leaked ceiling
By Ariffin Sha
In a blogpost, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, the Minister for National Development (MND), said that laws need to be amended to empower HDB to enter flats to investigate and carry out repairs. Implying that this amendment would allow HDB officers to enter flats without the permission of the flat owner.
“They refuse to allow entry by the HDB to the flat to investigate and carry out repairs. This delays the repair unnecessarily and meanwhile, the lower-floor residents suffer the inconveniences. We need to do more to help our residents who are inconvenienced by their neighbours who refuse to cooperate,” he wrote.
According to Mr Khaw, one of the most common dispute among HDB neighbours is when one encounters leaks in his ceilings. One out of every four of the complaints HDB receives today concern ceiling leakages. In most instances, good cooperation between neighbours will help to fix the leaks. But sometimes, it is not so straight forward and disputes unfortunately can drag on for weeks or even months.
Out of these complaints, close to 30% (2,800 ceiling leak cases) take no less than three months to resolve due to uncooperative neighbours. In some rare cases, the resolution of the ceiling leak problem could even take more than a year.
Mr Khaw finds this very unsatisfactory. “We need to do more to help our residents who are inconvenienced by their neighbours who refuse to cooperate. Minimally, HDB should be given the power to enter the flat for the purpose of carrying out the necessary investigations and repairs. We will need to amend the legislation to empower the HDB to do so.”
The online response from citizens to Mr Khaw’s intentions have been largely unwelcoming as many expressed concerned over what seems to be an intrusion of privacy.
Commenting on Channel News Asia’s facebook thread, Shuan Foo has articulated why he felt that the proposed laws were disrespectful to the homeowners – that the use of the term “empower” suggests that the owner of the flat has not rights to his/her flat.
Shaun HDB
Another notable point was raised by Ms Young who was worried about fraudsters who might dupe vulnerable old folks and even young children into letting them enter their flats using fake authorization passes.
worried HDB
Some, like Mr Teo, have even begun to question if they even are the owners of the flats they live in.
angst HDB
Mr Jorge also noted that while the principles behind the legislation may be sound, such actions might in the eyes of many be constituted to an intrusion of privacy, which can be avoided if there was goodwill among neighbours.
legistration HDB
One of the schemes currently available to tackle this problem is the Goodwill Repair Assistance scheme which was introduced in 2011 to subsidise repair costs for residents.
Under the scheme, HDB will engage its term contractors to investigate the leakage and carry out the repairs. HDB will bear 50 per cent of the cost with the other half shared equally by the upper and lower floor flat owners. On average, flat owners pay about S$180 for each ceiling leak repair, HDB said, with about 140,000 households benefiting so far.
Some comments have also highlighted the competency of HDB officers attending to these cases.
complain HDB
abusive hdb
While there is no details on what these proposed laws yet, other contentious issues regarding the proposed law include whether a warrant would be needed for MND officers or police officers to enter homes, and on what grounds the officers enter a flat without the owner’s express consent.
What are your thoughts on these proposed laws?

Subscribe
Notify of
67 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

NCMP Lina Chiam: Breakthrough Budget, but more help needed for those who fall through the cracks

NCMP Lina Chiam delivered an impassioned speech during the debate on the…

That we may dream again – Rachel Zeng

Civil activist Rachel Zeng Photo by Lawrence Chong

不准雇员在家工作 三工作场所被令停工!

人力部在过去两天展开了全岛执法行动,检测超过200个工作场所在恢复营运时,所采取的安全管理措施,其中有三个工作场所因无法达标而遭下令停工。 人力部昨日(6月3日)在脸书发帖,指当局在6月起展开了两天执法行动,旨在减低在工作场所发生疫情传染的风险。被下令停工的工作场所涉及了指示所有员工返回办公室工作,而不允许他们继续居家工作。 此外,当局也向违反安全措施的雇主开出了14份销案罚款。 “可以了解有些雇主在经过两个月的阻断器措施后,急于让员工返回工作场所。但是我们要提醒雇主,仍然要让可以居家办公的员工继续这样做。” 当局也强调,若接获可居家办公的员工投诉被雇主要求返回工作场所,他们将会请雇主解释有关举措;若解释不合理,则会采取相应的执法措施。 他们促请雇主和员工认真看待安全管理措施,保障工作场所和体制上下的安全。 他们也欢迎针对防范冠毒措施有疑问者,可参考当局官网的常见问题,而有疑问和建议者也可透过线上表格询问。

Atrocious police work: murder conviction overturned

The following is an excerpt from Yawning Bread. The Straits Times did the…