18/06/2026
Geylang condo owners, management at odds over foreign worker housing ban
Read full article at:-
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/geylang-condo-owners-management-odds-091500016.html
Under Singapore’s Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act (BMSMA), a Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) has the power to make, amend and enforce by-laws governing the use and enjoyment of the condominium’s common property and facilities.
However, the MCST cannot simply implement any rule merely because a majority of owners support it. Any by-law must be lawful, reasonable, and within the powers conferred on the MCST under the BMSMA.
The MCST, acting through resolutions passed by subsidiary proprietors (owners), may create, amend or repeal by-laws. Depending on the nature of the matter, different voting thresholds may apply, including ordinary resolutions, special resolutions or unanimous resolutions. Once properly passed, such by-laws are generally binding on owners, tenants, occupiers and visitors.
In this case reported involving a Geylang condominium where owners sought to restrict the housing of large numbers of foreign workers within residential units, the key legal questions are:
1. Whether the proposed restriction falls within the powers of the MCST;
2. Whether the required voting threshold under the BMSMA has been satisfied; and
3. Whether the proposed by-law is lawful, reasonable and consistent with Singapore law.
Even if 75% of the share value represented at a general meeting votes in favour of a by-law, the by-law is not automatically valid. A court or the Strata Titles Board may set aside or refuse to enforce a by-law that is beyond the MCST’s powers, unreasonable, oppressive, or inconsistent with applicable law.
Therefore, while an MCST may introduce and enforce by-laws relating to the management and use of the condominium, the validity of any such by-law ultimately depends not only on obtaining the required voting threshold, but also on whether it is lawful, reasonable and within the scope of the MCST’s statutory powers.
One additional point:
The dispute in the Geylang case is not really about foreigners versus locals. The stronger legal issue is whether the MCST can regulate how many unrelated occupants live in a private unit when that unit is being used in a manner that affects the condominium community. That is likely where the boundary between an owner’s property rights and the MCST’s management powers will be tested.
