Source : Channel NewsAsia – 2 Jun 2009
Residents of The Grangeford condominium off Orchard Road continue to face eviction after their landlord illegal partitions in their units.
They were given three days notice to clear out by the landlord, who’d known for at least a month that the partitions breached government rules.
Tenants of The Grangeford were informed on Sunday that they had three days to move out.
With the deadline looming, many are frustrated at the lack of information from their landlord, Ideal Accommodation.
They have been staying there for only a few months and face the prospect of losing money and lodging.
Said one tenant: “If I can just get my money back, I’ll worry about that later, because I’d rather just get out of here if possible.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do with my stuff. But at the same time, I’ll crash on a couch until something happens. It’s just completely not cool,” said another tenant.
The landlord had converted the condo’s 140 units into 600 smaller rooms through partitions.
This is in breach of Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) regulations.
The firm leased the property from owners Overseas United Enterprise and began sub-letting the converted apartments this year.
Experts said arrangements like these are not common.
Eugene Lim, associate director, ERA Asia Pacific, said: “The primary reason is that by allowing something like this to happen, it may affect the renovation of the unit. It may damage the renovation. Secondly, some illegal partitions or partitions which are not done properly may pose a fire hazard.”
The URA has yet to make an announcement about the situation and the management itself remains silent. But for the residents of Grangeford, they have less than 48 hours to find another place to stay.
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