Tag Archives: Housing and Development Board

In a bind over flat purchase involving bankrupt

Posted on 9 Oct 2009 | Comments Off on In a bind over flat purchase involving bankrupt

IN MAY last year, my wife and I bought a five-room HDB flat on the open market, on a contra-sale of our three-room flat.

At the second appointment, we learnt the seller was an undischarged bankrupt, and had outstanding loans or debts to the HDB, town council and Central Provident Fund Board. HDB did not advise us or take any precaution to protect the deposit we paid to the seller via the housing agent.

As buyers, we had completed our responsibility of paying all sums due. The seller had repeatedly failed to pay his debts to the parties named.

We sought the assistance of MPs for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, and wrote to the chief executive of HDB and the CPF Board on several occasions, but to no avail.

To make matters worse, while the paperwork for the ownership transfer had not been completed, the CPF Board deducted money from our CPF account as if the purchase transaction had been completed.

Our family of five, including two very small children, are without a home. Continue reading →

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40 per cent of buyers of HDB resale flats are PRs

Posted on 28 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on 40 per cent of buyers of HDB resale flats are PRs

According to Eugene Lim, Associate Director of ERA Asia-Pacific, the prices of resale HDB flats have shot up by 38 per cent over the last three and a half years.

What’s more shocking is that 40 per cent of the buyers are permanent residents from data gathered from recent ERA’s resale transactions.

The prices of HDB resale flats hit a record high in June this year and is set to rise by another 1 to 2 per cent.

Despite the sky-rocketing prices, both the National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan and HDB continue to insist that HDB flats remain affordable to ordinary Singaporeans.

HDB has been busy of late replying to letters in the Straits Times forum on the rising prices of HDB flats. It claimed that public housing is still affordable in Singapore because its prices lie below the 30 per cent international benchmark for housing affordably.

As PRs do not qualified to buy new flats from HDB directly, they will have no choice but to buy their homes from the resale market thereby pushing the prices up. Continue reading →

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