By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid |
Posted: 20 July 2010 1636 hrs
SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has
stressed that HDB flats are not meant to be used as a source of
funds for business or other uses.
He said this a day after changes were made to the Housing and
Development Act, to prevent owners from using their flats as
collaterals to settle debts with moneylenders.
Mr Mah said: "The HDB flat is not meant to be used as a source of
funds for business. "The whole scheme was designed to provide
affordable, good quality home for them, not to use that as a
collateral or sources of funds for other uses whether it is for
business, or other things.
"Can you imagine if people are allowed to raise funds from flats,
what kind of things they are going to use for? Some will be using
it for business. But I can tell there will be many who would not be
using that for legitimate business.
"They will be using it for other things. They may even use it to go
to the casinos, for example. And then what happens? They lose their
money and then they lose their flats. They lose their homes, the
roofs over their heads, where will they stay? Where will be their
children stay?
"So we decided to be prudent, as far as HDB flats are concerned. If
you want to raise funds for businesses, for other things,
entrepreneurship, look for other sources for funds."
The amendments were passed under the "certificate of urgency" in
Parliament on July 19.
Any contract using an HDB flat as a security or collateral for any
debt other than as mortgage to finance the purchase of the flat
will be null and void.
Mr Mah stressed that the gap has to be plugged immediately to
prevent moneylenders from lodging future caveats against HDB
flats.
"The number of caveats has gone up sharply, and if you don't move
fast, the numbers will keep going up and more and more people will
be placed in this position of putting their flats as risk and
possibly being homeless.
"So I think that is something obviously not in the interest of the
HDB flat owners themselves. So that's the reason why I decided to
move on the certificate of urgency.
"This practice of agents and moneylenders colluding to get people
to borrow and use their flats as collateral, I think that practice,
will stop because they will no longer be legal."
He added there have been indeed many cases where flats owners had
fallen into serious difficulties after they sold their flats, as a
result of the inability to repay loans.
Mr Mah was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of his ministry's
joint scholarship ceremony Tuesday morning.
He presented scholarships to 39 undergraduates and 12 graduate
students.
The scholars come from a spectrum of specialisations, including
environmental engineering and environmental biology. Some of them
will be exploring new fields of study, such as aquaculture,
agricultural economics and food technology.
38-year-old Kelvin Ang, who will be taking up a Masters in
Sustainable Heritage at the University College London, said: "This
scholarship will give me an opportunity to learn from the best
practices from Europe in terms of heritage. So if I can have those
skills and bring them back to Singapore and apply them here, I
think there's a better future for heritage buildings."
19-year-old Lee Si Min will be taking up an engineering degree
course at the University of Cambridge. She'll join the Building and
Construction Authority when she completes her studies.
Ms Lee said: "I am very interested in how the designs of buildings
are made to be safe and sustainable. There are many projects coming
up in the MND, for example, the Tianjin Eco-city and I am very
interested in them. I hope to play a part and contribute to the
society in this manner."
- CNA/jm
