Thursday, August 10, 2006
[RealEdge] TodayOnline Forum : Think en-bloc upgrading, not sale
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| Think en-bloc upgrading, not sale Despite what law states, 10-year-old estates are not old Might as well set 30-year leases for all properties Thursday August 10, 2006 Letter from David Ho Letter from Valerie Ong I refer to Martin Woo's letter "When the shoe was on the other foot " (Aug 8). Mr Woo rightly points to the Land Titles (Strata) (Amendment) Bill of 1999. However, I would like to question the law's rather arbitrary definition of "old estates" being set at 10 years. This sets an estate to have an equivalent lifespan as a car (with its 10-year COE expiry). A well-maintained estate can easily last in excess of 30 years. Yet, most estates that were sold en-bloc in the past two years averaged 15 years, which not only negates the notion of "freehold" (or even 99-year lease), but is also an environmental waste. Because of this arbitrary limit, it is not uncommon for estate management committees to wind down repairs, upgrades or maintenance in preparation for an en-bloc sale past the estate's 10th anniversary. Furthermore, there is a need to distinguish between upgrading (which occurs mostly for public housing but rarely for private housing) and redevelopment (which is mostly for private housing) that is, to vacate, demolish and develop new estates. I doubt most owners who disagree with en-bloc sales would have problems if their properties were upgraded rather than redeveloped. Yet this is not happening, and I must ask why this is the case. The land-scarce argument in this situation does not hold water simply because only two per cent of land is privately owned. It would make more sense to redevelop (not upgrade) public housing to increase development intensity. I would imagine such a move would be very unfavourable to HDB owners if they have to move every 10 to 15 years. I stay in a 14-year-old estate, currently undergoing en-bloc along with seven other estates in the vicinity, in all of which I have not seen any major building works in the past four years. In the en-bloc sales committee (of which many members were in the management committee), 75 per cent are investors who do not reside in the premises and have other concurrent en-bloc sales. To these investors, the notion of home is not set in the estate I stay in, and yet they are given the right to dictate to those who see the place as home. Current en-bloc regulations do not distinguish between home-owners who are resident and those who are not, and this is grossly unfair. The analogy would be investors/non- Mechanisms should be in place to encourage upgrading of private estates rather than redevelopment; to disempower investors and non-residents from managing an estate much less attempt to sell what many consider their homes; and to create disincentives for serial en-bloc-ers (such as a capital gains tax for selling a recently-purchased flat). Mr Woo should read the letter from Philip J Williams ("The reality behind the en-bloc hoopla", Aug 7), which captured the general sentiments of minority owners. What is the security of buying into freehold properties when we cannot stop our beautiful homes from being demolished in the name of en-bloc sales? If indeed one believes that building projects should be destroyed and rebuilt every so often for the sake of nation-building, then perhaps all properties sold henceforth should bear only 30-year leases. | |
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// posted by Shajahan @ 11:09 AM 