she_888

I bellieve most have not fulfilled their MOP period. Even the widely practise of locking 1 room is illegal. Just need to have your neighbour sabo you by tipping off HDB. Not worth the risk for us to take. From my understanding, HDB is already conducting spot checks on households in our estate. Neighbours, you decide for yourselves!!! Illegal subletting: HDB to repossess man’s flats IN A clear warning to those who sublet their flats illegally, the Housing Board (HDB) has moved to take back three apartments linked to a real estate agent who owns five private properties. One flat to be repossessed belongs to the real estate agent, Mr Poh Boon Kay, 61, and his wife, Madam Khoo Kim Cheng, 52, who had illegally sublet their four-room flat in Bukit Batok. The other two flats in Telok Blangah and Bukit Batok are owned by the couple’s daughter and Madam Khoo’s 91-year-old aunt respectively. Both flats were also illegally rented out. He acted as agent for the elderly woman and collected rent on her behalf. The HDB said it is taking legal action to take back the units. It is the most serious case of illegal subletting in the last two years. Only three other flats have been compulsorily acquired in that time. In November last year, the HDB checked and found that Mr Poh had sublet his flat to three Myanmar couples without HDB approval. The Pohs, who were not living there at that time, had also breached the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) of three years. This rule states that buyers who purchase resale flats without a housing grant from the Central Provident Fund Board have to live in the flat for three years before they can rent out the whole unit. The HDB then told Mr Poh this was unauthorised, and that they were intending to repossess his flat. On Dec 23, the HDB pasted a notice of intention to compulsorily acquire his flat. The HDB told The Straits Times yesterday that Mr Poh will continue to hold the title deeds until investigations are complete. It will then decide whether to take back the title deeds officially and compensate him to the amount of $125,000. Mr Poh, who claims he paid $155,000 for the house, can lodge an appeal against the notice. When asked, he said he was intending to appeal. Mr Poh, an ordinary member of the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), pleaded ignorance of the three-year MOP; he said he had been told by the HDB’s counter staff that he could sublet the flat after a year. He could not name the HDB employee. But the HDB said that because of Mr Poh’s links to the other illegal subletting cases, his claims of ignorance could not be substantiated. ‘There is clear evidence that Mr Poh, a housing agent by profession, has been intentionally abusing HDB flats for monetary gains,’ said the HDB spokesman. Mr Poh said he had not seen the acquisition coming. He added: ‘I can’t believe a notice can be served within a month of the HDB giving a warning letter.’ He said it was more usual for the HDB to send a second warning, or even fine an errant owner first. The Housing and Development Act says, however, that the HDB can compulsorily acquire a flat once it ascertains that the owner is illegally subletting it. ‘HDB takes a stern view of unauthorised subletting, and will not hesitate to take strong action against those who flout the rules,’ it said. The Board added that it will bring Mr Poh’s case to the attention of the IEA. Mr Poh, who claims his daughter is stuck in the United States with marital problems, declined to discuss the cases involving her and his wife’s aunt. He said he did not know for sure when they bought their flats. The HDB has taken action against 56 such owners in the last two years, dishing out punishments ranging from fines of $1,000 to $21,000, to repossessing the flats involved. HDB added that there was no discernible upward trend. Flat owners who wish to rent out their flats must obtain approval from the Board and fulfil the MOP. The current MOP for subletting flats is five years for flats bought directly from the HDB or resale flats purchased with a CPF Housing Grant, and three years for resale flats bought without the CPF grant. About 682,000 flats are eligible for subletting, but only 3per cent of these flats are sublet. Source : Straits Times – 13 Mar 2010

Expected lah...If i'm not wrong, Blk 79A are the smaller 75sqm units with many en bloc people from the lower-income strata... if you go to other estates with many 2 or 3 roomers. These cases are very common and visible in common areas.

Hi Jacky, Don't have to waste time feeding back to grassroots or their leaders. It's a total waste of time la. These highly paid policy makers are not bothered with what true born singaporeans are going thru in these difficult times. We true born and breed singaporeans are treated like 3rd class citizens in our own countries. The leaders and their followers are only interest in "Foreign Talents" (If these semi skilled and unskilled immigrants can be called foreign talents, we singaporeans should be called Saints). They have directly contributed to many of us citizens being jobless due to their over liberal migration policies and lack of labour laws, forcing our pays to be artificially depressed. Our husbands and sons have to sacrifice a good part of their prime (2years-3years) to serve this country and then when they come out to university or work, they have to compete unfairly for places in colleages and for work with PRs and foreigners. Many of these who are so easily granted their residency with little or no contribution to our country and society prior to their arrival here. I don't want to elaborate further. We can see for ourselves the number of foreigners depriving us of jobs when we walk down Raffles place or any other part of Singapore. And now, they are blaming us for being choosy over jobs and refusing to take up jobs that migrant workers are happy to do. WTF, how do you expect singaporeans with a family to feed, HDB loan to service to survive on a lower than minimum pay wage?? The ministers should lead by example first and not talk cock.... Maybe they should try surviving having their fat pay cheque lowered to $800 a month before accusing us of being choosy about work. So, to all the grassroots members, our new generation can think and analyse unlike our parents generation. if you can't give us any constructive or convincing suggestions, please walk the talk. Not talk cock all day long.....

Dear CCS79, Welcome to our community. Regarding your comment "I know of the motorbike issue at the central, but that's actually beyond our block so not really our block problem la.", I beg to defer. It's indirectly our block's problem as many residents like myself (BLk 79C to 79E) who don't drive, will need to commute to and from the MRT station using that route. As such, these illegally parked motorbikes directly poses a danger to us and deny us the right to walk safely on a PEDESTRIAN pavement. Well, maybe after you have settled down and start using that stretch of pavement, you will think on par with us.

That's the all problem with our overpaid civil service and "privatized" HDB. Uptill today, the problem of motorbikes parking illegally at BLK 177 still persist and remains unsolved. Now, seems like more bikes are parking there. Now, we have to content with vandalism at our MSCP. WTF are these people doing?????? I really can't understand why our public housing planners can't think like their Hong Kong counterparts. Public housing in HK has got gated access and even CCTV. Our MSCP is so dark and isolated from public view. What's wrong with all these overpaid slackers? Now, we tax payers have to bear the cost for their negligence. Unprotected and unsafe MSCP leading to opportunities for vandals to pray on and leading to damages and unnecessary cost for residents with cars. I really hope the retrenchment-axe fall on these incompetent fools..... slackers like them don't deserve sympathy and their jobs. HDB should outsource their planners and managers to the private sector.

Week 2 It's been almost the 2nd week since i wrote to HDB and Town council. Guess what neighbours....those idiots either can't write or don't know how to retrieve their emails.... No one replied.. Do we see any improvements to the parking problem at BLK 177? No.. I still witness bikes zipping down as though it's Sepang race course. If the singapore govt needs to cut cost, I suggest these jokers in HDB and Town council be retrenched first. Inefficient people like them should be punished and made an example to other lazy employees in the civil service.. Neighbours, (Touchwood) if your loved ones get injured by one of these motorcycles, you know who to go after... TPY NPC... HDB.... Town Council...

An Update Hi Neighbours.... Just an update, since my last email to the RC and Town Council, I have yet to recieve any reply from the authorities concerned regarding my disagreement to their reply and suggested response. However, I'm glad to see that the article i posted in STOMP is getting alot of hits and supportive comments.. many aggreeing that the Town council, HDB is too lax in handling the issue and that the police should be shouldering the responsibility of enforcing summons and demerit points against these inconsiderate motorist and not pushing the responsibility to residents to take pictures and submit to Traffic police. This is a clearing a visbile traffic violation. Why should we do their work when we are paying taxes every year?? http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singapor...nt.jsp?id=51351 I agree with Mee Pok.... election is coming.... if the authorities wants to shift their responsibilities and take a back sit on this issue, we seriously have to consider how we are going to cast our votes.....

Hi Neighbours, UPDATES ON COMPLAINT TO HDB & TOWN COUNCIL ON ILLEGALLY PARKING OF MOTORCYCLES - BLK 177 Regarding my earlier complaints to HDB and Town Council thru Toa Payoh Central Zone 2 RC, Mr Frankie Tong had been most helpful in escalating the issue. However, I can't say the same for the reply from Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council. Their reply and solution seems very standard and unacceptable as it will only serve as a temporary measure to reduce and not eradicate the illegal parking problem completely. Please see below extract from email reply. " We refer to the feedback on the above through the email below. The Town Council had installed "No Parking" signages at several locations around Blk 177 Toa Payoh Central to warn residents not to park at the common areas. We are looking into installing more signages to warn the motorists not to ride along the common areas. Our staff had also carried out summon enforcement actions against those motorists who illegally parked their motorcycles at the vicinity of Blk 177 Toa Payoh Central and its surrounding. We will continue with our enforcement effort and hopefully, it will send out a message to other motorists not to ride and park at the common areas in Toa Payoh Town Centre. We would advice the residents to contact our office at 62596700 should they come across such illegal parking in the estate during office hour." Neighbours, please give me your feedback on the above reply and i will feedback your concerns back to the Town Council again. Reply back to Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council "Frankly speaking, Installing more signage and taking more enforcement measures is only a temporary measure and will not eradicate the problem. The emphasis on punishment and conditioning motorcyclist will not work in Toa Payoh Central as many people come from every part of Singapore and Malaysia to visit the area and they will simply play a hide and seek game with enforcement officers If you do your sums, how many man hours and resources will be wasted in tackling this problem which at the end of the day, will not yield satisfactory results. If you notice, a big majority of the offenders are motorcyclist from across the causeway and have little respect for our laws. I really don’t understand why the relevant authorities are so unwilling to take more concrete and straight forward measures like installing barriers at the entrance to the pavement outside BLK 177. These barriers can be made big enough for wheel chairs and baby prams to pass through but small enough to prevent motorcyclist from riding onto the pavement. The town councils reluctance to act effectively on this issue will only further stimulate dissatisfaction and ill feelings amongst the residents of Toa Payoh central towards Bishan-Toa Payoh town council and also the relevant authorities. It is also not fair to residents to have to continue enduring such nuisance when enforcement in the area slows down after a few weeks or months. It is very frustrating that we have to call the relevant authorities to complaint and take enforcement actions on a daily basis. As such, I appeal to your RC to have a consultation with the Town Council to work out a more permanent solution to the problem."

Dear Neighbours... Feeling frustrated with the illegally parking situation of motorcycles beside BLK 177 and the inaction of our local enforcement agencies, here's my contribution to STOMP............ I hope the media attention will get HDB and Toa Payoh NPC to take immediate preventive actions soon.... "I almost got ran down by this biker at Toa Payoh Central" - under Motoring Goondus http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singapor...id=51351#rating

Hi Alister, Thanks for your advise. Can you give me his email address or contact number so that I can email to him with my concern and complaints. I can’t seem to locate his email on the web. Thanks

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all neighbours as you can see, I am new to the neighbourhood having just moved in. Talking about Xmas, to all neighbours with children, elderly folks or pregnant wives. Please be very careful when using the pedestrian walkway beside BLK 177, outside the furniture shop on the way to and fro the MRT / interchange. I was nearly run down by an idiotic motorcyclist on Xmas evening while walking back to Blk 79C. He was riding very fast on the pedestrian pavement and this made me very furious and I shouted at him to tell him to get off the pavement. The motorcyclist not only did not apologize, he challenged me to report him. Frustrated, I called the TPY NPC and feedback to the officer on the other end about this incident and the numerous motorbikes parked illegally there….. The officer had the cheek to ask me to take pictures of the illegally parked motorcycles and email to Traffic police myself. This remark really pissed me off and I asked the officer sarcastically if he wanted to give me his month end salary since I was doing the police work for him. I told him whether he knew that the problem poses a great danger to residents and pedestrians like myself and asked him whether they would wait till someone gets killed before they would act. Trying to get me off the phone fast, he said he would dispatch a patrol car down to take enforcement action on the motorbikes park illegally (up to 10). As I needed to go down to popular to get something, I went back down towards the interchange after 20 mins. Guess what, the police never showed up. WTF… Only then did I notice the full extend of the illegal parking problems by inconsiderate motorist….. almost everyday after that, I would notice at least 10 or more motorcycles parking at the pavement illegally and numerous zipping in and out on the pavement. Isn’t the pedestrian pavement supposed for only pedestrian? I’m wondering why HDB did not install barriers to prevent motorcycles from riding onto the pavement when it is so obvious so many people uses that pavement and why the police from TPY NPC is so lax in their enforcement on this problematic and dangerous area. Does anyone know who or which department I should write to to get the problem rectified for the sake of all the children and elderly using that particular pavement?