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Question :  MY 48-YEAR-OLD husband was declared a bankrupt after his business
failed.

I would like to know what will happen to our four-room flat if he dies.

What difference will it make if the flat is held under joint tenancy or
tenancy in common?

He bought the Home Protection Scheme (HPS) from the Central Provident
Fund Board, but subsequently reduced his share to 10 per cent as I am
the only one servicing the loan.

Will this insurance scheme settle the full outstanding loan if my
husband suffers a mishap of some kind?

Being a bankrupt, can he ever own any insurance policy? Can I insure
him using my money?

He did not insure himself before his business failed, and now, he would
like to know how can he protect himself against death or illnesses.

What kind of policy can he buy then? Will I be the beneficiary or the
creditors if anything happens to him?


Answer :  THE most important difference between a joint tenancy and a tenancy
in common is the right of survivorship.

Generally, in the case of a joint tenancy, upon your husband's death,
his share of the flat would vest automatically in you, and could not be
disposed of in accordance with a will or otherwise.

If, however, you and your husband were tenants in common, his share of
the flat would not automatically vest in you upon his death, but would
be distributed according to the instructions laid out in his will or,
in the absence of a will, the provisions of the Intestate Succession Act.

If the property is an HDB flat, then provided that both your husband
and yourself are Singaporeans, your husband's share of the flat would not
be available to creditors upon his death.

If you and your husband own the flat as joint tenants, his share would
automatically vest in you.

Otherwise, his share of the flat would be dealt with in accordance with
either his will or the Intestate Succession Act, as the case might be.

As your husband is covered for only 10 per cent of the outstanding loan
amount on your flat, in the event of his death or disability, HPS would
pay out only 10 per cent of the outstanding loan amount.

You would still be responsible for servicing the remaining 90 per cent
of the outstanding amount of your housing loan.

Generally, there is no prohibition on your husband buying or owning
insurance policies.

However, if he is continuing to pay insurance premiums while he is a
bankrupt, he should keep the Official Assignee informed of such
payments.

In addition, if the insurance policy expressly lists someone other than
your husband as a beneficiary, any money payable under this policy does
not form part of your husband's estate and is thus not available to
creditors.

However, if no specific beneficiary is indicated, any payout under the
policy would form part of your husband's estate and might then be
distributed among his creditors.

You should note that the same applies to all monies received by your
husband or his estate by way of insurance, regardless of who actually
provides the money for the insurance premiums.

Adrian Wee
Lawyer
Harry Elias Partnership

BIRD'S EYE VIEW: Prices of HDB resale flats have dropped some 22 per
cent since 1996, and there are calls for the board to consider
rescinding or altering the resale levy. -- TAN SUAN ANN
Those asking for the change, including MPs, property analysts and
flat-owners, say it served an earlier purpose of cutting the waiting
time for flats but is now a burden on Singaporeans who want to
downgrade.

The resale levy is imposed on owners of new HDB flats, and those who
bought resale flats with a CPF housing grant, and who now want to sell
those to buy a flat from HDB.

It is a sizeable amount, ranging from 10 to 25 per cent of the resale
price of the flat or 90 per cent of its valuation price, whichever is
higher. The bigger the flat, the higher the levy proportion.

Hence, to sell a five-room flat for $400,000 and buy a new flat, you
would have to pay a 25 per cent levy of $100,000, in cash, to HDB. If
you had paid $350,000 for the new flat, you could be incurring a
$50,000
net loss.

HDB has defended the policy as necessary to allocate its subsidies
fairly, favouring first-time buyers over those who are coming back for
'a second bite of the cherry'.

But those who rail against the policy say it unfairly penalises
Singaporeans who need to downgrade due to financial difficulties:
making
them pay more to do so.

MP Amy Khor, chairman of the GPC for National Development, said: 'The
rule is outdated and needs to be modified. It worked when property
prices were rising, but not when the market has dipped significantly.'

Prices of HDB resale flats have dropped some 22 per cent since 1996,
and
HDB should thus look into rescinding the resale levy 'for those who
sell
their first flat purchased from the HDB at a loss and wish to buy
another HDB flat', said Dr Khor.

It is not a small problem, said MP Ang Mong Seng (Hong Kah), who in
January appealed in Parliament for the policy to be changed.

With current home prices much lower than 10 years ago, he had in the
past two years received five appeals from residents who had trouble
downgrading due to the levy.

Multiply them by the 84 MPs in Singapore - that is perhaps more than
400
families facing such a dilemma.

Said Mr Ang: 'I think residents will be very happy if the Government at
least cuts the resale levy by 5 per cent.'

But others have suggested that the HDB scrap the levy altogether, and
instead charge a premium on new flats.

That would allow owners to decide whether they can still afford them
while fulfilling the purpose of giving first-timers a higher subsidy,
said Mr Albert Lu, managing director of C&H Realty.

The idea is not new. Before 1997, flat-owners had the choice of paying
either a levy, or a 20 per cent premium on the second flat.

In 1997, to curb property speculation and to cut the time that
first-time applicants had to wait - more than four years in some cases
-
the Government chose the levy option. The premium on new flats was
removed.

Those measures worked well. Too well in fact.

Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research at Knight Frank, said it was
inconceivable back in 1997 that the HDB would ever be stuck with more
than 10,000 unsold flats, 'which it is now trying to sell through
brochures, snazzy showflats and advertisements'.

Real estate agents suggest a happy solution: drop the resale levy to
allow existingflat-owners to buy a cheaper new flat, and HDB can clear
its oversupply at the same time.

As Mr Lu said: 'It does not make sense to leave 10,000 flats lying
vacant, when they can easily be sold just by removing the levy.'

Mr Mohamed Ismail, chief executive of real-estate firm PropNex,
predicted that should the levy be scrapped, some 10,000 existing owners
may very well put their flats on the resale market to pick up the
cheaper surplus HDB flats.

He admitted that the effect of such a move would benefit housing
agents:
more resale deals equals more business.

'But to be fair,' he said, 'buyers benefit too, as removing the levy
will also prompt sellers to price their flats reasonably as they no
longer have a penalty from the levy.'

The additional stock of resale flats coming on the market could benefit
young couples, as the flats tend to be in mature estates and would
enable the newly-weds to be closer to their parents, he said.

Asked about the resale levy last week, National Development Minister
Mah
Bow Tan said that it would be reviewed, but not removed.

'The objectives are still very important to maintain. It allocates
housing subsidies more fairly. But how we implement the resale levy, it
is something we are still looking at,' he had said.

Thus far, HDB has shown some willingness to be flexible with the levy
when certain needs have to be met.

For instance, the levy does not apply to elderly Singaporeans who want
to sell their flat and buy a HDB studio apartment, nor to those who
want
to buy a flat from private developers under the new Design, Build and
Sell Scheme.

And in an attempt to clear its surplus stock this May, HDB had put up
100 of its new flats up for sale as 'resale' units, removing the
requirement for buyers to pay a resale levy if they were giving up
older
flats for these new units.

The response has been telling: 91 of the 100 flats were snapped up
within a month.

The question now is if, and when, the HDB will take action and do more.

darylloo@sph.com.sg

The writer is a reporter with the Straits Times News Desk.

RESIDENTIAL property sales have yet to warm up after the end of the
'Hungry Ghosts' month on Sept 3, mainly because of a lack of new
launches. But activity is expected to pick up soon, with a slate of
launches planned by developers.

Sales were a little slow last week, say most market watchers, with the
only new official launch - marked by the start of an advertising
campaign - being Wing Tai's Vision Crest condo along Penang Road. But
even so, this has been on the market since last year. A total of 85
units in the project had been sold as at June 30, according to official
data.

A Wing Tai spokeswoman declined to give any numbers on sales over the
latest weekend, saying the earliest the group may do so is next week.
Wing Tai is developing the 265-unit freehold project, on the former
Cockpit Hotel site, jointly with CapitaLand and Keppel Land. The
average
price is understood to be about $1,200 per square foot.

Over in the Telok Blangah area, Keppel Group, which has been
advertising
its completed Caribbean at Keppel Bay condo over the past two weekends,
has sold 20 units over this period, a spokesman said yesterday. Take-up
in the 969-unit condo is now 80 per cent, including 168 units set aside
for corporate leasing.

Residential property heavyweight Far East Organization sold 15 units
last week, up from 12 units in the preceding week. The latest sales
figures include units sold at the group's Lakeshore condo in Jurong,
GardenVista at Dunearn Road, landed homes at The Greenwood and 'new
age'
studio office units at its Central project above Clarke Quay MRT
Station.

Forthcoming new launches from Far East and other developers include the
second tower of The Sail @ <mailto: @>  Marina Bay condo, Centrepoint's
Raintree condo at Hindhede Road in the Upper Bukit Timah area, and
United Overseas Land's Regency Suites in the Kim Tian location.

Upmarket projects which are expected to come on the market before the
end of the year include Wing Tai's Draycott 8, Hong Leong Group's St
Regis Residences in the Cuscaden/Tomlinson area and Centrepoint's
116-unit condo on Sentosa Cove.

High-end projects like these have been selling like hot cakes for
several months, on the strength of foreign demand.

Unlike many Singaporeans who continue to feel gloomy about job security
worries and remain cautious about investing in property, despite the
July package of property measures, many foreign property investors see
the Singapore residential market as undervalued and hence attractive.