http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapor...ry_641188.html
Mar 4, 2011
URA guidelines will help home buyers make informed choices
BUYERS of new homes will soon get a better idea of what their properties will actually look like once they are built.
Developers could be required to draw their site plans to scale and ensure the show-flats they put up reflect accurately the actual size of the units being sold.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday revealed some of the new guidelines the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is considering to give buyers better data about the properties they are buying.
Mr Mah was addressing the concerns of MPs including Ms Jessica Tan (East Coast GRC) and Mr Ong Ah Heng (Nee Soon Central), who asked if home buyers here were being given enough information about new properties that have yet to be built.
Ms Tan was particularly perturbed by the recent proliferation of 'shoebox-size' units in the market.
'Many Singaporeans are rushing to buy these small units despite the substantially high price per square foot of these units,' she said.
'Purchasing a house is not a trivial investment. While recognising that individuals should make their own buying decisions, can more be done to help Singaporeans make informed choices?
'Do buyers fully understand what they are buying?' she asked.
For buyers of uncompleted properties, show-flats are constructed to give them an idea of what the actual unit will look like. But these show-flats 'are typically shown in their best conditions without showing the shortcomings of the property', said Mr Ong.
'These new buyers may not know exactly what they are buying,' he added.
As most buyers are not trained architects or surveyors, they would not be able to assess the size of the flats by reading blueprints, he noted.
Mr Mah assured both MPs that the URA is looking into the matter.
He went on to describe the sorts of misleading practices that the URA is seeking to prevent, recalling a visit to a show-flat in Hong Kong where the developer had employed creative tactics to make the unit look bigger than it actually was.
Apart from the 'usual tricks' such as removing walls or replacing them with glass partitions, this developer 'went one step further' and put a smaller-than-usual bed in the bedroom.
'So when you walk into the rooms, here's a master bedroom with a bed, and there's plenty of walking room.
'Lo and behold, that is actually a sub-standard bed, and if you had put in a full-sized bed in there, you would not be able to close the door,' he said to laughter from the House.
'So our guidelines aim to pre-empt such practices from emerging here. I'm not saying it has happened here, but let's pre-empt such practices.'
FIONA CHAN