mr funny
09-02-07, 10:49
Feb 9, 2007
En bloc sales: Have laws to protect minority
I REFER to the article, 'Couple lose fight on collective sale' (ST, Feb 6).
I sympathise with the couple who lost the fight when the Strata Titles Board ruled that their CPF principal amount and accrued interest owed to their CPF accounts are not considered a financial loss.
My condominium is also going through an en bloc sale. That very term now sends shivers down my spine. With large estates like Waterfront View and Gillman Heights being demolished, where are the owners to find another abode? Demand is outstripping supply and home prices have escalated. The amount reaped from an en bloc sale would rarely get an owner an equivalent property. New developments that spring up on properties that have gone en bloc are almost double the price per sq foot of the original.
Also, friendship and neighbourliness are thrown aside in the name of progress. En bloc sales are blind to whatever reasons a family may have for not wanting to move, be it proximity to the children's schools, elderly dependants and amenities or plain attachment to one's home or neighbourhood.
So what benefit is there for the majority? It is the developer, the marketing agent and speculators who benefit.
Will the Government consider the environmental cost of destroying perfectly sound buildings in the light of the scarcity of sand that Singapore is facing?
With all the negative consequences of en bloc sales, I request lawmakers to put themselves in the shoes of the minority and protect their quality of life.
Valerie Ong Guek Kim (Mdm)
En bloc sales: Have laws to protect minority
I REFER to the article, 'Couple lose fight on collective sale' (ST, Feb 6).
I sympathise with the couple who lost the fight when the Strata Titles Board ruled that their CPF principal amount and accrued interest owed to their CPF accounts are not considered a financial loss.
My condominium is also going through an en bloc sale. That very term now sends shivers down my spine. With large estates like Waterfront View and Gillman Heights being demolished, where are the owners to find another abode? Demand is outstripping supply and home prices have escalated. The amount reaped from an en bloc sale would rarely get an owner an equivalent property. New developments that spring up on properties that have gone en bloc are almost double the price per sq foot of the original.
Also, friendship and neighbourliness are thrown aside in the name of progress. En bloc sales are blind to whatever reasons a family may have for not wanting to move, be it proximity to the children's schools, elderly dependants and amenities or plain attachment to one's home or neighbourhood.
So what benefit is there for the majority? It is the developer, the marketing agent and speculators who benefit.
Will the Government consider the environmental cost of destroying perfectly sound buildings in the light of the scarcity of sand that Singapore is facing?
With all the negative consequences of en bloc sales, I request lawmakers to put themselves in the shoes of the minority and protect their quality of life.
Valerie Ong Guek Kim (Mdm)