Tue, Feb 12, 2008

The Straits Times

A RESIDENT of a five-room HDB flat pays $73.50 a month in service & conservancy charges and another $90 in parking charge.

A resident of a similar-size flat in a typical condominium pays about $200 per month. But that includes water, electricity, maintenance, mandatory lift check, cleaning service every day, clean lift, pest control, pleasant landscape, security, security cameras, covered parking lot, swimming pool, tennis court, function room, barbecue pit, recreation events, managing agent fee, some surplus for sinking fund at year-end and so on.

The HDB resident gets a parking lot and a not exactly clean environment.

Is the HDB overcharging residents or is it not doing enough to get value for residents?

My friend lives in a condo, pays $200 a month and get all the things I mentioned, while I pay $163.50 in service & conservancy charges and for a parking lot. I get a dirty lift and floors. Furthermore, the HDB collects parking fines and hourly parking charges and keeps them.

As a big buyer, the HDB certainly has better bargaining power than the condo. The $163.50 paid to the HDB is excessive.

The HDB must explain how it spends the money it collects.

Richard Lim Poh Chuan

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During lunch with my colleagues the other day, he was questioning why is HDB collecting S&C charges based on size of flats. His argument is that S&C charges collected by the Town Council monthly are for the maintenance and enhancement of the common areas e.g. cleaning of common corridors, so this amt should be the same regardless of the size of the flats.

What was conveniently left out of this letter is the starking difference in purchase price of HDB flat and a condo unit respectively, and the legal entitlement that comes with such purchases. When you buy a strata-title property (ie condo), you do not just own the unit itself; you also own the common areas and including that parking lot. When you buy a HDB flat, well, you only own that HDB flat!

That said, if you stay in HDB, you can choose not to own a car and save $90, which is more than half of the $163.50 you pay. Can the condo owner do the same? Would he be able to release his/her parking lot and ask the MCST to slash his maintenance fees by half?

Technically speaking, this means that you pay maintenance fees to the condo's MCST to MAINTAIN the facilities that you own, whereas you pay HDB/Town Council to USE the facilities that you DO NOT own. With this statement in mind, I think I do not need to elaborate which one should be charged more...

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During lunch with my colleagues the other day, he was questioning why is HDB collecting S&C charges based on size of flats. His argument is that S&C charges collected by the Town Council monthly are for the maintenance and enhancement of the common areas e.g. cleaning of common corridors, so this amt should be the same regardless of the size of the flats.

HDB/Town Council will employ the same 'subsidy' argument to hoodwink you:

Yes, all S&C charges are the same wan, regardless of the size of your flats one leh!! But then hor, our garment subsidises these charges le mah, and more subsidies were allocated to those needy families staying in smaller units, hence they pay lesser lorr; but actualee hor, everyone are charged the same wan...

Edited March 24, 200818 yr by zirhk3355

Wondering which condo charge only $200 a month for a unit the size of a 5-room HDB with all those facilities...

Wondering which condo charge only $200 a month for a unit the size of a 5-room HDB with all those facilities...

5 rm flat is how big?

The old type 5 rm or the new 5 rm?

A resident of a similar-size flat in a typical condominium pays about $200 per month. But that includes water, electricity, maintenance, mandatory lift check, cleaning service every day, clean lift, pest control, pleasant landscape, security, security cameras, covered parking lot, swimming pool, tennis court, function room, barbecue pit, recreation events, managing agent fee, some surplus for sinking fund at year-end and so on.

Include water, electricity ==> i hope that he is not referring to the unit PUB bill.

about $200 per mth.. I don't know which condo has..

but I'm paying est $280