Boon Trading Pte Ltd, which owns three ground-floor units at Robinson Suites, argued that the machines blocked views through its storefront windows and hurt its tenants’ businesses, Shin Min Daily News reported.
The complex, at 50 Robinson Road, has 170 units, including 167 residential units and three commercial units. Boon Trading’s units house a stationery store, a stockbroking firm and a clinic.
The dispute began after the condominium’s management corporation installed eight vending machines along the covered common corridor outside the shops between May 2025 and May 2026 and placed trash bins beside them.
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Vending machines seen outside of a commercial unit at Robinson Suites, Robinson Road, Singapore. Photo via Google Maps/Parkway Shenton Medical Clinic |
At its annual general meeting in April 2023, the management corporation had secured approval to lease all or part of the building’s common property for periods of one to three years.
Boon Trading director Koe Kyin Hoon said the machines obstructed views of the shops and blocked natural light, affecting tenants’ businesses and prompting one tenant to seek a rent reduction.
It reportedly applied to the Strata Titles Boards in April 2026 to invalidate the 2023 resolution, arguing that it failed to specify which parts of the common property could be leased. The Strata Titles Boards are statutory tribunals that hear disputes over the management of condominiums and other strata-titled properties.
The company also sought orders requiring the removal of the vending machines and trash bins and barring the management corporation from placing other objects that could obstruct the storefront windows in the future.
The STB dismissed all three applications, finding that the management corporation had the authority to lease parts of the building’s common property to generate income, according to Lianhe Zaobao.
It also ordered Boon Trading to pay the management corporation SGD8,000 in legal costs and SGD2,000 in disbursements.
The STB found that the 2023 resolution clearly authorized the management corporation to lease all or part of the common property. It also noted that management had informed Koe of its plans before installing the machines and had given the shop tenants a chance to rent the space themselves.
On Sept. 11, 2026, the management corporation removed two vending machines and repositioned the rest, increasing the unobstructed glass frontage of each of two shops to 80.5%.