Source : The Straits Times, Feb 12, 2008
A RESIDENT of a five-room HDB flat pays $73.50 a month in service & conservancy charges and another $90 in parking charge.
A resident of a similar-size flat in a typical condominium pays about $200 per month. But that includes water, electricity, maintenance, mandatory lift check, cleaning service every day, clean lift, pest control, pleasant landscape, security, security cameras, covered parking lot, swimming pool, tennis court, function room, barbecue pit, recreation events, managing agent fee, some surplus for sinking fund at year-end and so on.
The HDB resident gets a parking lot and a not exactly clean environment.
Is the HDB overcharging residents or is it not doing enough to get value for residents?
My friend lives in a condo, pays $200 a month and get all the things I mentioned, while I pay $163.50 in service & conservancy charges and for a parking lot. I get a dirty lift and floors. Furthermore, the HDB collects parking fines and hourly parking charges and keeps them.
As a big buyer, the HDB certainly has better bargaining power than the condo. The $163.50 paid to the HDB is excessive.
The HDB must explain how it spends the money it collects.
Richard Lim Poh Chuan
Source : The Straits Times, Feb 14, 2008
ReplyDeleteConservancy charges steep for condo residents too
I REFER to the letter, ‘Conservancy charges: Is HDB giving value for money collected?’ (ST, Feb 12), and would like to add my two cents worth.
I live in a private condominium and currently pay $970 for three months in conservancy/management fees/sinking fund.
Although this includes the use of a covered carpark lot, swimming pool and gym, I find it exorbitant compared to other developments. The reason often given is that it is an older development and the funds may have to be used for repairs to the condo, that is, waterproofing, painting and repairing of lifts.
So while the letter writer, Mr Richard Lim Poh Chuan, finds that his $160 per month is too much to pay, please bear in mind that private condo dwellers are also subject to high fees and while we may feel it is not justified, we have no choice but to pay.
It would be interesting to know who governs such decisions and whether the amount can be lessened in any way. In this age of rising costs and inflation, it does not seem likely.
Jayandran Sandra Alison (Mdm)
Source : The Straits Times, Feb 22, 2008
ReplyDeleteConservancy charges for upkeep of estate
WE REFER to the letter by Mr Richard Lim, ‘Is HDB giving value for money collected?’ (Feb 12).
The bulk of the Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) the town councils collect goes into the upkeep and maintenance of the common property in HDB estates, such as cleaning works, horticultural works, utilities charges, lifts and pumps maintenance/ repairs, building repairs and management fees.
The town councils are also required under the Town Councils Act to apportion 30 to 40 per cent of the S&CC collections to their sinking funds for long-term major cyclical maintenance of HDB estates like repainting, electrical re-wiring, re-roofing, replacement of water supply systems and pumps, replacement and upgrading of lifts.
The mandatory requirement would ensure that the town councils build up sufficient amounts of sinking funds so that they can finance these major cyclical works when they are due, without having HDB residents to pay a lump sum levy when their block is due for cyclical repairs.
We would like to assure Mr Lim that the town councils will continue to improve the maintenance and upkeep of the towns and to ensure that our HDB estates are well -maintained with adequate amenities.
Author: Albert Teng Ann Boon General Manager Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council on behalf of the 14 PAP town councils