In the name of my neighbours, is there no hope for me?

Source : Straits Times - 27 Aug 2008

I REFER to the article “Fix bank-or-CPF charge problem” (Aug 20) by Jessica Cheam. She called an en bloc sale “a forced sale in the name of urban renewal”.?

I might add that en blocs are “a forced process in the name of my neighbours”. As my condo tries to go en bloc again for the fourth time, I am now at the mercy of en bloc team No. 4 which has decided, after they formed a year ago, to actually stop short of the Collective Sale Agreement (CSA) signing. As most of us know, this is a technical ploy to keep the collective sale in the estate hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles, for an indefinite period. Because the clock only starts ticking on the collective sale once the first SP (subsidiary proprietor) has signed the CSA.

So, how long will we live under threat of this and every en bloc? Every year after our 10th year in the condo? Should families be allowed to be unsettled in this way? Did the framers of those en bloc laws consider this?

In my estate, there is a diehard group of pro-en bloc residents. They form about 20 per cent of the owners. Again and again, they call for an extraordinary general meeting to “en bloc” the condo? Because the laws allow this. So far, they have been defeated, yet they are indefatigable! Once one disbands, a new committee rears its head. A committee, I might add, which consists primarily of owners who do not live in the condo and do not call it home. Should my abode, my place of rest, be subject to this repeated unease? Should someone who does not value my estate and looks upon it as an economic tool, who has no roots in my community, be allowed to unsettle those who have nested there? Surely the core values of home and community should outweigh those of “urban renewal”? Should it always be about the money?

Property laws that are created to facilitate urban renewal and allow others to steamroll the nesting urges of ‘Stayers’ will always create dissent and unhappiness. Why should we have to fight tooth and nail to keep our home??

Is there hope for Stayers?

Yeo Li Ying (Miss)