URA to end use of misleading showflats

URA to end use of misleading showflats

By Travis Teo | Posted: 08 February 2011

SINGAPORE: The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has plans to clamp down on developers who use misleading showflats to lure flat buyers.

Replying to queries from Channel NewsAsia, URA said it is reviewing the law — the Housing Developers (Control & Licensing) Act and Housing Developers Rules — governing housing developers so that flat buyers have more accurate information on housing projects.

According to analysts, misrepresentations could include missing structural walls and rooms that look larger than what buyers will eventually get.

SLP International research head Nicholas Mak said: “In order to make some of their smaller apartments larger than what they are in the show flat, (developers) may exercise certain creative interior design”.

Mr Mak said this includes replacing a partition wall with a glass door.

A local newspaper reported Tuesday that the new rules would ensure developers display showflats with all their structural walls and columns and with accurate ceiling height.

Other likely regulations include clearly marking out the divide between the balcony and living rooms, and using walls that have the same thickness as in the actual apartment.

Bomb shelters, when required, are also reportedly required to be present in the showflats.

ERA Realty Network key executive officer Eugene Lim said: “This is probably triggered by consumer feedback that some consumers cannot visualise what they are actually buying and what is being offered in the showflat.

“And not everyone can read a floor plan and look at the showflat and see the difference”.

Market watchers said new rules would be a step in the right direction as showflats are key to the purchase decision.

Said Mr Mak: “I think the authorities will probably monitor the situation once the rules are firmed up and if there are any developers who flout the rules they could perhaps start off by being served with (a) warning letter.

“Later on, (penalties could come in the form of) a fine or even something more drastic such as the authorities (not allowing developers) to sell their product”.

URA said proposed amendments to the law would help flat buyers make better decisions.

More details will be shared in March when a public consultation will be launched.

-CNA/wk

Source : Channel NewsAsia – MediaCorp Pte Ltd Copyright

HDB survey shows strong support for SERS »« URA Review To Ensure Showflats Paint An Accurate Picture

URA Review To Ensure Showflats Paint An Accurate Picture

URA Review To Ensure Showflats Paint An Accurate Picture

by Travis Teo

SINGAPORE – The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said yesterday it would be reviewing some laws to ensure housing developers provide buyers accurate information on projects and would launch next month a public consultation on the proposed amendments.

Analysts welcomed the move, noting the growing number of complaints from home purchasers about developers, especially about the use of misleading showflats to lure buyers.

Mr Colin Tan, head of research and consultancy at Chesterton Suntec International, said: “Developers have learnt successfully to create the impression of spaciousness, quality and grandeur beyond their actual dimensions and quality. They have been pushing the envelope of what is acceptable as clever marketing and that which is totally misleading.”

Mr Tan said developers who played by the rules would welcome the amendments to the laws. “But, in a very bullish market, some investors don’t even come down to the showflat. They just make their decisions based on the sales brochure,” he said.

Replying to queries from MediaCorp, the URA said it was “currently reviewing the Housing Developers (Control & Licensing) Act and Housing Developers Rules”.

The URA said the review was with the aim of simplifying licensing requirements for developers and providing more accurate and transparent information on housing projects to facilitate home purchasers in making better decisions.

“More details will be shared in March when URA launches a public consultation on the proposed amendments,” the URA said.

A spokesperson for City Developments said: “We welcome the proposed new guidelines on showflat representations as this will lead to greater clarity within the industry by reducing potential incidences of misunderstanding. The new guidelines will benefit the home buyers, as they will be able to make informed purchases and developers will find it easier to construct showflats with greater clarity.”

The Business Times reported yesterday that the new rules would ensure developers display showflats with all the structural walls and columns and with accurate ceiling heights. Other likely regulations would include clearly marking out the divide between the balcony and living rooms, and using walls that have the same thickness as in the actual apartment.

Mr Donald Han, vice-chairman of property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, Singapore, said: “For the buyers, they must know what they are getting beyond the interior cosmetics. And for the developer, showing actual beams, thickness of walls, demarcations of balcony, ceiling heights, etc, reduces any accusation of misrepresentation by buyers.”

Source : TODAYonline – MediaCorp Press Ltd’s copyright

URA to end use of misleading showflats »« Govt Reviewing Baby Bonus

Govt Reviewing Baby Bonus

Govt Reviewing Baby Bonus

by Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid

SINGAPORE – The Government is reviewing the Baby Bonus scheme, which helps married couples to defray the financial costs of having more children.

MediaCorp has learnt that a survey of some 3,000 beneficiaries is in the works, coming at a time when Singapore’s fertility rate is at a record low.

The Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry will undertake the survey between April and June to learn how satisfied parents have been with the operational processes and implementation of the scheme, which was introduced in 2001 and enhanced twice in 2004 and 2008.

Observers welcomed the move, but said there should be more comprehensive processes and stronger provisions.

For instance, Professor Gavin Jones, research leader of Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, would like the survey extended to singles and couples without children yet, to get their perceptions of whether such a scheme would make any difference to marriage or child bearing.

Under the Baby Bonus scheme, which is part of the enhanced Marriage and Parenthood Package that aims to encourage couples to get married and have children, parents are given up to $4,000 each for the first and second child and $6,000 each for the third and fourth child.

The Government also matches dollar-for-dollar when parents contribute to their child’s Children Development Account, capped at a $6,000 matching sum each for the first and second child, $12,000 each for the third and fourth child and $18,000 each for the fifth and subsequent child.

About $230 million in baby bonus payments was given out in 2009, up from $55 million in 2004. But there was no corresponding increase in the total fertility rate, which plummeted further from the replacement rate of 2.1 to 1.16 last year.

Prof Jones said it was time to consider bolder measures, such as free childcare or paternity leave.

“Some European countries with higher birth rates and a higher proportion of women in the workforce allow paternity leave. They allow parents to choose (which spouse takes time off), quite a radical thing that hasn’t been done in Singapore – recognising the husband’s role in child rearing,” he said.

The low birth rate will feature in the upcoming Budget debate, with Government Parliamentary Committee (Community Development, Youth and Sports) chairman Seah Kian Peng set to raise the topic.

“The issue of low TFR (Total Fertility Rate) is a very serious one, so I think we need to think more out of the box, try new things. Some may work, some may not, but I think we should really venture out of the current schemes … and really adopt a whole-of-Government approach, from housing to paternity and maternity leave and certainly the baby bonus scheme,” he said.

One out-of-the-box idea, he suggested, was to give parents who have more children priority for upgrading to a bigger flat.

Source : TODAYonline – MediaCorp Press Ltd’s copyright

URA Review To Ensure Showflats Paint An Accurate Picture »« S’POREANS SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY OF LIFE: SURVEY