RESALE OF HUDC FLATS

Dr Koh Lam Son asked the Minister for National Development, since the announcement by the Housing and Development Board of its decision not to buy back HUDC flats, (a) how many HUDC flat owners have appealed to sell back their flats to HDB and, of these, how many were successful; and (b) how many HUDC flat owners had sold their flats privately and, of these, how many had incurred losses.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Teh Cheang Wan): Mr Speaker, Sir, since the announcement by HDB on 4th July 1986, 49 HUDC lessees appealed to the Board to buy their flats. All were unsuccessful.

As at 20th September 1986, 27 HUDC flat owners had sold their flats in the open market. Twelve of them sold their flats above their original purchase prices. The remaining 15 owners sold their flats below their origianl purchase prices.

The Board is unable to tell if these owners had made a profit or incurred a loss. To do so, the Board must take into account imputed rentals and renovation costs which cannot be ascertained accurately.

Dr Koh Lam Son (Telok Blangah): Supplementary question, Sir. Would the Minister like to consider the following:

(1) In general, to further relax rules and regulations so that HDB flats can become more competitive.

(2) In those HUDC estates which are at the moment over-priced, such as the Gillman Heights Estate in the Telok Blangah constituency, would the Minister like to consider adding common facilities, such as squash courts, tennis courts, to enhance the value of the estate?

(3) In those cases where there is genuine financial hardship, would the Minister consider buying back those flats to help out flat-owners who have a problem selling their flat at short notice because of rules and regulations of the HUDC?

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: Mr Speaker, Sir, HDB's rules governing HUDC flats, in fact, have been substantially relaxed to allow the HUDC flat-owners to sell their flats within five years of their purchase, and HDB has also waived the levy of 30%. The relaxation of rules has been very substantial, and if the Member for Telok Blangah has any suggestion to further relax the rules, I suggest that he write to me and I will consider it very carefully and sympathetically.

On this question of additional common facilities when HDB built the HUDC flats, it has provided a set of facilities for each and every HUDC estate, and HDB is prepared to consider reasonable suggestions by the flat-owners to improve the facilities.

On the question of buying back the flats, it is quite obvious that after the relaxation of the rules, HUDC flat-owners are able to sell their flats in the open market. There is really no compelling need for HDB to buy back the flats.

Encik Abbas Abu Amin (Pasir Panjang): Sir, since the implementation of this policy, how many of the unsold units, or any unit bought by HDB prior to the announcement, have been sold by the Board? If these numbers are small, what steps are being taken by the Board to encourage the purchase of these units? Is the Board considering seriously, in addition to the suggestions made by the Member for Telok Blangah, to improve the existing facilities - I am talking in terms of the Pine Grove HUDC Estate - so as to attract new buyers of these flats?

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: Mr Speaker, Sir, since the implementation of the policy, HDB has resold 13 HUDC flats from among those flats HDB bought back from the HUDC owners. In addition, HDB has sold 44 new HUDC flats. The slow sale of HUDC flats is due mainly to the depressed property market. I believe that when the property market recovers in future, more people are expected to buy HUDC flats.

On the question of additional facilities to be provided in HUDC estates, if the request for the facilities is reasonable and involves a relatively small cost, HDB will consider it.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I be allowed to ask two supplementary questions? Of the 49 lessees who have been refused permission to sell their flats to the HDB, how many of them have committed themselves to buying private flats? I wonder if the Minister knows how many of them are suffering from hardship because they are committed to buying a private flat since they have been refused permission to sell their HUDC flats back to the HDB.

If I may ask another question which is related more to HDB flats than to HUDC flats. The Minister will remember that I brought up the point that the HDB has breached its contract by making HDB flat-owners pay more than the agreed price in the agreement of sale and purchase. How many of these 24 flat-owners who have paid in excess of their purchase price have now got their refunds from the HDB?

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: Mr Speaker, Sir, I have no figures readily available as to how many of these 49 HUDC flat-owners who requested the Board to buy back the flats have committed themselves to buying other property. I have said earlier that HDB has relaxed the rules to allow HUDC owners to sell their flats in the open market, and those HUDC flat-owners who have committed to buy other flats can sell their HUDC flats in the open market. In fact, many of them have done so.

On the question of HDB flat-owners who have purchased the HDB flats at a lower price ---

Mr Chiam See Tong: At the contract price.

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: At the contract price or whatever it is, and this is due to the mistake made by the HDB, the HDB has been quite generous. If the mistake made by the HDB staff has been to sell the flat at lower than the posted price, then the owner has the benefit of this mistake. Just for argument's sake, if the flat which should have been sold for $50,000 but because of a mistake the flat had been sold at $45,000, the owner will benefit by the lower price. In other words, he paid $45,000. But if the mistake made by the HDB had been to charge this flat at $55,000, then HDB will refund $5,000 of the additional price paid by the owner. In other words, the HDB flat-owners are having the cake and eating it as well.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Mr Speaker, the Minister has gone round the mulberry bush but he has not answered my question. Of the 24 purchases at the contract price, how many of them have got their refunds to-date?

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: Mr Speaker, Sir, although this question is not relevant, I can assure the Member for Potong Pasir that all of them will get their refund if they have not yet got it. All of them will get their refund.

Mr Chiam See Tong: When? Ten years from today? I want to know how many of them have got their refunds to-date?

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: The Member for Potong Pasir is asking a question which I have to check for an answer. I do not carry with me the millions of accounts of HDB flat-owners with me. So I cannot give him an immediate answer. But I can assure the Member for Potong Pasir that those people will be refunded. If he is asking me for a time limit, certainly it is not 10 years. Perhaps offhand I can say that if they have not already got their money, they should get it within three months.