Management Corporation Strata Title Plan No 3322 v Tiong Aik Construction Pte Ltd and another
Jurisdiction | Singapore |
Court | Court of Three Judges (Singapore) |
Judge | Chao Hick Tin JA |
Judgment Date | 04 July 2016 |
Neutral Citation | [2016] SGCA 40 |
Citation | [2016] SGCA 40 |
Hearing Date | 06 May 2016 |
Date | 04 July 2016 |
Plaintiff Counsel | Ang Cheng Hock, SC, Ramesh Kumar and Benjamin Koh (Allen & Gledhill LLP) (instructed),Samuel Seow and Jolene Lim (Samuel Seow Law Corporation) |
Defendant Counsel | Thio Shen Yi, SC, Melvin Chan Kah Keen, Koong Len Sheng and Tan Tho Eng (TSMP Law Corporation),Ravi Chelliah, Sally Kiang and Edmund Chain (Chelliah & Kiang LLC) |
Published date | 12 July 2016 |
Docket Number | Civil Appeal No 37 of 2016 |
Subject Matter | Architects, Engineers and Surveyors,Building and Construction Law,Delegation of Duties,Statutory Obligations |
For large construction projects, many players with different specialisations are often involved. In the case of a condominium project, besides the
In the normal course of events, unless the developer wishes to retain the residential units in the condominium as an investment (for example, by leasing the units out and collecting rent), he will place the units on the market for sale to potential home buyers. Every buyer who purchases a unit from the developer will enter into a contract of sale and purchase with the developer. Upon completion of the development, each buyer of a unit becomes a subsidiary proprietor. All the subsidiary proprietors of a development will eventually form the
The central issue in the present appeal was whether, and to what extent, the
At the conclusion of the hearing, we were not satisfied that the builder and the architect owed such a duty in law and hence dismissed the appeal. We now set out the detailed grounds for our decision.
Background factsThe appellant, Management Corporation Strata Title Plan No 3322 (“the MCST”), was the management corporation of The Seaview condominium (“The Seaview”). The Seaview was completed in 2008 with six 22-storey residential blocks of apartments, comprising 546 residential units. The respondents were Tiong Aik Construction Pte Ltd, the builder of The Seaview (“the Main Contractor”), and RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte) Ltd, the architect of The Seaview (“the Architect”).
In Suit No 563 of 2011 (“S 563/2011”), the MCST brought proceedings against four defendants in respect of defects in the common areas of the condominium, namely, the developer, the Main Contractor, the Architect and one of the Architect’s sub-contractors. The MCST cited only the Main Contractor and the Architect as the respondents to this appeal, leaving out the developer and the Architect’s sub-contractor. In other words, the MCST had decided not to pursue the appeal against the latter two defendants. The claims made by MCST in the action against the Main Contractor and the Architect were as follows:
On 28 January 2015, the four defendants wrote to the MCST proposing that certain preliminary issues be tried and determined prior to the main trial of the action. The MCST replied on 4 February 2015, objecting to a separate trial of the proposed preliminary issues and took the position that those issues should be decided together with the rest of the issues in the action as they were inextricably bound.
The issue was considered by the trial judge (“the Judge”) on 30 March 2015 at a Judge Pre-Trial Conference, and the Judge directed that the following issues should be tried and determined as preliminary issues in S 563/2011:3
The MCST
The Judge considered the nature of the relationship between the parties in the context of
The Judge also considered the question of
Several
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