When Mr Daniel Lim moved into his dream ground-floor condominium apartment at Regentville early last month, he looked forward to lounging on the open-air patio with a cup of tea.

Unfortunately, some of his neighbours had other ideas.

Toys, tissue paper, underwear and even spittle have rained down on his dream spot every other day.

Now the 42-year-old does not dare to set foot there any more.

‘My mum was almost hit on the head by a toy rubber crocodile last month,’ said the manager of a semiconductor firm. ‘I bought a ground-floor unit so I can relax in the open with my family. You don’t expect to get things landing on your head.’

Several other ground-floor residents at the five-tower Hougang condo have had similar experiences.

Items like chicken rice, a meat cleaver, glass panels and even a full-sized baby pram have been thrown down, turning their private enclosed areas into makeshift junkyards.

Their problem is not an isolated one.

A check with several condo management companies showed that they deal with at least a few such cases in estates across the island each year, with varying degrees of seriousness.

‘Almost every estate I’ve worked with has experienced this problem,’ said Mr Muhammad Hashim, 42, a property manager with Aspire Property Management. He has more than 20 years of experience in the industry .

‘Many of these ground-floor residents live in fear of something dropping on their head every day.’

Mr Vijayen Nair, managing director of Philip Motha Property Management, sees about two to three incidents of high-rise littering each year in the 30 estates he manages.

‘Some residents knowingly create a nuisance, especially if they are angry about something and need to vent their anger,’ he said. ‘There was once a fluorescent light tube that landed in a patio, which could have seriously hurt someone.’

While heavy-duty killer litter is few and far between, cigarette butts and tissue paper are the most commonly flung objects. According to Mr Chan Kok Hong, managing director of CKH Strata Management, the problem is an endemic one for ground-floor residents.

‘If you bought a unit with a lovely ground-floor garden, you can expect things to rain on your parade,’ said Mr Chan, whose company looks after 105 condominiums.

‘A few weeks ago, I was told that a bamboo pole came down on someone’s lawn. We told the culprit to stop and issued a warning.’

According to victims and condo managers, the litterbugs are usually children, new maids or even foreign tenants who may not understand the seriousness of their actions.

Some are simply individuals who may have acted rashly during a domestic dispute.

‘We get culprits who are angry with their spouse and vent their anger by throwing things out of the window,’ said Mr Nair. ‘However, those who are repeat offenders usually have psychiatric disorders or anger management problems.’

When littering occurs, circulars or warning letters are usually handed out by the condo management, and witnesses are encouraged to come forward.

In some cases, security guards are told to make house calls to check on errant residents on higher floors.

‘Our security team will conduct door-to-door investigations, and at the same time, appeal for residents to be considerate,’ said a spokesman for Knight Frank Estate Management.

When killer litter is involved, residents are often advised to make a police report.

Under the law, those convicted of throwing killer litter may be fined up to $2,500 or jailed for up to six months, or both.

But the police are rarely called in as most residents are afraid that their property value may drop if word gets out.

‘It’s not worth it,’ said a resident in an East Coast condominium who wanted to be known only as Tony. ‘If we can settle it among ourselves, there’s no need to involve the authorities.’

When high-rise littering occurs, victims usually turn to their management council to resolve the problem or counsel offenders.

Some frustrated home owners splurge on closed-circuit television cameras to catch litterbugs, while others install expensive awnings or shelters.

These protective roofs must conform to Urban Redevelopment Authority guidelines, which state that they must not project more than 2m from the external walls of the condo unit.

The roofs also need to be approved by the estate’s management council.

At Regentville, the ground-floor residents have been unsuccessful in getting approval to build sunroofs over their patios.

The motion to do so was defeated during the annual general meeting because other residents felt that the shelters would affect the facade and security of the estate.

Residents who have built roofs have been asked by the estate’s managing agent to tear them down.

In Mr Lim’s case, he has been left in limbo because his $2,500 polycarbonate roof is only half completed.

‘I just want to protect my family,’ he said. ‘Must they wait for a death to occur before something is done?’

Source: Sunday Times, 3 Jan 2010

Unwanted ‘visitors’ are popping up on the doorsteps of HDB flats.

They are fliers hawking services from cooking gas to tuition, and even stickers which may be glued to front gates.

In the past, advertisers paid runners to slot fliers into letterboxes located at void decks.

But since anti-junk mail locking devices have been installed – which do not allow for slotting – advertisers have resorted to other methods.

These practices have not gone down well with residents like Madam Dolly Goh, 60.

‘My letterbox has the lock function, but now fliers are left on the gate of my flat. Such fliers are a waste of material and effort as I do not act on them,’ said the housewife who lives in the Bedok Reservoir area.

At least one town council is doing something to curb the practice.

Jurong Town Council is giving space to advertisers via notice boards. It has installed them in the lift lobbies in the town centre and in some residential blocks.

The council allows advertisers to put up their fliers free, for 30 days.

Six to 10 A4-sized advertisements can be placed on the notice board. The advertisements commonly seen are those from tuition centres and property agents.

A Sunday Times check with the advertisers found that this method has helped their businesses, with more potential customers making inquiries.

But one advertiser, a property agent who did not want to be named, said he still occasionally gets people to deliver fliers door-to-door.

Mr Ho Thian Poh, general manager of Jurong Town Council, acknowledges that fliers and notices continue to be pasted in common areas like lift landings.

‘Our staff will call and advise them accordingly,’ he said, referring to the action taken against the advertisers.

Currently, 80 per cent of the letterboxes in the Jurong area have the anti-junk mail device.

But Mrs Jennifer Yip, 58, a human resource administrator who lives in Bukit Batok Central, is puzzled over why she continues to get junk mail.

‘My mailbox has the lock but somehow the fliers still get in,’ she said.

According to Mr Ho, several advertisers engage SingPost to deliver their fliers through a bulk mail system called Admail.

SingPost has an opt-out service which prevents unaddressed promotional mail from ending up in letterboxes.

You can request to be taken off the Admail service by calling SingPost’s hotline on 6845-6210.

Since 1995, letterboxes in new HDB blocks have been built with the anti-junk mail device.

Letterboxes in older blocks are also being progressively upgraded with the device.

Source: Sunday Times, 3 Jan 2010

At least 10 mid-range hotels opened last year. They include the three-star French chain Ibis, which opened in Bencoolen, and Santa Grand in Bugis. More mid-range ones are coming onstream this year, such as Park Regis Singapore, Hotel Grand Chancellor and Santa Grand Hotel East Coast.

Movenpick Hotel will open in Sentosa and there will be a hospital-hotel complex, Connexion, in Farrer Park.

Next year, Ibis will open another hotel in Balestier, competing with at least four new ones, such as Aqueen Hotel Balestier and Value Hotel Nice, which have sprung up there.

Boutique hotels

Developers are zooming in on the boutique-hotel niche.

‘Travellers are becoming more sophisticated and discerning. So there is more demand for boutique hotels for those who want something different, and more personal,’ said Ms Chua Chor Hoon, head of South-east Asia research for property consultancy DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

Rider’s Lodge, Klapsons and Wangz are just a few that have recently opened.

This year, more will join the fray.

Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) Hotels’ new brand, Studio M, will open near Mohamed Sultan.

Singapore’s largest bar-chain operator Harry’s Holding plans to open its first boutique hotel in Ann Siang Road.

The right mix

The Singapore Tourism Board tries to keep the mix of hotels right by monitoring trends and sharing the data with the industry.

It also works with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on the sale of hotel sites.

URA recently announced that Ogilvy Centre, an 82-year-old conservation office building next to Lau Pa Sat hawker centre, will be sold this year as a hotel site.

There are another nine sites on the agency’s reserve list, and all 10 sites add up to a potential of 3,435 new hotel rooms.

Source: Sunday Times, 3 Jan 2010

Well-heeled as well as budget travellers will be spoilt for room options when they visit Singapore this year.

Big players like Marina Bay Sands, Resorts World Sentosa and The Fullerton Heritage are rolling out top-end hotels.

Together, they alone will inject more than 4,000 rooms to the existing 44,000 in all classes of hotels.

But the majority of Singapore’s visitors – the biggest numbers being from China, Indonesia and Malaysia – will not be left out in the cold either, with more new mid-tier and budget hotels opening.

Tourism is expected to bounce back this year after the industry was hit by the global slump last year.

November’s visitor tally was up 8.4 per cent from a year earlier, to reach 830,000.

Singapore had targeted nine million to 9.5 million visitors for last year.

Given the new supply of rooms, industry players do not expect a repeat of the severe room crunch that plagued the previous tourism peak in 2008. Then, many tour groups had to be diverted to hotels in Geylang and even chalets in the east.

‘Those days, the numbers kept increasing but room numbers were stagnant. This round, we’re seeing new properties,’ said Mr Robert Khoo, chief executive of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore.

He noted that while affordable hotels have opened, they cannot match the boost in rooms from five-star hotels.

‘Singapore is land-scarce. A hotel developer, if given a choice, will definitely want to develop a high-end property which will fetch higher and faster returns,’ he said.

One new five-star player is The Fullerton Bay Hotel. Slated to open in the second quarter, the 100-room hotel boasts a waterfront location and a grand entrance through the foyer of the historic Clifford Pier.

The substantial overall rise in room numbers means that rates will continue to be under pressure, said Ms Chua Chor Hoon, head of South-east Asia research for property consultancy DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

The average room rate for November last year was about $198.

The average hotel occupancy rate has been holding steady at around 70 per cent to 80 per cent. Last November, it hit 84.3 per cent, a 3.8 percentage point increase over November 2008.

During the 2008 peak, it was in the 80 per cent to 90 per cent range.

With competition in the top tier heating up, travel agents said some hotels in this segment have indicated that they will lower room rates by 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

Ms Karen Tan, executive assistant manager for revenue and marketing at Swissotel The Stamford and Fairmont Singapore, said room rates ‘will be competitive’.

Said Marina Mandarin Singapore’s general manager, Mr Richard L. Dusome, of the competition from Marina Bay Sands: ‘We will keep a close watch on their pricing strategies to ensure we are competitive.’

The integrated resort’s three hotel towers will offer more than 2,500 rooms.

While most visitors are mid-range types, travel agents said the five-star hotels will have their following.

They include high-end travellers who are likely to turn their attention from Macau to Singapore when the integrated resorts open.

Singaporeans looking for ‘an alternative staycation’ are also expected to check into the integrated resorts, said Ms Jane Chang, assistant manager of marketing communications at Chan Brothers Travel.

Source: Sunday Times, 3 Jan 2010

Far East Organization is selling its latest project, The Shore Residences, on a 103-year lease even though it sits on freehold land as it wants to partake in the site’s redevelopment potential.

Experts say the move means the developer cannot yet get the full value for the property. If The Shore Residences were sold as a freehold project, Far East would price it higher, they say.

Leasehold homes may have become more popular in recent years, but there is still a price gap between freehold and 99-year leasehold homes.

This gap may disappear during good times, but it will appear as the property ages.

Property experts reckon that freehold homes typically command a premium of about 10 per cent, or up to 15 per cent at times, over leasehold homes, assuming a like-for-like comparison.

In a prime location where freehold homes are plentiful, a lone leasehold property will usually fetch less than its freehold neighbours.

Because of the price difference, a leasehold condominium unit will fetch a higher yield than a freehold one. For those looking to invest in a rental property, it would make sense to go for a leasehold property.

Tenants do not care whether a property is freehold or leasehold, and during boom times, buyers can be equally indifferent.

‘In a bull market, developers would be able to launch any project regardless of the tenure,’ said Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak.

‘The price difference between an older freehold project and a newly launched leasehold project can be negligible on a per sq ft basis.’

The difference becomes apparent only later on.

‘When times are good, there is marginal price differential between leasehold and freehold new launches,’ said Colliers International’s director of research and advisory, Ms Tay Huey Ying.

‘But as the property ages and the lease shortens, the price gap will widen.’

Financing becomes tougher as the lease runs down and that affects prices, she said.

‘Your freehold interest is for perpetuity versus an interest that diminishes with time,’ she said.

Time, however, can be extended. There is life after 99 years as the Government is prepared to top up or renew the lease if there are redevelopment or upgrading plans, according to property experts.

The only problem is that it is not 100 per cent guaranteed, Ms Tay pointed out.

‘There is still uncertainty as the Government may not top up the lease if it has other plans for the site,’ she said.

In new prime areas where there is residential space such as Marina Bay and Sentosa Cove, buyers simply have no choice but to accept leasehold as the norm.

All the new residential developments there have 99-year leases, and some of them still managed to fetch eye-popping prices.

When the first condo project in Marina Bay – The Sail @ Marina Bay – was first released in late 2004 at $900 psf, some said it was crazy to pay so much for a 99-year leasehold condo.

But confirmed plans for an integrated resort in the area quickly erased any reservations associated with the tenure. Sub-sale deals of units at this condo later reached prices of more than $2,000 psf.

Singaporeans used to have a serious obsession with freehold homes, experts said.

But today, the younger generation is more receptive to leasehold properties as they tend to take a shorter-term view, said Ms Tay.

‘They are more willing to pay a higher price for a leasehold property in a good location than a lower price for a freehold property that is located farther away,’ she said.

Also, there are some people who are simply not bothered by a 99-year leasehold title, said Mr Mak.

Buyers from China, for instance, do not mind 99-year leasehold properties as they are used to shorter leases of 70 years back home, experts said.

Source: Sunday Times, 3 Jan 2010