Singapore Boosts Services For Home Buyers
Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development, announced in Parliament on 3 Mar 2011 that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will be enhancing the Housing Developers (Control & Licensing) Act (HDCLA) and the Housing Developers Rules (HDR) to give home-buyers better access to accurate and timely information about the market and units that they are buying.
URA is seeking public feedback on key proposed changes to the HDCLA and HDR.
The consultation period is from 17 March 2011 to 18 April 2011.
The feedback will be taken into consideration before the changes to the HDCLA and HDR legislation are finalised.
The key proposed changes which we are seeking the public’s feedback on are summarised below:
- Set up showflats that depict the actual units accurately
Developers are to comply with a set of directions to ensure that the showflat depicts the actual unit accurately, e.g. floor area of the showflat must be the same as the actual unit, and all external and structural walls must be erected.
- Make available price list
Developers are to make available price list of units in projects at least 2 days before a project is launched for sale. For projects which are launched in phases, the first price list will have to contain the prices of all the units made available for sale in the first phase. For the subsequent phases, developers are to make the price lists available on the same day when the units are launched for sale.
- Provide more mandatory information on housing projects
In addition to the mandatory information which developers are currently required to provide to home-buyers, such as share value of the unit, developers will also have to provide drawn-to-scale location plan and site plan of the project, unit floor plan and a breakdown of the unit’s floor area listing different types of spaces such as balconies and bay windows. This information will be given to home-buyers before the issue of the Option-to-Purchase.
- Provide track record of developers
Developers are to provide information on at least one completed project, either by themselves, a related company, or by a director of the developer company to home-buyers before the issue of the Option-to-Purchase. New developers who have not completed any project will have to indicate their lack of track record so that home-buyers can make informed decisions on the purchase of a housing unit.
- Publish transacted prices
Developers will be required to lodge the prices of transacted units with URA on a weekly basis, on every Friday after the end of each reference week i.e. developers must lodge the prices of units sold in the preceding Monday to Sunday (inclusive) by the following Friday. The public can view these transacted prices on URA’s website once they are lodged by the developers.
- Obtain home-buyers’ consent for changes to the project
Developers will be required to obtain the home-buyer’s consent for changes that would affect the home-buyer’s unit, e.g. change in the location of the bin centre.
- Extend controls on advertisements to those on websites
The existing controls on advertisements in newspapers and sales brochures will be extended to advertisements on websites. Similar to newspaper advertisements and sales brochures, developers will be required to include basic information on the housing project, e.g. tenure and expected date of vacant possession, in advertisements published on websites. Advertisements published on websites also must not contain any false or misleading information.
Details of the proposed changes to the HDCLA and HDR to enhance transparency and ensure fair contract terms are in Annex A.
These changes are worked out in consultation with the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS).
Mr Wong Heang Fine, President of REDAS, said, “REDAS supports the Government’s efforts to take steps to help purchasers make more informed decisions. As a body representative of a large community of property developers, REDAS is committed to continually promote good practices and professionalism among developers to deliver better and higher quality homes for all.”
We encourage all interested members of the public to submit their comments via the URA website at www.ura.gov.sg/coh_public_consultation.
A summary of the main comments received, together with our responses will be published on URA’s website within 2 months after the end of the public consultation exercise.
The identity of the respondents will not be disclosed in the summary.
After taking into consideration the feedback received from the public, the final changes to the HDCLA and HDR will take effect by the third quarter of this year.
The HDCLA was enacted in 1965 to regulate and establish guidelines for developers of private residential projects to protect home-buyers’ interests through the following key measures:
- Ensure equitable sales terms by requiring the use of prescribed Option-to-Purchase and Sale and Purchase Agreements; and
- Ensure that monies paid by home-buyers to developers are used solely for purposes related to the development of the project by imposing the requirement to open and maintain a Project Account for the deposit of progress payments.
The HDCLA is supplemented by the HDR which stipulates the operational requirements for developers in the sale of uncompleted private housing units.
Topics: 2011, affordable housing, Asia, BTO, build to order, Control & Licensing, DBSS, economic development, Economy, environment, Executive Condomimium scheme, Executive Condominium Housing Scheme, first time buyers, flats, Governance, government, HDB, HDR, housing, Housing Developers Act, Housing Developers Rules, Housing Development Board, Mah Bow Tan, moniter, monitor, news, Pacific, public feedback, Punggol, residential housing, Singapore, Studio Apartments, URA, Urban Redevelopment Authority
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