HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.04 p.m.

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, there have been complaints from the public that there are owners of Housing and Development Board flats who acquire and then let out other immovable properties while they are still staying in HDB flats. In order to ensure that the Board's flats are in the hands of those people who deserve them and to avoid longer frustration by those on the Board's waiting list (at the moment there is a waiting list of about 100,000 applications), this Bill will introduce the following measures:-

(a) to make provision for the Board to compulsorily acquire any HDB flat sold subject to the provisions of Part IV of the Act in certain circumstances which I will refer to shortly;

(b) to prohibit any person from applying for an HDB flat if he, his spouse or an authorised occupier either - (i) owns or has an interest in any other immovable property; or (ii) has, at any time within 30 months prior to the date of his making an application to the Board for an HDB flat, owned or had an interest in any other immovable property;

(c) to make it an offence for any person to give false information in his form of application for an HDB flat and to make such an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both such fine and imprisonment; and

(d) to make unauthorised subletting of an HDB flat an offence punishable with a similar penalty.

The Board will compulsorily acquire any flat sold subject to the provisions of Part IV of the Act in any of the circumstances set out in the new section 48A to which I will now refer:-

(a) if the owner thereof and his spouse, if any, has, in the opinion of the Board, ceased to occupy the HDB flat; or

(b) if the owner thereof, his spouse or any authorised occupier has acquired any title to or an estate or interest in any other immovable property; or

(c) if the owner thereof has, in the opinion of the Board, used the HDB flat, otherwise than for the purpose permitted by the lease; or

(d) if the owner thereof has permitted any person other than an authorised occupier to reside or stay in the HDB flat; or

(e) if the owner thereof has failed to perform or observe any condition contained in the lease to be performed or observed on the part of the owner after a notice in writing has been sent by the Board drawing his attention to the non-performance or non-observance of the condition in the lease and the Board is of the opinion that he is likely to continue to do the same if he should continue to own the HDB flat; or

(f) if the owner thereof has made a misleading or false statement in his application to the Board for the purchase of the HDB flat; or

(g) if the owner thereof has made a mis-representation of a material fact, whether innocently or otherwise, in his application to the Board for the purchase of the HDB flat; or

(h) if the owner thereof assigns, underlets or parts with the possession of the HDB flat or any part thereof without obtaining the prior written consent of the Board as required by the lease; or

(i) if, in the opinion of the Board, the HDB flat is not being occupied by such minimum number of persons as the Board may require; or

(j) if the owner thereof has ceased to be a citizen of Singapore; or

(k) if the rent or any payments or any part thereof due to the Board reserved under the lease or mortgage remains unpaid for three calendar months after they are due and payable and the Board has sent a notice of demand in writing to the owner thereof. Any person who is dissatisfied with a decision of the Board to acquire a HDB flat under section 48A of the Act may appeal to the Minister whose decision thereon will be final.

Mr Speaker, Sir, apart from these major amendments to the Housing and Development Act, the Bill also seeks to make other amendments which I will now refer to briefly.

Clause 3 of the Bill seeks to amend section 4 of the Act to permit the legal officers of the Board to execute certain documents for and on behalf of the Board.

Clause 4 seeks to add a new section 27A to the Act to empower the Board to appoint committees to carry out its duties under the Act and to delegate its powers to such committees.

Clause 5 seeks to amend section 41 of the Act to empower the Board to forfeit any monies paid to the Board by an applicant who has made an application to purchase an HDB flat from the Board in contravention of the provisions of section 41 of the Act.

Clause 6 seeks to amend section 42 of the Act to enable the officers of the Board to attest assurances pertaining to flats sold by the Board.

Clause 8 seeks to repeal and re-enact with amendments section 45 of the Act to deal with the acquisition by the Board of a flat of a deceased owner in the case where no representation has been taken out under a will or intestacy of a deceased owner of the flat within twelve months from the death of the owner.

Clause 9 seeks to amend section 48 of the Act to enable the Board to repossess a flat speedily when it exercises its right of forfeiture under a lease.

Clause 12 seeks to repeal and reenact sections 55 to 58 of the Act to prescribe the financial procedures to be observed by the Board and to make provision for the keeping and audit of the accounts of the Board.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, whilst I fully support this Bill, I would like to seek clarification from the Minister with regard to clause 10, which is to insert a new section 48A (1), paragraph (i), and I quote:

`(i) if, in the opinion of the Board, the flat, house or other living accommodation is not being occupied by such minimum number of persons as the Board may require; or'

Sir, it may well be that a flat owner in the service of a company may be transferred out for an overseas assignment. It is also possible that his family will have to go along with him, and the flat will be left vacant. If this is the case, will the Minister consider, in view of the nature of work to which the flat owner is committed, allowing the owner to continue to own the flat in his name? I have come across a case which comes under this particular provision as laid down in this proposed new section 48A (1) (i) in clause 10 of the Bill.

3.15 p.m.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong: (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, our Government has all along been advocating the policy of home ownership for the people in order to look after their welfare. The people can thus own their own homes and have a sense of security in life. This amendment Bill therefore has come as a surprise.

Certain provisions in the Bill are rather vague and will cause concern and confusion among the people. I am referring particularly to the provisions of clauses 5 and 8 of the Bill which, I think, ought to be clarified. Clause 5 provides that no person shall be entitled to purchase an HDB flat if he, his spouse or any authorised occupier, is the owner of any other immovable property. What will be the position of a person who owns a shophouse or a nonresidential property in the name of a company or on behalf of a company, or who jointly owns such property with a company? Will he be entitled to apply to purchase a Housing Board flat? According to the Public Relations Officer of the HDB, after the Bill has been passed the Housing Board will announce details specifying the circumstances under which persons are entitled to purchase flats and those who are not entitled to purchase flats. May I ask why should the details of these new provisions be explained to the people after the Bill has been passed? Is this not tantamount to effecting the law before any prior information has been given? The people who suffer will be those who live in the HDB flats. They will be at the mercy of the Housing Board after due passage of the Bill. Therefore, I hope the Minister will be able to clarify these two vague provisions as to which category of persons possessing which types of property are or are not entitled to buy HDB. flats, so as to enable us to understand the intentions of this Bill and its measures in detail.

Sir, another provision in the Bill provides that, under certain circumstances, the Housing Board can repossess a flat upon the death of the owner, whether or not the owner has left a will. Again the Housing Board officials also said that after the Bill has been passed and become law, the Board will notify the people concerned of the circumstances under which the flat could be bought back by the Board upon the death of the flat owner.

Sir, I hope the Minister would consider the fact that flat owners are not wealthy property owners. Most of them are not conversant with the law and being in the low-income group they are not able to take on any additional burden that is imposed on them. The Government should have sympathy for the hardship of the people and simplify all the necessary procedures. The Government should follow the example of the Central Provident Fund Board system of authorising a nominee successor to administrate the estate, which system is for the convenience of the people and also to reduce their burden. I hope the Minister can enlighten us with a clarification as well as a direction on these matters.

3.20 p.m.

Dr Augustine H. H. Tan (Whampoa): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am in general support of the amendment Bill. However, I feel that clause 5, which prohibits persons who have sold property within 30 months prior to date of application, has the unfortunate effect of penalising widows and orphans who may be forced by circumstances to sell their homes. Such widows and orphans will then be forced to wait six or seven years before getting a flat. I hope the Minister: will amend this particular clause of the Bill.

Mr Barker: Sir, as I pointed out earlier, the whole purpose of this Bill is to ensure that the Board's flats remain in the hands of people who deserve them and to avoid frustration by those on the Board's waiting list. At the moment, there are 75,000 applicants wanting to buy flats and about 25,000 wanting to rent them. The object of this Bill is not to make things worse for widows and orphans or for the poor people living in HDB flats.

I have spelt out earlier in my speech details of the circumstances under which people who have bought flats will lose them. In my view, the provisions set out under clauses 5 and 8 are quite clear. One deals with the position where the owner, his spouse or any authorised occupier is the owner of any other flat, house, building or land or has an estate or interest therein; or has, at any time within 30 months immediately prior to the date of making an application to the Board to purchase a flat, sold any flat, house, building or land.

The Member for Whampoa takes objection to the 30-month condition. It has been the experience of the Board that this period is reasonable enough for people to dispose of their properties, which may be substantial properties, and with the proceeds buy a five-room flat.

The Member for Punggol is worried about people who have to leave the country after buying a flat. They do not have to give up the flat. All they have to do in such cases is to inform the Board.

As for the other clause which deals with the position where the owner of an HDB flat dies, either testate or intestate and his executors or administrators do nothing about it for years, the purpose is to give them one year which should be enough time to take out either Letters of Administration or Probate of the Will so that the legal formalities in respect of the flat can be put right. Otherwise if they do nothing, the Board cannot do anything. Hence this clause.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill.-[Mr E. W. Barker],

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

3.25 p.m.

Clauses 1 to 5 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 6 -

Amendment made:

In page 6, line 11, at end, to add-

"(2) This section shall apply to any instrument lodged before, on or after the date of the commencement of the Housing and Development (Amendment) Act, 1975.".-[Mr E. W. Barker].

The Chairman: There is a consequential amendment to be made.

In page 5, line 38, after "42.", to insert "-(1)".

This will be done.

Clause 6, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 7 -

Amendment made:

In page 6, to leave out lines 13 and 14 and insert -

`deleting subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefore the following:-

"(2) Where any assignment, mortgage, transfer, charge or lease of any such flat, house or other building which is executed by or on behalf of the owner thereof without the prior written consent of the Board is registered under the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Act or the Land Titles Act, the Board may by an instrument lodged with the Registrar of Deeds or the Registrar of Titles, as the case may be, declare such assignment, mortgage, transfer, charge or lease to be void and the Registrar of Deeds or the Registrar of Titles shall register the instrument without being concerned to inquire into its regularity or validity, and upon registration thereof shall cancel the registration of any such assignment, mortgage, transfer, charge or lease.'.-[Mr E. W. Barker].

The Chairman: There is a consequential amendment to be made.

In page 6, line 15, to leave out the open inverted commas.

This will be done.

Clause 7, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 8 and 9 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 10 -

Mr Barker: Sir, I beg to move,

In page 10, line 19, to leave out "or his spouse" and insert ", his spouse or any authorised occupier".

This amendment will enable the Board to compulsorily acquire any flat, house or other living accommodation sold subject to the provisions of this Part, if an authorised occupier has at any time whether before or after the date of commencement of the Housing and Development (Amendment) Act, 1975, acquired whether by operation of law or otherwise any title to or an estate or interest in any other flat, house, building or land.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 10, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 11 to 15 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported with amendments; read a Third time and passed.