Condo owners may lose their apartment for owing maintenance fees

SINGAPORE – After racking up thousands of dollars in unpaid maintenance and sinking fund contributions, two foreigners who jointly owned a four-bedroom unit at Parkshore in Tanjong Rhu lost their property through a forced sale.

To recover these funds, the condominium’s management corporation strata title (MCST) sold the unit in September 2025.

A notice of intended sale, published in The Straits Times on Dec 23, 2024, stated that the owners owed about $61,000 to the MCST. A property title search showed the former owners hold Indonesian citizenship.

Checks by ST showed that the 2,325 sq ft freehold unit was sold for about $4 million at auction, which was 14.7 per cent lower than its opening price of $4.7 million.

Under the Building (Strata Management) Act, MCSTs have the power to force the sale of a unit to recover money owed.

Such forced sales – although uncommon – are the most severe outcome an MCST can pursue when owners fall behind on maintenance and sinking fund payments.

At least one notice of intended sale has been placed by an MCST each month over the past year, based on checks by ST.

The sums owed in these notices ranged from about $9,450 to $55,798.

In one such notice published on Feb 20, 2026, a unit owner at Park Court in Joo Chiat district was said to have owed $55,798 – arrears in contributions and accumulated interest.

Another notice dated March 24, 2026, stated that a unit owner at Melville Park owed the MCST about $9,708.

Lawyers and property management consultants noted that not every such notice leads to an actual sale. In most cases, owners settle arrears after the process begins, mortgage banks step in or the matter is otherwise resolved before the property is sold.

But they can be a useful tool to get people to pay up, they said.

“The fear of the MCST embarking on the forced-sale process and actually witnessing the MCST taking incremental steps towards that objective might be sufficient coercive power for the SP (subsidiary proprietor) to propose an instalment plan to settle the arrears,” said Mr Kok Yee Keong, a partner at Harry Elias Partnership LLP.

An SP is an individual or entity that owns a unit within a strata-titled property, such as a condominium unit or apartment, in Singapore.

His firm handled fewer than 10 MCST forced sales between 2020 and 2025, none of which proceeded to completion.

Mr Andrew Lioe, who is president of the Association of Strata Managers, said one of its members – Ocean IFM – saw about five forced-sale attempts in the last three years.

One of the units was subsequently put up for sale at two separate auctions in 2026 but did not get any bids.

Although arrears are behind many forced sales, property managers noted that such arrears are not widespread.

Mr Tang Chee Charn, deputy managing director of Savills Property Management, said fewer than 5 per cent of owners are typically in arrears at any given time across most estates it manages.

In most cases, owners settle after reminders or formal letters of demand and only a small minority proceed to legal action, he added.

Mr Lioe noted that such arrears were more common during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At present, arrears tend to be concentrated among a small proportion of units and forced sale remains a measure of last resort, he said.

How forced sales work

The forced-sale process typically starts with a special resolution at an annual or extraordinary general meeting to proceed with the sale, followed by placing a notice of intended sale in the newspapers, threatening to sell the unit.

“(Other) owners are generally supportive of forced sales where the sums owed are large. Costs and expenses of the forced sale are recoverable from sale proceeds,” said Mr Daniel Chen, a lawyer and partner at Lee & Lee, who specialises in MCST cases.

Mr Chen explained that MCSTs tend to take steps towards a forced sale where the arrears and interest exceed $20,000 or two years.

If the unit’s owner does not pay the outstanding sums within six weeks after the notice is published, the MCST will appoint a valuer to value the property and an auctioneer to sell it. Lawyers will also prepare the conditions of sale for the auction.

It typically takes four to five months from the publication of the notice to the MCST receiving the sale proceeds.

Mr Chen, who handles about 10 to 15 MCST-initiated forced-sale cases a year, said the vast majority are resolved through payment by subsidiary proprietors or mortgagee banks taking possession of the units and paying the arrears.

“The biggest challenge is often trying to locate or contact the owner to ask for payment so that the forced sale can be averted. The MCSTs and their lawyers try to do so repeatedly and up to the very last moment,” said Mr Chen.

Another challenge is that buyers and valuers often have to make decisions without seeing the unit for themselves.

In almost all cases he has handled, the MCST and its valuer could not access the unit. The valuer will undertake a “kerbside” valuation, Mr Chen said.

Ms Joy Tan, head of auction and sales at ETC, a member of Realion Group, added that such units can be challenging to sell because physical viewings are often not possible and there is no guarantee that the unit is not occupied.

Buyers would have to assess the property using secondary data and surroundings fundamentals, rather than a physical inspection.

They may also have to factor in legal and logistical timelines needed to secure the premises, especially if there are still occupiers on site.

As such, the price of such units – while guided by market valuation principles – is “generally calibrated more realistically to reflect the property’s condition and inherent uncertainties”, she said.

Ms Tan, whose firm handled the sale of the Parkshore unit, said the property was sold at its first auction after two to three weeks of marketing.

The final sale price was just over $4 million.

Urban Redevelopment Authority data showed a unit of the same size and in the same block was sold at $4.84 million in May 2025.