Tuesday, October 17, 2006
[RealEdge] TodayOnline : More threat than opportunity?
 This story was printed from TODAYonline | |
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| More threat than opportunity? En-bloc sale madness driven by speculators is not healthy Clearer guidelines needed on sales of private apartments Tuesday ? October 17, 2006 Letter from Gilles Massot Letter from Andrew Lin Thanks for the News Comment from Andy Mukherjee ("Building up to a 2007 collapse?", Oct 6) on the possible outcome of the current en-bloc madness. What I liked best is how it highlights the possibility that the sudden drastic recovery of the rental market is, in fact, nothing more than the en-bloc bubble feeding its own inflation. This article made me think of another one published some months back in Today, in which the owner of a flat vented his frustration at being unable to stop the process of an en-bloc sale involving his property. As he rightly remarked, people do not see that, in fact, they will have to choose between spending most of the so-called profit in the purchase of a new flat of a similar size, or use the profit for other things but downgrade the size of their property. All the new condominiums might have marble and fancy fittings, but true luxury is space and this they will badly miss. Indeed, the recent news of some architectural landmarks falling prey to this en-bloc madness also raise the question of how healthy the concept truly is. While originally it was meant to induce improvement and economic growth, it appears now that it may have become a speculative tool that contributes to the building of greed at the cost of national identity. As has been highlighted, the main problem is that the percentage needed for an en-bloc sale to go ahead does not take into account the number of owners who actually live in the building and would rather not leave it. Thus, speculators end up making the difference in the final decision. Maybe a more realistic percentage taking into account this aspect of the situation would help to keep things in check. My estate, a privatised ex-HUDC apartment along Upper Thomson Road, is considering an en-bloc sale. Our Management Corporation (MC) conducted a survey to gauge residents' response and the idea was abandoned as more than 20 per cent opposed it. About 50 per cent did not respond. Even so, the few residents keen on such a sale have gone on to form their own committee and to engage a property consultant. This was done without the residents' endorsement through the MC. Subsequently, when the MC was queried about the issue, it was made known that the "committee" is a voluntary one ? not linked to the MC ? and no cost of the consultation process would be borne by the residents. It is noble of these residents to volunteer their time and effort to start the consultation process. But is this the correct procedure when the survey has shown that more than 20 per cent of those surveyed had opposed the sale? Ultimately, who can ensure that the property consultant would not include in his fee the time taken to convince residents to sell ? a cost that will ultimately be borne by the residents? Recently, the "committee" engaged a leading real estate firm to send a letter to all residents, seeking their participation in the collective sale process. One wonders where they got each resident's particulars from. The authorities must come up with detailed guidelines on how collective sales for private apartments should proceed. The current guidelines are not sufficient to ensure that the rights of the minority ? or in fact majority ? are not compromised by property firms and a few residents. | |
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// posted by Shajahan @ 1:08 PM 