Kochin gor, surprised to be tagged here.

Yea... Indeed an interesting subject. Would like to discuss, too. But, really long post, don't know where to start. Am worried that I will be writing another long post once I start.

Will geh poh once I get back to my laptop. Now surfing with my iPad .

Hi,

I am relatively new here. Your post is long and I must say that I agree with certain points written.

I could be wrong but here is what I think.

I am one of those that who doesn't believe in "What you see is what you get."


Specify the brand name, model number etc

Not that I know of that it is a requirement under HDA, don’t think it is in the amended HDA either. Tell me more if there is such requirement.

I think, developer will be reluctant to specify brand name or model number due to a lot of uncertainties especially when the construction project has yet to be awarded, but that doesn’t mean that they have intention to cheat.

Free gift such as electrical appliances, may probably get a letter of confirmation from the developer if they are willing to provide such confirmation. In cases where confirmation in writing is provided, the developer would have qualified it as “ … or a substitute by other material of equivalent value.” or " the developer reserve the right to...." kind of things.

Those days when property was selling like hot cake, we were lucky if developer print a letter to list down the “free package” items in a “COMPUTER GENERATED LETTER AND NO SIGNATURE IS REQUIRED” letter.

It really depends on buyer’s and seller’s bargaining power, no right or wrong. For me, I don’t put high expectation on this “free gift” unless written confirmation is provided.

Fiiting and fixtures vs 36 months, 42 months, 48 months completion period

As far as I know, there is little relationship between the “free package” items and the completion period of more than 36 months.

The reason why a developer is granted approval to amend the completion period from 36 months to 42, 48 months or more, is because it requires a longer time to complete the project, site conditions, a taller building, higher number of units etc are the possible reasons to justify the longer completion period. The free package, built-in cabinets etc, generally are not stated in the SPA, as such, is quite irrelevant to be a factor for decision making.


Schedule 5 – Form of Service Charge Statement

A lot of people have a misunderstanding of this Fifth Schedule.

It is not required to write down the service charge per square metre, to be exact, per share unit in the Fifth Schedule of the SPA. The SPA says when developer request for service charge “shall be supported by a charge statement as issued in the form annexed in Fifth Schedule .” ie, the amount need not to be decided or written in the SPA at the point of purchase, but when they request for payment.

6th Schedule

To be exact, there is no Schedule 6 in the standard Schedule H. What developers do is that, they are amending the format in such a way that all the variable information to be stated in one page for convenience sake. Normally this page consists of purchaser’s and property’s particulars. These are the very important information . But, won't be surprised if your SPA doesn’t have 6th Schedule, it is not wrong.

Accessory Parcel and service charge calculation

There is no doubt a common old practice that developer will just calculate service charge on psf basis.

However, it is a requirement in the SPA to charge base on per share unit basis, even before SMA.

Share unit when decided by developer’s consultant, is normally base on floor area, and thus the mis-perception, ie people thought it is psf basis. The fact is, even before SMA, there are developers charging service charge base on floor area (main parcel) + accessory parcel (even same weightage as the main parcel).

The difference is that, it is only until SMA come into picture, the weightage of accessory parcel has been standardized.

There are more, may be next time……

Again, I could be wrong. Cheers!