Hotel developer seeking $6m in damages from Killiney condo owners

Dispute over alleged plot encroachment involving a strip of boundary wall

- Joyce Lim

A hotel developer is seeking nearly $6 million in damages from 30 unit owners of a condominium in Killiney Road because their building allegedly encroaches on the neighboring plot, where a hotel is being built.

The alleged encroachment involves a strip of boundary wall that extends over the boundary line into the hotel developer's freehold plot – it includes up to 1.6cm of reinforcing bars and 4cm of the cement covering them.

Some rectification work has been done to the alleged intrusion, which was initially greater. It had involved a 35m strip of concrete originating from the Killiney 118 condominium which measured about 10cm to 20cm deep.

Lucrum (Killiney) Hotel and Lucrum (Killiney) Commercial, which own 110 and 112 Killiney Road, allege that this encroachment caused a 180-day delay to their hotel development plans, and resulted in losses exceeding $4.5 million.

They also estimated that it led to a $1,075,000 reduction in their property's value due to the loss of 36.22 sq m of gross floor area. This is in addition to a sum of $472,102 spent on rectification.

Despite the partial removal of the encroachment, 1.94 sq m of land remains affected, court documents obtained by The Straits Times show. Both parties are due back in court in December for a case conference.

In court filings, the hotel developer said removing this residual encroachment could compromise the structural integrity of the boundary wall.