Clause 5

The Controller shall, as soon as practicable after he has lodged with the Registrar the application referred to in paragraph (a) or a copy of the notice referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (7) of section 4 of this Act, sell the residential property or any part thereof specified in the notice referred to in subsection (6) of that section to a citizen or an approved purchaser.

Where the Controller has sold an estate or interest in any residential property under this section, the proceeds of the sale less any costs incurred, including legal, auctioneering, surveying and valuation costs in making the sale, which may be deducted by the Controller from the proceeds of sale, or recoverable by the Controller from such foreign company, shall be paid to the foreign company and any person having prior interest to such foreign company as shown in the records maintained under the Land Titles Act (Cap. 276), the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 277) or the Registration of Deeds Act (Cap. 281); and in case of any dispute arising as to payment of the proceeds of the sale, the Controller shall pay the sum under dispute into court less all costs incurred thereby.

Where, in pursuance of this section, the Controller has sold the estate or interest in any residential property, he shall not be liable to the foreign company which held the estate or interest in such residential property immediately prior to the date of the sale or any person claiming an estate or interest in such residential property, unless it is established that the Controller acted otherwise than in good faith or without reasonable care.

Nothing in section 4 of this Act or in this section shall prevent a foreign company, with the consent in writing of the Controller, from selling a residential property on its own accord to any citizen or approved purchaser after the notice referred to in subsection (6) of section 4 of this Act has been served, and in such an event the foreign company shall be liable to reimburse the Controller for all costs incurred by him between the date of the attachment and the date of sale by the foreign company, and the procedure laid down in subsections (5) to (8) of this section shall be followed by the Controller.

Where the Controller is of the opinion that circumstances have arisen since the date on which the application or copy of the notice was lodged under subsection (7) of section 4 of this Act, whether by virtue of a foreign company having previously sold the property under subsection (4) of this section or whether by the occurrence of an event (whether such event is a winding up under the Companies Act (Cap. 185), or the issue of an attachment order by a court or otherwise) which makes the sale of the residential property impracticable, the Controller shall refer the relevant particulars relating to the residential property to the Minister accompanied by a statement setting out his reasons as to why the residential property should not be sold, and the Minister may direct the Controller in writing that the residential property shall not be sold by the Controller pursuant to a notice under subsection (6) of section 4 of this Act.

After receipt of the direction of the Minister given pursuant to subsection (5) of this section, the Controller shall lodge with the Registrar —

The Registrar shall, upon receipt of —

The Registrar shall not thereafter register the application or the copy of the notice pursuant to subsection (7) of this section unless an instrument of transfer effectively divesting the estate or interest in such residential property in favour of a citizen or an approved purchaser has been lodged for registration with the Registrar.