Monthly Archives: September 2009

Surge in complaints from home buyers

Posted on 21 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Surge in complaints from home buyers

THE upbeat property market has led to a surge in the number of real estate-related complaints from home hunters.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said the number of such complaints  it received started to surge from May.

It has received 619 complaints in the first eight months of the year, of which 89 cases and 107 cases were lodged in July and last month respectively.

The bulk of the complaints relate to HDB flat transactions, said Case executive director Seah Seng  Choon.

The Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies (SAEA) said it  received 141 public inquiries, feedback and complaints in July and last month,  which is more than what it would typically get in a full year. This compares with just 26 cases in the first half of this year.

Another six complaints have poured in during the first two weeks of this month.

About 40 per cent of the 141 cases comprise complaints against property agents or disputes on commission payments, and so on, said SAEA chief executive Tan Tee Khoon. Continue reading →

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Landlords risk more rooms for more revenue

Posted on 20 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Landlords risk more rooms for more revenue

ONE shophouse the size of a quarter of a basketball court was partitioned into nine rooms.

Each was as small as a bathroom, with a double-decker bed squeezed in. There were insufficient air-conditioners for all the rooms.

Yet, there were ready tenants. The reason: The landlord charged only $300 a month for each room.

It was one of the worst cases that Mr Mohamed Ismail, chief executive of real estate agency PropNex, has come across.

He said: ‘The shophouse is in Serangoon with good food and amenities nearby. The low rental attracted foreigners on work permits.’

Mr Ismail does not know if the URA came to know about the shophouse, but he has heard of schemes where people rent a whole apartment and make profits of as much as 100 per cent by subletting the rooms to many tenants.

He said: ‘From my experience, property owners tend to be more cautious because at the end of the day, they are responsible for removing the partitions if URA finds out.’

Last year, URA investigated 400 such cases, most of which involved illegal refurbishment of dwellings for use as workers’ dormitories.

Partitioned rooms likely illegal

This year alone, URA has investigated more than 500 such cases. Continue reading →

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Posted in Property Market / Real Estate

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