Despite the objections filed by the minority, the majority owners of Tampines Court - more than 82 per cent - thought they could push through a collective sale.
Many of them had even scouted around and bought properties elsewhere.
But the en bloc sale of the former HUDC estate failed after the Strata Title Board (STB) dismissed its application yesterday.
Now those who have committed themselves to other properties are in a fix.
One owner told The New Paper: 'I can't think properly right now. I have to work out my sums and see how best to salvage the situation.'
The Board's decision means the sale of the estate is off.
This is because the sales committee's agreement with the buyers - Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint Properties - also expired yesterday.
The buyers, who had offered $405 million for the privatised HUDC estate, had also said they would not extend the agreement past the deadline.
Said one owner, who did not want to be named: 'How can this be? Doesn't the majority win?'
Another upset owner, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said: 'I have two words only. Just two. Disappointment and disbelief.'
And disbelief was also how the minority owners felt when STB deputy chairman Alphonso Ang delivered the decision.
Madam Asmah Atan, 59, a housewife, was 'still in a daze' six hours later.
She told The New Paper last night: 'We were stunned. We looked at one another, like asking, did we hear it right?'
Madam Asmah said the group had been prepared from the start that 'it was going to be a hard fight'.
But when the news finally sank in, the group of about 20 - who had carpooled to the STB office on Maxwell Road - celebrated their victory by hugging one another.
Madam Asmah said: 'Some of us even broke down but it was definitely tears of joy.'
Housewife Fatimah Bee Bee Ali, 49, said: 'For us, it means we still have a place to live in, one that is big enough to accommodate our whole family.'
She and her husband, Peter Chew, 52, an aircraft engineer, live with their four teenage children, her wheelchair-bound mother and a maid.
Madam Fatimah added: 'With the rising prices, it would really be tough to find a unit with the same area like ours.'
The minority owners felt they owed the successful result to their legal team, comprising Mr Siva Krishnasamy of Tan Lee & Partners and Mr NSreenivasan of Straits Law.
GRATEFUL
Madam Asmah said: 'Please help us to record our gratitude. It is because of their help that we do not have to move out of the estate which we've grown comfortable in.'
While the sale had caused much tension and division in the estate for nearly 14 months, some residents also appeared nonchalant about the result.
Said one, who wanted to be known only as Mr Kris: 'If we can sell, we'll sell. If we cannot, then we'll just stay on here.'
Others were more concerned whether the estate, which is showing signs of age, would get a facelift.
Mr Kris added: 'They've probably put off all works, thinking that we can sell the place.'
Another resident, Mr J Lim, said: 'I guess it's time for us to start everything on a new, clean slate.
'And maybe this decision is the best catalyst.'
Tampines Court en bloc sale thrown out despite majority vote
Frasers Centrepoint and Far East Organization team up to buy Tampines Court - a privatised HUDC estate - through a $405 million collective sale.
25 Jul 2007: Conditions of the sales agreement are fulfilled.
7 Jan 2008: Sales committee applies to Strata Titles Board (STB) for sale approval.
Minority owners file objections. They consider the sale price of $700,000 for each unit too low.
16 to 18 Jun: STB hears objection and sets further hearing for 7 Aug. Until the hearing, the sale cannot be signed and sealed.
30 Jun: Sales committee applies to bring 7 Aug hearing earlier - before the agreement lapses on 25 Jul.
11 Jul: STB dismissed the sales committee's request.
14 Jul: Two committee members file affidavit in High Court, saying STB failed to take into account that any hearing after 25Jul 'will be academic'.
Other owners appeal to National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan at Meet-The-People session.
Mr Mah, MP for the Tampines ward, agreesto appeal to STB on owners' behalf.
18 Jul: High Court orders STB to move hearing ahead of 25 Jul deadline. New date set on 21 Jul.
21 Jul: Sales committee chairman Mathew Lee takes witness stand.
He is grilled on whether he acted in the owners' best interests on the issue of the estate's valuation and the method of distribution of sale proceeds.
25 Jul: STB dismisses Tampines Court's en bloc sale application.
STB deputy chairman Alphonso Ang says the board examined the evidence and found the sale was not concluded in good faith.
It will release its grounds of decision later.
This article was first published in The New Paper on July 26, 2008.
