Owners of old resale flats are 'willing buyers' who shouldn't expect 'special goodies' from govt: Ho Ching on VERS

Leasehold flats — whether HDB or private — have a fixed shelf life, and buyers of flats with short leases know that.

In such a "willing buyer, willing seller" situation, these buyers "really have no right to ask for special goodies" from the government, said Ho Ching.

She was commenting on the debate surrounding the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS) in a Sep. 4 Facebook post.

The VERS issue

Originally announced in 2018, VERS is an upcoming scheme that will allow owners of old flats — namely those 70 years or older — to vote on whether the government should buy back their homes for redevelopment before the leases run out.

The pricing details of this proposed buyback have not been revealed yet.

But in August, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat put a more definitive timeline on the scheme's rollout: The details will be worked out in this term of government, or in the next five years, Chee said, according to ST.

It will then kick off with a few sites in the first half of the 2030s.

Chee said that the government is working out a "fair" compensation package for residents. But he reiterated that it would be "less generous" than the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), which is compulsory and limited to precincts with high redevelopment potential.

He added that the government currently has no plans to do any more SERS projects.

VERS objections 'just politics'

Addressing complaints about VERS and lease decay, Ho Ching pointed out that resale buyers of old flats clearly know of its remaining lifespan.

The original owners of these 70-year-old flats would possibly have already passed on, and their children long since bought their own flats, she said.

As such, the current owners would likely have bought the property on the resale market for their own use — "willing buyers" in Ho's words.

"But, of course, such owners will hope to pressure the government to give them more goodies, right?" she said.

She questioned what was with the "wailing about leaseholds running out or about VERS" and added that this is "just politics".

"Because government is the owner of HDB, and government is sensitive to votes, right?" she asked rhetorically.

"Special goodies"

Ho did consider that not every owner is a "willing buyer" hoping to cut their losses from a bad bet.

The original owners who are still alive and reside in the flats could be given extra weight, she suggested.

The children of those original owners, who stayed with their parents and inherited the flat, could also be given extra votes for VERS.

"But for all the other owners, it is willing buyer willing seller who really have no right to ask for special goodies," she said.

"As for any other goodies, this is no different from any other en bloc developments — the developer(s), whether government or private, will need to do their sums to see what makes sense for them; and what makes sense to get the en bloc owners to agree.

If no such pathway can be found, we just wait for the leasehold to run out, can?"

She concluded: "Otherwise, let’s not whine about the HDB leasehold vs VERS, when we all know that a leasehold has an end date, whether HDB or others."

Top image from Ho Ching/Facebook and Canva