Ng Teck Sim Colin and another v Hat Holdings Pte Ltd and another

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Belinda Ang Saw Ean J
• Judgment Date: 03 August 2010
• Neutral Citation: [2010] SGHC 217
• Plaintiff Counsel: Peter Cuthbert Low, Chan Wai Mun, Paul Tan and Koh Li Yun (Colin Ng & Partners LLP)
• Docket Number: Suit No 414 of 2008
• Date: 03 August 2010
• Hearing Date: 11 September 2009,14 September 2009,11 November 2009,01 October 2009,30 September 2009,28 September 2009,15 September 2009,10 September 2009,25 September 2009,17 September 2009,18 September 2009,24 September 2009,23 September 2009,22 September 2009,16 September 2009,29 September 2009
• Subject Matter: Conflict of Laws
• Published date: 11 August 2010
• Citation: [2010] SGHC 217
• Defendant Counsel: Edwin Tong, Kristy Tan and Koh Bi'na (Allen & Gledhill LLP)
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Year: 2010

Belinda Ang Saw Ean J: Introduction

This action concerns the sale of a property known as Villa 2, Ayara Surin, Phuket, Thailand (“the Property”). The present litigation brought into sharp focus the uniqueness of Thai law where ownership of the land is separate from that of the house built on the land. Under Thai law, separate transfers and registrations are required before legal ownership of both land and house can validly and effectively change hands. The sale transaction was plagued by troubles encountered along the way, which gave rise to misplaced suspicion and mistrust in the minds of the parties stemming from the unappreciated difference between Thailand’s and Singapore’s property law; it certainly did not originate from the parties’ desire to take advantage of each other. The plaintiffs, Colin Ng (“Colin”) and Maria Ng (“Maria”) (collectively, “the Ngs”) are the sellers of the Property. The first defendant, Hat Holdings Pte Ltd (“Hat”) is the purchaser of the Property. Samuel Foy Colflesh (“Samuel”) and the second defendant, Bolliger Hans Peter (“Bolliger”) are the directors of Hat. The Property was purchased by Hat for the use of Bolliger and his family.¹ Samuel was the key person who represented Hat in the sale transaction.

Facts giving rise to the dispute The Ngs’ acquisition of the Property

On 8 October 2000, the Ngs entered into a Reservation Contract with Southern Land Development Co Ltd (“Southern Land”) to purchase the Property for Thai Baht 27.3m.² According to the Ngs, construction of the two-storey house on Ayara Surin (hereafter known as “Villa 2”) started in late November or early December 2000.³ However, the Ngs only entered into a contract with Southern Land to purchase the lease of the Ayara Surin land (“the Land”) under a “Vacant Land Lease Agreement” (“the 2001 Lease”) on 23 April 2001.⁴ In addition, the Ngs entered into a construction contract with the builders, JV MIT Co Ltd (“JV MIT”), on 28 May 2001.⁵ Subsequently, Southern Land registered in favour of the Ngs, at the Talang District Land Office (“the Phuket Land Office”), the 2001 Lease and the right of superficies for the Land. By way of explanation, the right of superficies is a right granted by the freehold landowner (here, Southern Land) to the superficies right holder (here, the Ngs) to own buildings and structures on the land in question (see s 1410 of the Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand).⁶ Notably, there is no dispute that the Ngs paid for the Land and the construction costs of Villa 2, and that they had exclusive possession, use and enjoyment of the Property for over six years before deciding to sell it to Hat.

On 22 April 1999 (before the Ngs bought the Property), Sarot Tantipatanaseri (“Sarot”), an architect who worked with (but was not an employee of) Southern Land, was issued a license to construct several houses, including Villa 2 (“the Construction Permit”). The Construction Permit stated that Sarot was the owner of Villa 2, and that the permit was “valid until” 21 April 2001.⁷ The Construction Permit was purportedly transferred to the Ngs (“the Assigned Construction Permit”) on 23 March 2006. It is undisputed that the events giving rise to the dispute in this action started after 3 March 2008 when the Phuket Land Office rejected as defective the Assigned Construction Permit because it came into being after the Construction Permit had expired.⁸ I now move to the events in 2007.

Negotiations leading up to the signing of the Agreement

Bolliger first contacted Colin to ask if the Property was available for sale in October 2007. Thereafter, Maria negotiated the sale terms with Bolliger and, later, Samuel, both directly and through e-mail.

After some negotiations, the parties agreed on the terms of the sale and executed an agreement on 12 December 2007. While the document was entitled an “Option to Purchase”, it was actually a sale and purchase agreement (“the Agreement”).⁹ The salient terms of the Agreement are as follow:¹⁰ The sale price for the Property was fixed at US$1.85m. Of this sum, US$1m was in respect of the Land, and the remaining sum of US$850,000 was in respect of Villa 2 and the fixtures attached thereto (“the Villa 2 Purchase Price”); The title shall be free from encumbrances and the Property was sold “as is where is”; The completion date was fixed for 4 February 2008, but this could be extended for up to 14 days at Hat’s request; Hat was deemed to have “full notice of the actual state and condition of the [Property] in all respects” and “shall not be entitled to raise any objection or requisition whatsoever in respect thereof”; The Agreement was to be construed in accordance with the laws of Singapore, “without regard to any principles on conflicts of law”. The parties agreed to irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Singapore court. On 14 December 2007, Hat transferred to the Ngs a total sum of US$277,500, purportedly as the deposit and option money for the Property.¹¹

Events leading to the first variation of the Agreement

After the Agreement was executed, the parties exchanged the contacts of their respective Thai lawyers.¹² The Ngs were represented by Surasak Pittisuree (“Surasak”) while Hat was represented by Pornchai Srisawang from the law practice of Tilleke & Gibbins International Ltd (“T&G”). On 4 January 2008, Maria sent Samuel and Bolliger an e-mail setting out the advice she had received from Surasak, namely that:¹³ the registration process for the Property had to be bifurcated (with the transfer of Villa 2 taking one month to complete due to the need to post a notice of the transfer application for 30 days at Villa 2 and elsewhere as designated by the local authorities); and Surasak had copies of the Title Certificate, the Assigned Construction Permit and House Registration Book and he confirmed that they were ready for registration. Additionally, Maria suggested postponing the date of completion to 11 February 2008.

T&G conducted due diligence on the Property and prepared a due diligence report dated 10 January 2008 for Samuel (“the DD Report”). The DD Report concluded that the freehold land was owned by Southern Land and leased to the Ngs under the 2001 Lease. The DD Report also recognised, in respect of Villa 2, the existence of both the Construction Permit and the Assigned Construction Permit.¹⁴ On 20 January 2008, Samuel sent an e-mail to the Ngs and Bolliger, describing the outcome of the due diligence exercise as “satisfactory”.¹⁵

In February 2008, numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to complete the sale transaction. (The reasons for the failed attempts are not material for this judgment.) On 28 February 2008, T&G informed Samuel that it had arranged to meet the Ngs’ lawyers and Southern Land’s representatives on 3 March 2008 with a view to register the lease and superficies (for the Land) and to file an application to register the sale of Villa 2.¹⁶ However, the Phuket Land Office rejected the application to register the transfer of Villa 2 on that day as the Assigned Construction Permit was invalid (see [3] above).¹⁷ The officers at the Phuket Land Office suggested that Sarot transfer Villa 2 to the Ngs in order for the Ngs to transfer Villa 2 to Hat.

As a result, two suggested solutions to this problem emerged. T&G suggested that Sarot transfer Villa 2 to the Ngs, and then from the Ngs to Hat (“the Two-Steps Process”).¹⁸ Maria adopted and proposed her Thai lawyer’s suggestion, which was for Sarot to transfer Villa 2 directly to Hat to save time and costs (“the One-Step Process”).¹⁹ Samuel agreed to the One-Step Process. The context in which this agreement was reached is important. The Ngs asserted that Hat (through Samuel), at the time of agreeing to the One-Step Process, was not concerned as to whether Sarot had good title to transfer, relying on the e-mail sent by Samuel to Maria on 5 March 2008 at 9.08am to support their argument.²⁰ However, I do not think there is evidence to support such an interpretation. First, Samuel had, in that e-mail, clearly stated his understanding (based on the Construction Permit) that Sarot was the named owner of Villa 2 and that he would need to seek an expert’s opinion on this matter. In addition, in an earlier e-mail dated 4 March 2008 (timed at 10.34pm), Samuel also sought clarification on how the One-Step Process would “[apply] to the effective conveyance”.²¹ It is true that paragraph 5 of Samuel’s e-mail dated 5 March 2008, read alone, suggests that Samuel was happy to receive whatever title Sarot could transfer to Hat, and he was even willing to personally assist in getting Sarot to effect the transfer. However, in the light of his earlier observations and comments, in all fairness, it cannot be said that Hat was not concerned, at that point of time, with whether the title that Sarot could transfer was good or otherwise imperfect. I should add that, at all material times, the parties, on the advice of their respective Thai lawyers, had proceeded with the application to register Villa 2 on the premise that Sarot was the correct person to transfer Villa 2 as he was named as the owner on the Construction Permit. It was only well into this litigation that the defendants, under the advice of a different set of Thai lawyers, adopted the current position that Southern Land, and not Sarot, was and is still the legal owner of Villa 2.

The successful transfer of the Land

On 7 March 2008, the parties went to the Phuket Land Office to register the respective transfers of the Land and Villa 2.²² The Land was successfully transferred to Hat by: (a) terminating the 2001 Lease between the Ngs and Southern Land;²³ (b) terminating the Ngs as superficies;²⁴(c) applying to register a fresh lease given by Southern Land to Hat;²⁵ and (d) applying to register Hat as the superficiary of the Land.²⁶ Notably, the fresh lease was effective from 7 March 2008 (“the 2008 Land...