SERS Curse
Frustrations are swelling on the ground in these 4 SERS blocks. Unlike the Marsling folks, most AMK SERS residents I spoken to were unhappy that they were ‘forced’ to move without any valid reasons.
Petitions to MP and Prime Minister all ended up on deaf ears.
From the news report by CNA, one can only concluded that moving forward, the AMK SERS is a big finance burden to PR, retired folks and low income group.
SERS For Sale
Strange things happened in our neigbourhood where some SERS units were put in the market with ridiculous price tags. Not really sure who in the right mind will ever want to buy a $750K flat that is left with 50 plus years of lease. But I guess we can’t blame the residents for putting up such prices since resale prices of HDB in AMK are going through the roof.
Permanent residents, lower income group and retired folks are those that stands to lose the most in the SERS. As highlighted in the news, the retired man is currently in a bind as he do not have so much money to top up; even if it’s a same size replacement unit at the same level. Not to mentioned, even doing the most basic renovation in 2027 – 2028, we most likely will need to fork out $10K for a basic kitchen. Yes, $10K factoring in the rise in GST, inflation, interest rate hikes, worker and material shortages etc in 2028.
Many outsiders do not understand and thought some AMK residents are greedy. In fact, what we wanted is just to leave us alone and let us continue to stay in the current flat till we die. This is the only roof covering our heads till the last day of our lives. We do not care about the age of the flat, decreasing value of the flat due to lease decay or all the compensation and offers presented to us.
What the Government Didn’t tell us
In all the media and reporting, government talked about “Option to apply for a flat elsewhere with Sers rehousing benefits under the Build-To-Order exercise or sale of balance flats exercise with a 10 per cent priority allocation, or open booking of flats“.
What they didn’t tell the rest of the public was possession deliver date of the selected BTO or Sales of Balanced Flats cannot be later than your existing Sers move out date. In the case of AMK SERS residents, even they have a 20% priority allocation during the open booking for other BTO Flats in another area, they can only select those old projects that have an earlier completion date then 2028.
E.g. For Marseilling and AMK Sers, we are not able to apply Toa Payoh May BTO as their posssession delivery date is March 2029 while they affected SERS residents need to move out in 2028.
Forced to downgrade
Option for flat owners who are 55 years old and above to buy two-room flexi flats on 99-year or short leases on Ang Mo Kio Drive sounds like a good deal.
But wait, if not for SERS, retired old folks already got a big 4 room HDB unit that is already fully paid up. Lease decay and decreased in house value do not bother these folks as they had no intention to sell the one and only roof sheltering them.
No need to think about renovation apart from regular fixes and maintenance. And they will have easy access to all the nearby amenities.
Suddenly because of the “good news”, they are now faced with a huge financial burden during their sunset years. And the worst advice from HDB is we provide “Option for flat owners who are 55 years old and above to buy two-room flexi flats on 99-year or short leases on Ang Mo Kio Drive”.
Erh hello, the old folks were living comfortably in their fully paid 92 sqm 4 room flat leh. If it’s not for your ‘good news’, they would have to downgrade at all.
