Tag Archives: HDB

Sorry, no lift for your floor

Posted on 1 Nov 2009 | Comments Off on Sorry, no lift for your floor

Families living in about 200 blocks of Housing Board flats may have to get used to using the stairs, as lift upgrading is still not an option for these blocks. Goh Chin Lian visits two such
(Clockwise from top, left) Mr Robert Thuraisingam Karasu, 68, Mr Tan Heng Teck, 69, Mr John Ong, 62, and Mr Vincent, 45, all live on the third level of Block 131, Lorong Ah Soo, which is not eligible for the Lift Upgrading Programme because installing one would severely bust the cost cap of $30,000 per unit. — ST PHOTOS: SAMUEL HE
Block 3 (left) and Block 4 (right) at Queens Road are another two HDB apartment blocks that are currently ineligible for lift upgrading. Only the second, seventh and 11th levels of the 12-storey Block 4 are served by lifts.

Hidden among the HDB blocks in Lorong Ah Soo is a four-storey one with maisonette units.  It has no lifts.

And that status could well stay when the nationwide $5.5 billion Lift Upgrading Programme is wrapped up in 2014.

A total of 200 out of around 5,300 blocks built before 1990 are currently not eligible for the scheme, Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu revealed last month. Continue reading →

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Govt agency should handle resale flat sale

Posted on 31 Oct 2009 | Comments Off on Govt agency should handle resale flat sale

DAVID Lawrence has a suggestion for dealing with the problem of rogue housing agents whom the government is trying to rein in: by introducing legislation.

Either the Ministry of National Development or Housing and Development Board could set up a separate statutory body and give it exclusive rights to deal in resale HDB flats, he says.

Such legislation may be difficult to apply retroactively for the existing flats, he notes. But when HDB sells new flats, it could write in the agreement that when the lessees wish to re-sell their flats after the five-year minimum occupation period, they will have to go through the new stat body.

‘If you wish to sell your flat, all you’ll have to do is to list it with this new stat body,’ Mr Lawrence, who is chief executive of Wheelock Properties (Singapore), told BT in a recent interview. ‘The new body would not have to be involved in the pricing. People can put their own price, as in a free market. If it doesn’t sell within three months, then they’ve priced it too high,’ he said.

The proposed new stat body would employ agents who have been screened and found suitable. ‘The commission charges could be low but it will still pay for this stat body to handle all these sales,’ Mr Lawrence said. Continue reading →

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