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Q During my previous marriage, I was a supplementary credit card holder. The card has since been cancelled because my former husband and I defaulted on our payments.

Now I have remarried and my current husband has bought a five-room Housing Board flat under his name. The purchase price was $260,000.

He paid $150,000 and took out a bank loan for the rest of the amount.

Recently, he sold some shares and received about $84,000 in his Central Provident Fund (CPF) account.

If I were allowed to put up my name as a joint tenant of the flat, my husband and I would pay off the home loan in full. I have some CPF savings to contribute to that.

But I was told that, due to my credit problems, if I were to include my name on the title to the property, the bank to which I owe money would have the right to seize our property and our household items. Is this true?

The bank has not taken any action, but my former husband has not made any payments over the past two years.

Recently, the bank asked me for payment but I said I was a housewife with no money.

My current husband was married before and has children from his previous marriage.

He is afraid that if anything were to happen to him, his children would claim the property according to syariah law.

What would you advise we do?

A From your query, I am unable to ascertain the extent of your liability to pay the bank as a supplementary credit card holder during your previous marriage.

Assuming that you were liable under your contract with the bank to make payment as a supplementary card holder, the bank continues to be entitled to look to you for payment, together with late payment interest (which would typically be chargeable at about 24 per cent a year) and other related charges.

The fact that you have remarried does not affect your liability.

Therefore, you should contact the bank as soon as possible to work out a repayment plan with reduced interest charges if possible.

Under the Housing and Development Act, the bank would not be able to seize the HDB flat to recover your card debts even if you became a joint owner of the flat.

However, items owned by you in the flat (such as household and electrical appliances) may be seized and sold off to repay your card debts.

If there are items in the flat which belong to your husband, your husband should keep receipts and warranty cards which would prove his ownership of the items in the event that his items are seized together with yours.

As for your husband’s concern about his children from his previous marriage claiming his property, it is difficult to offer advice based on the limited information provided.

Your husband would be advised to contact qualified persons who would be able to advise in detail on such issues of succession and estate planning.

Advice provided in this column is not meant as a substitute for comprehensive professional advice.

Source : Sunday Times - 31 Dec 2006

Record 600 properties go under the gavel this year as sellers use auctions to test market.

This year’s improved economy and property market prompted more home owners to sell their properties at auction - regarded as a hallmark of a strong property market.

Moreover, the value of total auction sales hit a seven-year high, although the total number of auctions, including mortgagee auctions, fell, consultants said.

However, in terms of home owner sales, a record 600 properties went to auction this year, up nearly 68 per cent from 358 properties last year, said consultancy Colliers International.

Of these, 43 properties were sold for $129.5 million in total - nearly double the $68.4 million in such sales last year.

Colliers executive director Grace Ng said these included uncompleted properties put up for sale by recent buyers at sought-after projects such as The Sail @ Marina Bay, The Arc at Draycott and The Berth by the Cove.

Some of these properties might have been sold via private treaty after the owners generated enough publicity and found buyers for their units at the auctions.

‘From 1995 to 1996, when the market was hot, buyers also put up uncompleted units for auction. These included ones in The Blossomvale and Maysprings,’ said Ms Ng.

‘Next year, we expect more owners to use auctions to sell uncompleted units.’

Developers, too, used auctions as a yardstick to test market sentiment and set benchmark prices for prime properties, consultants said.

Sentosa Cove managed to set a benchmark price of $1,039 per sq ft for its seafront bungalow plots through the auction mode.

More recently, the penthouses in Marina Bay Residences were sold at record prices in a closed tender.

Consultants believe that more developers might be exploring other modes of sale, including auctions, to get the best price.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore also adopted the auction method to sell sites to recover unpaid property tax this year.

This shows that the transparent auction method provides good exposure and helps to get the best price, said Knight Frank’s executive director for auctions, Ms Mary Sai.

Looking ahead, she said, a wider variety of properties could be made available in the auction market as vendors’ confidence in this mode increases.

About 175 properties were sold at auction this year, up from 163 last year.

Sales value reached a high of about $320 million - ‘a level not seen since the last market peak in 1999′, said Ms Sai.

The rise was helped by higher bids for apartments seen to have collective sale potential.

Notable among these sales was a penthouse unit at Silver Tower in Cairnhill, where four bidders drove the price to $6.12 million, way above its $4.5 million valuation. That was in late August, about a month before CapitaLand agreed to buy Silver Tower.

Still, repossessed properties make up the bulk of auction sales, though the number of such properties has fallen this year given a better economy.

Apart from declining loan defaults, mortgagors facing cash flow problems were able to dispose of their properties on the open market before bank foreclosures, said Ms Sai, explaining the drop in mortgagee’s sales.

Other properties that were auctioned off included landed homes, office units, shophouses and industrial properties.

Source : Sunday Times - 31 Dec 2006

With commercial buildings using 30 per cent of all the electricity consumed in Singapore, efforts to make them more environmentally friendly can go a long way.

The Building Control Authority (BCA) has this in mind in encouraging building owners to take part in its green mark for buildings scheme which it launched last year.

While it will be a requirement to attain at least the green mark certified level from April 1, 2007 for all new public buildings and those above 5,000 sq m that are being retrofitted, some building owners have already decided to go green even though they are not required to.

‘We consciously try to adopt green features when we develop and upgrade our commercial projects,’ said Martin Tan, CEO of CapitaLand Commercial and Integrated Development. ‘Many of the environmentally friendly features incorporated in our buildings, like Capital Tower and One George Street, will bring long term benefits such as lower energy consumption and a healthier indoor work environment.’

Long term benefits are what the BCA is hoping to highlight in its drive to convince building owners to take on the slightly higher building costs of environmentally friendly buildings.

The financial benefits include lower energy, waste disposal and water use costs. Less tangible but just as significant benefits are a better indoor environment resulting in increased productivity and health while at the same time having a lower impact on the environment. The BCA estimates that a typical commercial building that has attained a green mark certification or gold award will achieve energy savings of 10 to 15 per cent over the long run. The extra up-front costs, generally amounting to one to three per cent on the construction bill, will be recouped in seven to ten years.

For example Capital Tower uses the more expensive double-glazed windows to cut down heat and glare while letting daylight in, while One George Street has invested in sky gardens to help reduce local ambient temperatures.

City Developments’ Republic Plaza meanwhile takes an integrated approach to running a green building. This ranges from the simple use of an energy saving device for the escalators to a system to monitor energy and water consumption.

Source : Business Times - 30 Dec 2006

Tenants have started clearing out of Scotts Road mainstay Scotts Shopping Centre as the mall awaits demolition.

New owner Wheelock Properties, which bought the freehold Scotts Shopping Centre and the 23 storey The Ascott Singapore Serviced Residences above it for $345 million in June 2004, will soon tear down the landmark development to make way for its upcoming luxury residential and retail project, Scotts Square.

Retailers were given until the end of this year to move out of the mall, which will be pulled down in mid-January, says Wheelock. The developer will be demolishing the service apartment tower as well as the shopping centre.

Construction on Scotts Square will begin in the third quarter of next year, and is due to be completed by the end of 2010.

Wheelock says that the residential component - 338 apartments of one, two and three-bedroom units - will be launched in the second half of next year. The development will also have an upmarket retail podium with 70,000 sq ft of retail space.

The new project means that Singaporeans will have to say their farewells to Scotts Shopping Centre, a familiar sight in the Orchard Road area since the 1980s.

Then, the buzz on Orchard Road was at the stretch containing CK Tang, the then Lane Crawford, the then newly-built Wisma Atria and Scotts Shopping Centre - which was noted as being home to Singapore’s first air-conditioned food court.

Yesterday, while tenants carried on with their packing, shoppers continued visiting the mall, taking advantage of ‘closing down’ sales.

At the food court, which was refurbished about 10 years ago, long queues were seen at the few remaining stalls.

But fashionistas need not fear the disappearance of their favourite brands. Major tenants such as Blush! and Kiehl’s are also present in other malls, while other brands have already migrated to the new VivoCity.

Source : Business Times - 29 Dec 2006

The ministries of Finance and National Development yesterday outlined the various measures that government agencies have taken to optimise their use of office space in the Central Business District.

They were responding to a report by Colliers International on Wednesday that was carried in BT yesterday. The property consultant has urged government departments housed in the CBD to rationalise their use of office space and to streamline their operations wherever possible to release much-needed office space for the private sector.

MOF said yesterday that efforts to optimise government space usage have led to several government departments moving out of the CBD.

For example, the Media Development Authority will vacate about 4,000 square metres at MICA Building on Hill Street and URA Centre on Maxwell Road, and move to Fusionpolis at One North within the next two years.

‘PUB has relinquished about 7,000 sq m of space at Singapore Power Building along Somerset Road to occupy the Environment Building this year,’ MOF added. The Environment Building is at Cairnhill/Scotts roads, outside the main Orchard Road belt.

MOF also highlighted cases of government agencies which have found it cheaper and more practical to remain in the CBD but which have nonetheless chosen to downsize the office space they occupy.

Examples include MOF itself, which is housed at The Treasury on High Street, and IE Singapore, located in Bugis Junction’s office tower.

MOF also said that since 1990, the Committee on Office Relocation under the Ministry has overseen all government office relocation projects for ministries and statutory boards to ensure that agencies pick the relocation option that delivers the best value for money.

‘The high rents in CBD will naturally weigh the decision against relocating there,’ MOF observed.

It also highlighted measures put in place to ensure the economical use of office space by government agencies.

For example, ‘when measuring the costs of operations and providing funding, MOF holds agencies accountable for the cost of fixed assets, thus providing agencies with an incentive to downsize and optimise their use of office space’, MOF said.

Colliers in its report had warned: ‘If (Singapore office) rents continue to rise unabated amidst shortage of good-quality office space, Singapore’s drive to be an international financial centre may be undermined and our competitiveness could erode to some extent, as the lack of quality office space will limit current companies’ expansion plans and potentially drive away prospective new entrants into Singapore.’

However, the Ministry of National Development (MND) yesterday said that Singapore is ’still relatively attractive to companies considering expansion in Singapore and to prospective new entrants’.

It cited CB Richard Ellis’ 2006 Global Market Rents report released last month, which ranked Singapore as ‘only the 37th most expensive office location’.

MND also said it is releasing more sites in the H1 2007 Government Land Sales programme which can be developed for office use.

New projects on these sites can be completed ‘as early as within three years’.

Other projects already under construction such as Marina Bay Financial Centre - the first phase of which is slated for completion in 2010 - can also help meet demand for office space.

To meet more immediate demand, Singapore Land Authority will be leasing out suitable vacant state properties for office use in the first half of 2007 which can be quickly refurbished and put to immediate use. Such properties are suitable for uses that do not need prime CBD locations, like backroom support ops for banks, MND said.

Business parks can also meet the office needs of some companies, it added.

Finally, MND said that it expects the property market to make suitable adjustments in supply to cater to the increased demand for offices, such as converting space in the CBD currently used for other commercial purposes to offices.

‘Some building owners who had originally planned to convert existing office buildings in the CBD to residential use may also change or delay their plans and retain their office buildings if the demand for office space continues to grow strongly,’ MND said.

Source : Business Times - 29 Dec 2006