Council who do not support the Sale Committee, and effectively turn the Management Council into the mere tool and mouthpiece of the Sale Committee. Obviously, this result will be to the detriment of both the estate and the majority of its owners. After all, if the Management Council ever consists of a majority of pro-en-bloc sale people, what is to prevent the Council from making decisions AFTER the AGM which may directly or indirectly cause the estate to deteriorate in their attempt to encourage people to sell? The owners are not blind to see that a letter from the BGV En Bloc Office encouraging people to improve the estate goes against their push for a fast sale. Why proxy Mr John Lee when it is equally valid to proxy some other member of the Management Council, eg the Chairperson? How many of us have heard certain people saying that the estate is getting worse, and it's best to collectively sell now before it's too late?

We need only be reminded of the massive problems that can happen to the management of an estate when that is hijacked by pro-sales owners - Look at Mandarin Gardens and Bayshore Park to see what can happen when too many proxy votes end up in the hands of Sales Committee members:http://www.sghousing.com/2008/05/05/en-bloc-uproar-at-bayshore-park-mandarin-gardens/http://www.sghousing.com/2008/05/05/en-bloc-system-needs-relook-as-bayshore-shows/

In summary therefore, we hope that as many of us as possible will:

(a) Attend the AGM
(b) Scrutinise with the utmost care both the past year's maintenance activities and the plans for future maintenance
(c) Vote AGAINST any candidate for the Managment Council who will not dissociate themselves completely from the Sale Committee.

and of course, continue to Just Say No to whatever piece of paper the Sale Committee waves under our noses.

We will be doing all of these things and we hope that you will too.

Vanessa Chan
c/o Ms Sim Bock Eng, Wong Partnership, One George Street
Blk 9, #10-09, Botanic Gardens View

Wong Hwei Ming
things.unfair@gmail.com
Blk 9, #09-17, Botanic Gardens View

or BGV blog email: enbloc_bgv@hotmail.com

Tags: Botanic Gardens View, Taman Serasi, collective sale, collective sales, en bloc, en-bloc, enbloc, EOGM, AGM, voting, conflict of interest, Management Coucil

Conflict of Interest

Most of us, the residents of BGV would have received a document dated 18 June on the Resolution Passed at the 22nd AGM.

Under 4.0 Election of Council Members, we would see a list of 7 members who were elected as members to the Management Council. If you look very carefully, you would see that one of the names has appeared in another letter (sent to us on 14 March 2007 by CBRE) as one of the members of the Protem Sales Committee. Do you see a problem here? Let us explain.

The Protem Sales Committee (PSC) of BGV has been formed - members were self-elected, already bringing into question how many of them are truly for the interest of all the residents of BGV, or only serving their self-interest - to sell off our BGV as quickly as possible (refer to CBRE letter dated 22 May 2007: their timeline reflected the urgency with which they are trying to get a sale for BGV as soon as possible!). The Management Council (MC) is formed to monitor the funds collected by the managing agent of the property, to engage the agent to make repairs, upgrades, maintenance of the property, on behalf of all owners.

Here lies the conflict of interest when a member of the MC is also a member of the PSC because the mandates of the MC and the PSC are totally different!

"The mandate of the MC is to maintain or update/upgrade the development whereas the mandate of the SC is to sell off the development in whatever condition it is in, as quickly as possible". (Dr. Minority, 5 January 2007)

There are a number of consequences: (we have reproduced what Dr. Minority has so aptly described)

1. Because the MC (who is in most cases effectively the SC) is in charge of the maintenance fund of the condominium, they have a say in whether to use it to maintain the property or even to upgrade/update it. But because they are the SC, there is no incentive to maintain, to paint the exteriors, to make repairs, when their primary purpose is to sell the place off. Why waste that money if the buildings are going to be torn down? Effect - the place gets run down.


2. Because the place gets run down, the SC will tell owners of the downsides if the sale does not go through - increasing maintenance funds required to upkeep the place (which if they had maintained in the first place, would not have been a major issue), place getting more decrepit driving rental and property value down.


3. Because the MC is typically the first group to become aware of en-bloc potential for the development, they typically freeze any repairs, maintenance etc to push owners into selling. So they know that once the 10 year age mark is reached for the property, they need only 80% agreement for the sale to go through. In effect, they stop the upkeep of the property except for the bare minimum (eg security, electricity, sports facilities). Forget painting the exterior or interior, forget updating or upgrading the place, even if the MC has the sinking fund to do so.

Therefore, we believe that any member of the PSC should not and cannot be a member of the MC to ensure there is NO conflict of interest and to ensure there is neutrality and fair play in the enbloc. As such, one member of the PSC in our BGV MC is already one too many!

PS. We would like to acknowledge the fact that our past MC has been doing a great job in the upkeep of our BGV estate. Thank you. We hope the new MC will continue to do so.

(Thanks to Dr Minority for allowing us to reproduce portions of his Myth #2 post)