TR EMERITUS

…”The Housing Board said it carries out about 500 inspections per month to detect violations of housing rules, such as illegal flat rentals.”’…
Wah piang!
500 inspection per month; that is a lot of work using tax dollars.
There have to be far far more efficient way.
Those 53 caught must be only the tip of the iceberg!
Very obviously the deterrent or punishment is very light.
G using whistle blower to catch them.
Big Fail…big fail.
I can think of a million ways to catch the people that game the HDB system
Does G really wish to catch them?
G have millions of data on citizens; a couple of keystrokes on the keyboard and they can catch them.
Think…PUB, IRA, Singtel, Singpost records…..do not have to depend on whistle blower.
..https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/empty-bto-flats-hdb-investigation-cases-property-portals-penalties-mop-3162821

Simon Lim, please ask yourself if HDB is a social mission or a political tool for the PAP. Do you really think they are bothered by people re-selling their flats without occupancy ? The drama is because, the sale was made public and people are upset. Otherwise MND will remain quiet and all the Ministers in MND will be collecting their monstrous salaries for just being a PAP party member.

“Unethical behaviour”?
When is unethical behavior a problem for the gov? To most of us, there are loads of unethical behavior condoned by the gov.

Why hawker rental and food prices keep going up? Go after those fat unethical business people.

Why GST goes up during a time of high inflation? Go after yourself lah.

Every Singaporean is entitled to buy a HDB. Otherwise, we say we don’t need HDB, we also no need to enjoy the privilege of NS. Tio boh.

Very “small gas” gov and Simon.

I refer to ur question: …..why is MND and HDB and their million dollars earning ministars sleeping all those years on this matter?

Well, I think they keep on changing d millionister of HDB every few years or after every GEs. So, when it comes to d newly-elected MP becoming millionister, he/she has no experiences in handling d housing issues ! It goes on n on !

HDB already indicates they have done many inspection per month. There are limits to inspection.HDB owner should also put in some effort to help by reporting those who fault the rules. Instead of just complaining.

The author is out of touch with HDB’s mission. It has moved on to commercialising public housing HDB flats for profit maximisation. This has been on-going since the early 90s. Ironically, the writer, himself, was fast asleep. Many of the structures collapsed crafted by the PAPigs primarily functions as a Venus fly trap. It is to lure in gullible foreign labor, offer them PRs quickly within a few years when it is clear they are economically viable for milking; do not offer national service to the adult fathers but to their sons so that they would take on the PR and eventually the pink IC. The second strand is to lock them in as strongly as possible with SG’s gravitational field through high cost, questionable education system (one that trumpets 15- years-old can perform in PISA rankings but can’t think critically nor speak proper English nor Mandarin) and high cost of housing, national service and subsequent reservists. These are devices used to lock in Sinkies and pull in new labor so that the Prince and the multi-millionaire ministers can continue their hegemonic control of Sinkies’ outcomes. After 99 years, the flats return to PAPigs and are in fact, left to devalue so that current heartlander Sinkies find it financially strapped to cash out to migrate or retire out from the island marketplace. They return to $0 at the end of 99 years and are intentionally reset to lock in the next generation of Sinkie.

That’s the hard truth. Some Sinkies remain clueless and many foreigners are lured in out of ignorance for they do not know the invisible mindscape, to which the native heartlanders of the land know as these matters tend to be unspoken and inaccessible to new arrivals.

That’s the hard truth. The smart Sinkies do not buy a flat and get locked in and lose their freedoms.

Idiotic HDB inspectors—check that PUB water bills for the last few years.
Very very low water bill equates empty flats.
PUB have all the data.
Any toddler would have enough common sense to find out which HDB were empty.
They better have a damn good reason to leave them empty.
HDB—do you really want to catch them?????

Watching people suck raw egg!

”Though a “ghost house” tax could be seen as imposing on private decisions, it is in fact a counterbalance to an existing policy and rent-seeking regime that favors speculators. This regime allows speculators to seek capital protection and appreciation by “parking” wealth in residential real estate investments.

Bringing ghost houses “back from the dead” was a policy priority for Camden, and in December 2012, the Borough approved a policy to charge an extra 50 percent in property tax rates to owners of houses that had been unoccupied for more than two years. ”
…”Vacant Homes Tax (VHT)
The Minister for Finance announced the introduction of a Vacant Homes Tax (VHT) in his Budget statement on 27 September 2022.

The primary purpose of this new tax is to increase the supply of homes for rent or purchase to meet demand. The tax will be applied to residential properties which are occupied as a dwelling for less than 30 days in a 12-month period.

A number of exemptions will be available.

The tax will be charged at a rate of three times the basic rate of Local Property Tax”
TIME TO START Ghost Housing Tax….esp for foreign-owned housing.
Parking their funds here deprive locals of housing!

“For these cases where we take firm action, it is quite clear from the evidence, from the interviews (and) the investigation that they either had no intention to live in those homes or felt that they could get away with it,” said Lee”
Why HDB owners that FLOUT the rules think that it is so easy ”to get away with it”
HDB —do not outsource the job of ensuring that your own rules are followed to Property Agents.
They are not known for their unquestionable integrity.
Punishment are way too light.
Rules are very clear.
PUB water usage records; electric bill records are very easily attainable.
When the CAT is not doing their job; there will be many RATS.
””’
”THE Housing & Development Board (HDB) received about 4,700 pieces of feedback on potential violations of Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) ”