I disagree with the calls to increase the Higher-Tier Central Provident Fund Housing Grant for young couples who wish to buy a resale flat in mature estates so as to live close to their parents (“Buy resale flat near parents? Financial help is key: Experts”; last Tuesday).
There are problems with increasing the grant.
First, it could lead to a mentality among the younger generation that living close to their parents is an entitlement, and if they cannot live near them, then that is an excuse to not look after them.
Second, raising the grant would lead to an increase in property prices in mature estates, and could trigger a vicious circle where the Government constantly has to raise the grant for young couples as the property prices in mature estates keep rising.
A better idea would be to give the seniors incentives – not limited to monetary ones – to move out of mature estates to live near their married children in new estates.
When elderly couples move out of mature estates, it increases the supply of resale flats available in these estates, thus lowering the asking price of these units and making it more affordable for young couples who wish to live there.
Ultimately, young couples should not be encouraged to buy a flat in a mature estate where decades of the lease have already expired.
Singapore will face a major challenge in future when there are too many couples outliving their property lease because they bought a property with a shorter remaining lease.
Following a petition signed by owners of more than half of the units at Centrale 8, a taskforce surpervised by Tampines GRC Member of Parliament Heng Swee Keat will be formed to look into the residents’ grouses.
Buyers of almost 400 of the 708 units in the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project had endorsed the petition to extend their year-long warranty. They also want compensation for alleged “inferior quality of materials” used and poor design that compromises their space, safety and privacy.
Tampines Town Council chairman Baey Yam Keng told TODAY that Mr Heng had asked him to reply on his behalf, after residents emailed their petition last Friday (June 19) to the project’s developer, Sim Lian Group, and looped in the Housing and Development Board (HDB), Ministry of National Development and Tampines MPs.
Mr Baey said the task force will be led by senior grassroots leaders, with Mr Heng supervising the team personally. The task force could include representatives from Sim Lian, HDB, the Building and Construction Authority and the town council.
“We want to help residents by bringing the relevant people together so that we can all talk things over together,” he said.
“Once we get the composition settled I think we should have the first meeting as soon as we can, because the residents are anxious.”
Mr Baey added that the outcome “would have to be a balance between the wishes of the residents as well as the contractual obligations of the developers”.
A developer has to rectify any defect in the units within a year after handing over the keys, but residents are worried other defects may surface after that. They are creating a document to highlight issues faced, and will be presenting it to the task force. They hope to have a dialogue by early July.
In 2011, Centrale 8 made the headlines for the wrong reasons after its developer asked for S$880,000 for the five-room units – a record indicative asking price which was on par with the cost of suburban condominium units. This prompted a public outcry which led Sim Lian to slash the asking price to S$778,000. As the controversy brewed, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan weighed in and said that consumers who thought the prices were too high should give the flats a miss. Soon after, the Government announced the DBS scheme was under review and subsequently, the sale of land for DBSS projects was suspended.
According to earlier reports, Centrale 8 homeowners were upset about defects such as faulty locks, cracked tiles and burst water pipes.
But they told TODAY they have bigger issues with the design of their homes and estate. For example, some toilet windows face the common corridor, which means windows cannot be opened. The entrance to the estate as well as the carpark meet at a cross junction, increasing chances of accidents, said residents, who are calling for another entrance and exit to be created.
A resident who wanted to be known as Mr Cher said the main power switch for the aircon compressor is located outside the flat. “If I want to turn it off, I have to climb out onto the (aircon) ledge, which is very dangerous,” he said.
Another resident, Ms Evelyn Soo, 46, found sanitary pipes taking up usable space in the service yard. When she told Sim Lian about it, the developer responded that the location of the pipes was “to meet with (PUB’s) requirement”.
TODAY understands the national water agency sent a strongly-worded email to the developer calling such statements “wrong and misleading” as PUB “does not mandate that sanitary stacks be located at the service courtyard or AC (aircon) ledge of residential units”.
Sim Lian clarified that the sanitary stack pipes located in the service yards of some unit types are there to meet PUB’s technical requirement, which states that the length of a discharge pipe connecting to the discharge stack pipe cannot exceed its maximum length of 2.5m.
The developer also said it is common for architects to place sanitary stack pipes in wet areas including bathrooms, service yards or the aircon ledges of residential units.
Another resident, who declined to be named, cited another “very awkward” design element where his main gate opens from the right, while the main door opens from left. Half of the master bedroom door protrudes into bedroom space when open. “We paid a premium price but we never got the premium value,” he said.
A Sim Lian spokesman confirmed it has received the residents’ petition and “will continue to attend to their concerns on a one-to-one basis”.
The developer said it remains committed to rectifying reported defects in accordance with the Sale and Purchase Agreement and will “also review subsequent requests for rectification works on a case-by-case basis” after the year-long Defects Liability Period expires.
Sim Lian is working with HDB, Tampines Citizens’ Consultative Committee, Tampines Town Council, the People’s Association Residents’ Committee and grassroots representatives to facilitate the process.
A higher income ceiling for Build-to-Order (BTO) flats and executive condominiums (ECs) is likely to have minimal impact on the HDB resale and private property market, according to market watchers.
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan had said in a radio interview on Tuesday (Jun 23) that changes to the income ceiling are likely to be made known in August. The income ceiling was last raised in 2011 by S$2,000 for both types of housing.
Market watchers Channel NewsAsia spoke to said they expect the income ceiling for BTO flats and ECs to be raised by a similar amount later this year.
The Government’s plans to increase the income ceiling for the purchase of BTO flats and ECs will divert some demand from the HDB resale and private property markets. Currently, households earning a gross income of more than S$10,000 cannot apply for new HDB flats, while those earning more than S$12,000 cannot buy ECs.
However, market watchers said the impact is likely to be minimal, as HDB resale flats and private homes have their merits. Compared to BTO flats, there is a shorter waiting time for HDB resale homes which are mostly located in mature estates.
One of the largest property firms in Singapore has described the move as timely, as more Singaporeans are settling down much later, and may be earning above the current limit when they apply for a BTO flat.
The demand for new HDB flats has also cooled off compared to three years ago, said PropNex Realty’s CEO Ismail Gafoor. “Three years ago, the subscription rate was about four to five times and there was a long pent-up demand.”
He added: “Today, the subscription rate is about 1.5 to two, which means most of the demand has been absorbed, and with this greater supply, opening up to a higher increment of the income ceiling is the right thing to do.”
However, another analyst is surprised at the plans to raise the income ceiling, especially at a time where prices of HDB resale flats and private homes are falling.
Colliers International’s director of research and advisory, Chia Siew Chuin, said: “We would expect the Government to raise the income ceiling over time to keep up with wages. However, perhaps certain conditions must exist first to justify the raising of the income ceiling.”
“But as of now, I would say that the market is relatively more stable compared to before, and in fact prices are slowly, gradually moderating,” Ms Chia added.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr Khaw had said that he has received “some” requests from Singaporeans who exceeded the income limit, to apply for new HDB flats. Analysts added that public housing, as they are subsidised by the Government, should be reserved for those who really need it.
As for the two-room Flexi scheme – a result of combining the studio apartment and two-room flat schemes – Mr Ismail said the plan signals a move towards more customisation for home buyers in Singapore, in which it is flexible and caters to needs of individuals based on their age and how much they want to pay for each unit.
A resident of a new Housing Board development in Hougang has gone to court to obtain a refund for the service and conservancy charges (S&CC) she paid to the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).
Corporate travel manager Melinda Teo, 37, lodged a report with the Small Claims Tribunal on Monday (June 22), in a bid to get back the $367.20 that she paid in S&CC between November last year and May this year.
Ms Teo, who lives in the 680-unit Parkland Residences, a Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project, said she should not have to pay the fees to the Workers’ Party-run town council as it took over the management and maintenance of the property only on June 1.
Before that, the project’s developer, Kwan Hwee Investment, had to step in to clean the common areas.
Earlier this month, more than 300 residents of Parkland Residences sent a petition to the town council demanding to have their S&CC waived or refunded. But their appeal was not answered by either the town council or the Workers’ Party MPs, said Ms Teo.
However, an AHPETC spokesman had said in response to media queries earlier this month that the town council would have to compensate Kwan Hwee Investment for the maintenance work done before June 1. As such, it cannot return the S&CC to residents, it told reporters.
Following Ms Teo’s move to take court action, a representative of AHPETC must attend a meeting at the Small Claims Tribunal on July 2, according to a court document issued to the town council.
Otherwise, an order could be given against the town council in its absence. The order could include a mandatory compensation to the claimant for claims below $10,000.
Ms Teo said she decided to go down the legal route as “our e-mails and petition have only received the silent treatment from the MPs and town council”. She added that several neighbours have expressed interest in filing similar claims with the tribunal.
fter it has happened so many times, you have to ask: What the hell is going on?
The latest DBSS fiasco to hit the Internet is Pasir Ris One, located beside the neighbourhood’s White Sands shopping mall. Residents are complaining that the common corridor – exactly 1.2m-wide – is too narrow, even if it is built to fire safety standards. Owners who picked up their keys over the last two months have formed a private Facebook group to discuss the issue. So far, more than 200 home-owners – about half of the 447 units available – have signed up. Members are required to present a letter or any official document that proves ownership in order join the group.
Residents who spoke to TMG complained about several building defects, including uneven ceilings and exposed pipes. The size of the flat and its rooms appear to have caught several by surprise, although the developer had stuck to the specified dimensions. The chief complaint was the dark and narrow corridors, which is “shocking, too small and with a ceiling that is worse than a factory and a car park”, as Ms Jynny Chew, 50, a soon-be-resident in Block 530C said.
Commissioned by the G, DBSS flats are designed and built by private developers. They typically come with better fittings and finishings than standard Build-to-Order flats, though unlike Executive Condominiums, these projects do not have facilities such as pools and gyms.
Pasir Ris One, launched in April 2012, was built by private developers SingHaiyi Group Ltd and Kay Lim Holdings. The last of the 13 projects offered under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme, an average four-room flat costs around $550,000 to S$670,000, compared to a reported S$350,000 for a four-room BTO flat around the area.
This latest spate of complaints follows a handful of other DBSS projects which have been under fire for shoddy workmanship despite the premium price such flats command.
Just last month, DBSS estate Trivelis in Clementi made headlines when residents told of shower room glasses that shattered easily, water seepage into units from floods in corridors and rusty lift doors.
Earlier in the year, Centrale 8 in Tampines was lambasted by residents over what they perceived to be the low quality of its finishes and fittings. Residents faced faulty balcony locks, toilets, and even bursting water pipes.
In 2013, The Peak in Toa Payoh was attacked for the dreadful state of its 1203 units, with inferior materials used, such as flimsy lamination, topping the list.
The woes of the DBSS residents have surfaced an issue: what are the responsibilities of the Housing Board and the private developer for the state of the finished product?
So far, HDB has remained in the background, preferring to let private contractors handle the matter while it monitors changes. The private developers, on the other hand, are falling mainly on the “one-year defects warranty” to placate residents who want the place spruced up.
In the case of Centrale 8, developer Sim Lian was adamant about not extending the defect liability period or provide financial compensation despite the impending expiry of the residents’ one-year “warranty”. This is even as residents maintained that defects were still surfacing.
Trivelis residents were told by developer ELD that contractors would continue to engage the Trivelis Residents Working Committee and see to their problems.
As for structural work that doesn’t quite constitute surface defects and which would require extensive work, it’s probably too hard a case to make.
Like common corridors.
Most of the 447 units in the four Pasir Ris blocks were unoccupied when TMG visited the area on Monday. What stood out immediately was the width of the corridor that ran along the units. At 1.2 metres across, the passageway is at the minimum width permitted by the Singapore Civil Defence Force. This means that residents aren’t allowed to place items along the passageway, as they would impede movement during an emergency.
Mr Ali, 42, who was at his four-room flat with his family of six, never expected the corridor to be so narrow. The police officer, who had moved in with his family a month ago, said that with the door grilles open, a person would have to edge past the grilles sideways to get through the corridor.
The corridors of Pasir Ris One are so narrow that the Fire reel doors on opposing sides will block each other if opened at the same time.An open gate shows how much walking space is left in the corridors of Pasir Ris One after a resident opens their doors.Mrs Chew pointed out that the ceiling pipes on her floor were all exposed and lacking a false ceiling to cover them up.
While another resident, Ms Vera Foo, 26, an administrative executive, didn’t mind the narrow space, her mother, on the other hand, was outraged. It was “ridiculous” that people had to pass through the corridor in a single file, she said. She recalled how a construction worker had to wait for her to pass into a wider part of the corridor before proceeding past her. “If others come to visit during the festive season like Chinese New Year, there might be a problem of congestion in there”, she said pointing to the passage.
One resident who was not too fussed about the corridor is Mrs Lynn Pang, 44, a housewife. Her four-room flat is situated at the end of a passage which widens into a lift lobby and staircase. “I am satisfied with my place but I don’t know how our neighbours are going to move in through that corridor”, Mrs Pang said.
There will be no more DBSS woes simply because this is the last DBSS project but it appears that even residents in new BTO flats have a problem with the quality of work. It makes one wonder if the push to provide more housing in quicker time over the past few years is leading to some compromise of quality. A quick, but not very good, job done?
