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Retiree Mary Chan, who is in her 70s, does not own or know how to use a computer.

But it has not stopped her from making it known that she opposes the collective sale looming in her housing estate.

The feisty former teacher, who declined to give her real name, hand-wrote letters and got them typed up by a friend.

‘I spent about $20 on photocopying 350 letters and had the help of friends to put them in the estate’s post boxes,’ she said.

Home owners like her are in the minority camp in housing estates up for collective sale - the minority fighting to stop the sale going through.

But she appears to have lost the fight for the 618-unit Farrer Court, put up for sale this month for a whopping $1.5 billion. More than 80 per cent of the owners there gave the approval needed for the sale to proceed.

Collective sales, which largely fizzled out after the market downturn in 2000, have come back strongly in the past two years.

Increasingly bigger residential deals have been sewn up this year. Two weeks before Farrer Court was put up for sale, for instance, the 314-unit Leedon Heights was sold for $835 million.

The rising property market has fuelled developers’ demand for choice sites now occupied by ageing estates, residents of which hope to make far more than if they were to sell their units individually.

Those who say ‘no’ to such windfalls typically argue that they cannot find another home of similar size in the same area. They prize their homes, which are often large units in prime areas.

Others say ‘no’ because they are attached to their homes and have less need for riches.

As Farrer Court’s Madam Chan said: ‘How much money do I want? I can only eat three meals a day and sleep on one bed. I have a few good friends who live here and who are my exercise partners.’

These dissenters are typically comfortably off, well-educated and fluent in English.

Some, but not all, are retirees.

For example, ‘Mr D’, 39, a resident in a Holland Road condo, has a full-time profession.

His approach is slightly different from Madam Chan’s.

He knew little about collective sales before, but has since done his homework - he has read up on the statutes, researched previous sales, sent letters to the media and even to opposition political parties, and gone online to discuss the issue.

In his blog, he warns people about the ‘implications’ of collective sales.

Even tenants in estates going through the collective sale mill have joined in. Permanent resident ‘Mr H’, who rents a unit in an estate that has gone en bloc, blogs about it.

He will soon have to move, and is upset as he will have to pay higher rent on his next apartment. He is even mulling over his future in Singapore, where he has spent eight years.

What peeves him is that tenants - with valid leases - have to move out, and legislation makes no mention of them or their rights.

The one thing these dissenters have in common is that they are secretive. They do not want to be ‘outed’ as the ones blocking the majority group’s way to a jackpot - or worse, being accused of egging on others to do the same.

They also do not want to be hounded by ‘predatory’ agents eager for a deal to be struck.

One dissenter, who declined to be named, said there is a sort of witchhunt against minority owners.

Indeed, there have been stories going around that dissenters have received nasty messages, or had their cars scratched.

This is why they do not want their names - or even that of their estates - mentioned.

Still, they want their say. Aside from Madam Chan and her low-tech method, other dissenters have been busy.

Another retiree who wanted to be known only as Madam Tan has fired letters to the Government and the media against collective sales.

She began a blog on the subject in March and made instant online friends out of depressed or angry strangers in the same boat.

She said that although she had written to officialdom, her blog would get her view into the public arena in the interest of ‘greater public knowledge’.

She declared: ‘I am hanging by my claws to my maisonette. It is the only roof I have.’

Her 1,600-sq-ft home is in a prime area near Orchard Road, where sweet collective deals have been sealed in the past year.

The ‘en bloc fire’ in her 13-year-old estate has, for now, been tamed because under 80 per cent of owners are keen.

But she said she is not out of the woods yet: Last week, another agent made a vastly better offer for the estate.

In Meyer Park, meanwhile, dissenters, besides trying to persuade their neighbours not to sell, have hired a lawyer to fend off overtures from those in favour of a sale, said a source.

But ‘Mr D’ said he is not hopeful minority owners will hold out forever.

He said: ‘I doubt you’ll ever get minority owners chaining themselves to the gates of their estate in the path of bulldozers like Greenpeace activists. Local lobbying fizzles out when it is seen as ineffective.’

Still, despite this and the rude (anonymous) e-mail messages he has received about his bid to stop the sale of his estate, he is not giving up.

He sees his efforts as ‘balancing the unequal power agents, lawyers and seasoned en bloc investors have against disadvantaged owners who are new or not in favour of en bloc sales’.

Property consultants have noticed that minority owners have become more aggressive.

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung’s director of investment advisory services, Ms Tang Wei Leng, said a consultant’s role in a collective sale is to help owners make informed decisions, but ‘there will always be owners who, for different reasons, will not want to sell, no matter the price, and we respect that’.

But another consultant said urban renewal is a continual process, and, depending on what the majority wants, everyone just has to ‘move on’.

The dynamic between the pro- and anti-en bloc camps could change soon, when legislation governing such sales is tightened.

The Ministry of Law closed a public consultation exercise this month, and changes - which are thought to make it tougher to push through such sales - are expected to be implemented by the third quarter of this year.

‘Mr D’ hopes something will come of this.

As he put it: ‘There are social consequences to en bloc sales. There are issues of communal identity, the notion of community, the notion of home.

‘Some weeks I’m tired out from the sense of helplessness, but the ‘activist’ part of me won’t let the profiteering people get away with systematically destroying legitimate owners’ homes.’

Source : Straits Times - 30 May 2007

Top bid from group linked to Straits Construction for 1.8ha Boon Keng Road site

A CONSORTIUM linked to established contractor Straits Construction yesterday emerged tops in the tender for the second site for public housing to be built and sold by private developers.

The group, comprising Straits’ subsidiary Hoi Hup Realty, Sunway Concrete Products and Oriental Worldwide Investments, submitted the highest bid - of $170.2 million - among six parties for the 1.8ha site in Boon Keng Road.

The next highest bid of $128.2 million was submitted by Sim Lian Land, which is developing the first such project in Tampines called The Premiere@Tampines.

The other bidders were Chng Gim Huat, Boon Keng Development, CEL Development and a team comprising SP Development and Greatearth Developments.

The site, which consultants say can accommodate an estimated 600 flats, comes with a 103-year lease. It was put up for sale in March after the pilot Tampines project drew almost 6,000 applications for its 616 units.

Under this particular public housing programme, private developers are free to design, build, price and sell the flats. But they can sell the homes to only people who qualify for public housing.

This means that they have to be bought by family units, the ethnic quota has to be maintained, and the buyers’ monthly household income cannot exceed $8,000.

The Housing Board will evaluate the tender and is expected to announce the successful bidder in the next two weeks.

The eventual winner will have to set aside at least 30 per cent of the flats for four-room or smaller units.

The Premiere was known for its condominium-like features - generous balconies, floor-to-ceiling wardrobes and air-conditioning units - which set it apart from typical public housing developments.

The general manager of Straits Construction, Mr Kenneth Loo, told The Straits Times yesterday that his company also plans to introduce ‘condo-like’ flats at the Boon Keng site, with a ‘bit more refinement’ than the ones in the Tampines project.

Source : Straits Times - 30 May 2007

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) tender for its second Design Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) has closed with the top bid of $233.74 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) - double the $113.64 psf ppr price for the first DBSS site sold in January 2006.

Hoi Hup Realty, together with Sunway Concrete Products and Oriental Worldwide Investments Inc, submitted a bid of $170.2 million for the site on Boon Keng Road, near Kallang River.

The highest bid is also 33 per cent more than the second-highest by Sim Lian Land. A total of six bids were received. The DBSS involves the private sector in the development of public housing so as to bring about greater innovation in building and design and more housing choices.

Hoi Hup director Wong Sjew Hung explained that its bid was based on the building efficiency it hopes to achieve. The 197,991-sq-ft site has a maximum gross floor area of 728,145.5 sq ft and Ms Wong believes between 600 and 700 units can be built. ‘It all depends on the design,’ she said.

Buyers of DBSS developments enjoy the same perks accorded to those buying normal HDB flats, including CPF housing grants for those eligible.

Ms Wong said that the new development could be launched within six to nine months. ‘We are targeting HDB upgraders and first-time buyers,’ she added.

If demand for the first DBSS project by Sim Lian Land is any indication, Hoi Hup should see an equally good response for the Boon Keng Road development. Sim Lian’s Premiere@Tampines received close to 6,000 applications for its 616-unit development. The average selling price was around $300 psf.

Located closer to the city, the Boon Keng Road site is expected to be priced higher.

Savills Singapore director of marketing and business development Ku Swee Yong estimates that the break-even cost could be closer to $400 psf. On the size of the bid, he said: ‘For this site, the price seems OK.’

Mr Ku said prices for new private residential developments in the vicinity are rising.

A check with SISV-Realink database reveals that a unit at the 99-year leasehold Citylights on Jellicoe Road recently sold for $1,000 psf on the secondary market, although average prices are lower.

Perhaps more important, as Mr Ku notes, is that the HDB appears to have bridged the gap between public and private housing successfully with DBSS. ‘It’s an indication that the government is doing creative things,’ he said.

Source : Business Times - 30 May 2007

Manufacturing plant exempted from property tax

Companies which have plant and machinery used for manufacturing, processing or other industrial purposes may be able to save tax dollars following a High Court decision, tax lawyer Tan Kay Kheng says.

As a result of the ruling, they may not have to pay property tax based on an annual value enhanced by the value of the plant and machinery.

Companies which have pipelines that extend beyond their premises also do not have to pay property tax for them, says Mr Tan, who heads WongPartnership’s tax practice.

Last week, the High Court said that district cooling service company First DCS does not have to pay property tax for the machinery in its building. The machinery includes generators, transformers, a cooling tower system and a 4km underground pipeline system that extends beyond the boundaries of its premises.

The court found that the legislative aim of a section in the Property Tax Act, Section 2(2), is to encourage investment in plant and machinery for manufacturing, processing and other industrial purposes.

It also found that the machinery which produces chilled water and sends it to customers and back through the pipeline system comes under one of the exclusions provided by S2(2) of the Act. The section sets out the instances when machinery can be excluded from the annual value of the premises it is on.

First DCS produces chilled water for the air-conditioning needs of other buildings in Changi Business Park.

In any case, even if the machinery is not excluded from property tax under the Act, the court found that First DCS does not have to pay tax on its pipelines through which water is sent to customers and back.

This is because even though the pipelines are part of First DCS’s machinery, they extend beyond its premises and are used by its customers. In fact, the 4km pipeline system also improve its customers’ property in providing them district cooling services.

Mr Tan, who represented First DCS with colleague Leung Yew Kwong, says that the decision by the High Court saves the company about $200,000 in taxes per year.

He says that the decision is not limited to companies in the same industry and would certainly benefit companies in any industry where their plant and machinery is really for manufacturing, processing and industrial purposes.

Source : Business Times - 30 May 2007

It was a novel concept that turned out to be a runaway success — about 6,000 people applied last year for the 616 flats at the Premiere in Tampines, which was under the Housing Board’s (HDB’s) first Design Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS).

No wonder then that six private developers are eyeing the second such site offered by the HDB, putting in bids of up to $170 million by the close of tender yesterday.

This works out to $2,516 per square metre for the Boon Keng Road site, more than double the highest bid of $1,224 per square metre received for the Tampines site.

Sim Lian Land, who was awarded the first site, was not the top bidder. It ranked No 2, after a consortium of Hoi Hup Realty, Sunway Concrete Products and Oriental Worldwide Investments.

Other bidders are Chng Gim Huat, SP Development, Boon Keng Development and CEL Development.

Knight Frank’s director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said the first DBSS project gave developers confidence to bid even higher this time.

“The first DBSS project was untested and developers had questions over whether consumers would take to the project,” he told Today. Premiere @ Tampines was 10 times oversubscribed.

Mr Mak added: “The market is also doing very well. While the bids are fairly bullish, they also showed the developers’ confidence in the booming property market.”

Under the DBSS scheme, a private developer takes over the HDB’s role in deciding how the flats will look, what size units to build, and how the flats will be priced and marketed to the public.

Would-be buyers can expect more smaller flats at Boon Keng Road, which has a maximum allowable gross floor area of 67,647 sq m.

Following feedback from the first exercise, the HDB has stipulated that at least 30 per cent of the project should consist of four-room or smaller flats.

While the tender will be evaluated based on the tender prices, a HDB spokesman said it is “not bound to accept the highest or any tender”. The tender will be awarded in two weeks’ time.

Source : Today - 30 May 2007