Of titles for condo-owners
23/08/1992 SUM
ON reality
condo-owners have to live with is that they will not get the title to their
homes or investments for some years due to the long delays in the issuance
if strata title.
Without title they will have to rely contractual documents for their rights
to their condos. What does this actually mean and what are its implications
to you?
Unlike the purchase of a link or terrace house, semidetached or bungalow,
the purchase of a condo, like an apartment, involves the transfer of rights
and not of land. What you have basically purchased is the rights to your condo
under the S & P.
All your rights, pending the issuance of strata title, will be in that contract
documents alone. It is the document that proves ownership of rights to the
condo vis-a-vis the developer, which is very different from actually owning
the condo vis-a-vis the entire world. To actually own the condo itself, you
will have to await the issuance of strata title.
The purchase of a condo is different from a house. The entire piece of land
which the condominium complex sits on is usually in the name of the developer
or joint-venture partner.
Each condo will therefore not have its own land title. However, once the condominium
is fully built the developer is obliged to apply for strata title for each
condo. Currently, it will take more than few years before any strata title
is issued.
Thus if you have bought or decided to buy a condo you will have to settle
for your rights being under the S & P only and not a deed of title for some
years. What are the implications of this?
"Protection" is the word that leaps into the mind. What happens if after purchasing
the condo, you find another family living there when you try to move in. The
developer made a mistake and sold the same condo twice.
Certainly you can take legal action against the developer but it still leaves
the question as to who owns the condo. Your ownership is indeed contested
by the other family.
This would not have happened with a title property since the Land Office would
only issue one title and your name by being inserted in it proves ultimate
ownership.
This is the major reason for the superiority of having title to the condo.
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