Would you buy one?
Some will, some haveThese are walls that have seen too much:
blood, violence, innocent lives brutally snuffed out. But some
S’poreans don’t mind living there. Just give it some new paint,
they say
THE ninth-storey unit at Block 114, Geylang Lorong 3, where a
gruesome murder took place is now eerily empty.
It was where factory supervisor Leong Siew Chor allegedly killed
and cut up the body of China national Liu Hong Mei.
That happened two months ago.
Leong’s wife and his three children have since moved out of the
flat, which had earlier attracted curious visitors after he was
charged with the murder.
Strangers had turned up looking for lottery numbers.
Superstitious neighbours held prayers outside the flat, to
‘cleanse’ it.
Will the flat be sold? Would anyone want to live there?
In the same month that Ms Liu was killed, Madam Tan Chiang Eng,
39, was found dead in her Wellington Circle five-room flat in
Sembawang.
Her Indonesian maid, Rohana, has been charged with the
murder.
Painful memories and the publicity surrounding the case often
force families to abandon homes where violent crimes have been
committed.
In at least two other cases, such flats have been put up for
sale.
On New Year’s Day last year, Mr Pay Boon Chye, 32, was burnt to
death in his flat in Block 757, Woodlands Avenue 4, by his
brother-in-law.
The case was classified as murder but the suspect, Sim Swee Kee,
48, died in Malaysia after an asthma attack last March, while he
was on the run.
And in 2001, Madam Zaiton Abu Bakar, 45, was stabbed to death in
her bedroom in Block 303, Canberra Road.
The family members of Mr Pay and Madam Zaiton decided to sell
their homes after the murders.
Mr Pay’s family managed to sell their four-room flat last year
after giving it a fresh coat of paint.
A property agent helped them sell it to a family of four who
have moved in.
DIDN’T KNOW
The current owner, who declined to be named, told The New Paper
on Sunday that they did not know of the history of the flat before
they bought it.
They only heard about the murder from their new neighbours.
‘Initially I was shocked and angry that the property agent and
ex-owner did not tell us about it,’ said the owner.
‘They should have been more transparent or they should have
lowered the price of the flat. I paid quite a high price for
it.
‘But at the end of the day, I am happy with my new home. After I
read about the owner’s plight in the newspapers recently, I do
sympathise with her.’
Madam Zaiton’s flat was sold two years after her death.
Mr Ahmad (not his real name), a bachelor in his 40s, bought it
from her daughter.
‘I knew that the seller’s mother had passed away, but I didn’t
know that she was killed violently in the flat,’ said Mr Ahmad who
declined to be named as he does not want his colleagues to know
about this.
He moved into his new home last January.
But far from thinking that the flat is spooked, Mr Ahmad regards
it as his ideal home.
‘I spent six months looking for a flat. I wanted a cheap unit on
a high floor. This flat was clean and cosy and I like its layout,’
he said.
‘I found the flat with the help of a property agent.’
The price was $230,000, which was considered to be quite high at
that time, added Mr Ahmad.
He bought it anyway because he liked the flat the moment he
stepped into it.
‘But I wish the agent and ex-owner had been honest with me. At
least I could have asked for the price to be lowered a little.
‘I am not pantang (superstitious) so I would still consider
buying it even if they had come clean with me.’
Mr Ahmad added that his neighbours had not mentioned the murder
when he chatted with them.
If he should decide to sell the flat one day, would he tell
prospective buyers of its dark history?
‘Maybe I will,’ said Mr Ahmad.
‘I am a good testimony (of its value) since I have been living
here alone for almost two years and nothing has disturbed me.’
——————————————————————————–
Don’t ask, don’t tell
Property agents say they won’t tell if you don’t ask
TO tell or not to tell?
Property agents whom The New Paper on Sunday spoke to had
different views on whether to be upfront with potential buyers
about deaths in the flats they sell.
Said a property agent who wanted to be known as only Mr Koh: ‘If
the potential buyers ask about the history of the flat, I will tell
them. If they don’t ask, I usually won’t tell them too much.
‘If we tell potential buyers about the murders or deaths that
occurred in the flats, do you think they will still want to
buy?
‘We have to be fair to the owners as well. But if the buyers
ask, we have a duty to tell.’
He said buyers should do their own checks. One way is to ask the
neighbours.
‘Once, I had a buyer who withdrew from a purchase after he
learnt from neighbours that the owner had died in the flat. In such
situations, I usually convince the seller to return the deposit and
let the buyers withdraw from the purchase.’
Mr Koh, 38, who has been an agent for six years, said a
colleague once lost a sale because he came clean.
‘My colleague had taken a potential buyer to view a flat and the
buyer was told that the owner had died recently. The buyer asked a
family member of the owner how he died,’ recalled Mr Koh.
‘The family member said the owner had hanged himself. That
really scared off the buyer.’
Mr Koh has not marketed any flat in which a murder had taken
place. But he did sell two flats from which the owners had jumped
to their deaths.
He said: ‘Before I market such flats, I would burn joss paper to
the deceased to tell him or her about the sale and to ask that the
new occupants not be disturbed.
‘I would also go to the temples to pray and seek guidance in the
sale.
‘Usually, I would advise the sellers to sell their flats below
market value. This way, it’s easier to find buyers.’
Mr David Cheang, 29, from PropNex Realty, has sold two units
next to the flat where a Thai national, Madam Molee Sae Tuang, 54,
and her husband, Mr Quek Swee Kia, 44, were murdered.
ROBBERY GONE WRONG
Madam Molee’s son, Somrata Sae-Tang, had plotted with two men to
rob his mother and stepfather as he needed money to go to Hong Kong
to meet a woman he had befriended on the phone.
But his plan went wrong and his two accomplices ended up killing
his parents.
The bodies remained in the walkup apartment in Balestier Road
for seven days till the smell drew the attention of neighbours.
Somrata got 11 years in jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the
cane for helping the two men, who are still at large, to commit
robbery.
Mr Cheang thinks that there are agents who would jump at the
opportunity to market such flats when they learn about the murders
from newspaper reports.
This is because such flats are usually sold below valuation.
‘Ethically, we should reveal the murders or deaths that occurred
in the flats. I usually tell potential buyers whatever I know,’
said Mr Cheang.
‘But sometimes the sellers try to hide the truth from the agents
too.’