Although empowered under the Building Maintenance & Strata Management Act (BMSMA), it is unusual for a Management Corporation (MC) to auction a strata property to recover the maintenance fee owed.

However, this may change if the owners of an apartment in King's Mansions fail to pay their maintenance fees by next Wednesday, a date set for the auction. The auctioning process for a strata unit can be costly and laborious and MCs therefore rarely resort to that stage. An MC may be compelled to take such step if the debt owed is substantial, in this case reported to be more than $35,000/- and more than 10 years. Otherwise, the Council may be taken to task for not exercising its due diligence.

Some strata owners may not be aware that failure to pay maintenance fee can become an offence under the BMSMA . If convicted, the defaulting owner can be fined for up to $10,000/-, and to a further fine of $100/- per day for everyday the maintenance fee remain unpaid. The convicted owner would find himself having to pay the fine in addition to the maintenance fee owed, thus facing greater financial burden. That is why MCs are sometimes reluctant to exercise this provision.