HUDC HOUSING ESTATES (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Teh Cheang Wan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

On 26th July 1984, Parliament approved the HUDC Housing Estates Bill (1984), which would transfer the responsibilities for management and maintenance of the HUDC Phases I and II estates to bodies corporate to be constituted by ministerial order. The body corporate of each estate would comprise all owners of the HUDC flats in the estate. The Act came into operation on 31st August 1984. So far, no body corporate has yet been constituted.

The powers of the body corporate under the HUDC Estates Act are similar to those of the management corporations of private condominiums set out in the Land Titles (Strata) Act. The HUDC Phases I and II estates are different only in that the common property remains in the ownership of the HDB, the lessor. Several HUDC resident associations have made representations requesting that the common property be given over to them so that they may be placed on the same footing as owners of private flats. The Ministry of National Development has looked into the request and is agreeable to giving over the common property to the flat owners.

The HUDC Housing Estates (Amendment) Bill seeks to bring this into effect. The Bill allows the HDB to lease the common property to flat owners of each estate as tenants-in-common. The lease will be for a nominal sum of $1 and for a term which runs concurrently with the leasehold term of their flats. All flat owners shall be deemed to have accepted the lease when it has been executed by the Board.

The Bill further seeks to empower the Minister to amend the First Schedule of the Act which describes the land on which the HUDC estates are located. New HUDC estates may be included in the First Schedule in future for bodies corporate to be formed to manage these estates.

To reflect a more intensive use of the common areas by the commercial units, the Bill requires owners of commercial units in an HUDC estate to pay twice the amount of the maintenance charges payable by owners of residential units. Other minor amendments in the Bill deal with the imposition of a penalty for breach of by-laws governing the running of the housing estates and the appointments and resignations of office bearers of the management committee of a body corporate. These amendments will help to ensure the proper management of the HUDC estates by the bodies corporate.

Sir, I beg to move.

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 Teh Cheang Wan]. Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Clause 1 -

The Chairman: The citation year will be altered from "1985" to "1986".

Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 2 to 10 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.