USELESS MP LAM PIN MIN FAILED TO HELP RESIDENTS WITH TERRIBLE BTO FLAT DEFECTS

TRE was notified of residents’ complaints with regard to poor workmanship and defects found in new HDB BTO flats in Anchorvale Horizon at Seng Kang.

Residents who received their keys recently were unhappy with the poor workmanship and finishing of their flats. Some have expressed their dissatisfaction on Anchorvale Horizon Facebook page [Link]:

Jolin Chan Almost i month to repair the defect but till date still have a lot of problem not settle. Try to call Ms Jenny many times her reply is I’ll check with my supervisor call you back tomorrow ( but never called back just like a Taiwan group singer 动力火车。。。明天的明天。。。。) how how how…if they have not settle we cannot start renovation? Can anyone help….. Thks

Tan Lay Beng Hi, i’m stay at 327b my unit have a very poor workmanship at living and bedroom flooring….who can i look for help other than looking for BSC…anyone can help?

Zhou Jun Wei See the same issue here. very bad defects

Calvin Yap Hi, my unit is at blk 326D. HDB is currently addressing the defects for my units. It has been 2 whole weeks. May I know how long more would you take? I really need to get my renovation started soon! Please get back to me regarding this. Thank you.

Zulianita Z. Radzi Mine repaired.. But after the re-work, it became worse… sigh…

Noorizharfan Lizhafir Better press them hard! They sleeping on the job! 2weeks still not done with the repairs!

Tan Yong Hong Noorizharfan Lizhafir, Mine already 3 mths and still a lot not repaired.

It was so bad that the grassroots leaders at Anchorvale Horizon were themselves complaining too:

(BSC – Building Service Centre, after service provided by the construction company to rectify all defects)

The grassroots leaders even roped in Seng Kang West MP Lam Pin Min to visit Anchorvale Horizon just to show him how terrible the defects are:

On the Facebook page of Anchorvale Harvest [Link], another HDB BTO project in the vicinity of Anchorvale Horizon, someone shared a photo of a HDB unit of Anchorvale Horizon:

A netizen posted this comment on Anchorvale Harvest Facebook page:

Cheoh Boo: I guess it depends on luck. I’m from Anchorvale Horizon n my unit is one of the few who have very minimal defect. But blardi bsc took so long to rectify even the smallest of defects that what could be rectified in 2 weeks took over a mth. But some of my neighbors didn’t have it lucky though. Theirs had alot of defects that u can’t just close an eye to. Some are (from those I spoke to or went to their unit to help check on defects):

1) svc yard door came off the frame
2) rusty nail sticking out from the corner of a skirting (and that neighbor had 2 young toddlers btw)
3) uneven bumpy floors (extremely common defect)
4) one couple who just got their key went to open the door to their new unit only to have the key stuck in the keyhole and key snapped off.

I guess all this is see heng or suay one.

Oh yes, u can submit yr defect form even after the so called 1 week given time. And u can submit multiple times even mths after as long as before reno. We submitted our defects at least 5 or more times cos some defects don’t show thru on first visual inspection

HDB playing “tai-chi” and trying to wear down the complainers, despite MP’s intervention

Another new resident was so fed-up with the defects in his HDB unit as well as his dealings with HDB that he wrote a long complaint letter and posted online:

“I hope these can be shared to all Singaporeans since some facts are actually hidden by the authorities. Government kept emphasizing on Cheap and Quality housings for Singaporeans, but HDB as one of their main channel to carry out the mission does not follow. Please see photographs attached, these are the kind of Quality HDB is providing to Anchorvale Horizon residents. We understand even with 100% checks done, there ought to be defects but as you can see, those are really not acceptable. And every flat owner actually paid HDB for the inspection. But it seems like HDB is collecting the money and doing nothing. Please do not misunderstand that I am complaining for my personal benefits, I am writing in the hope that these can be shared so that all Singaporeans can have their rightfully deserved housings for the high amount they paid for.

I had bought a flat in Anchorvale Horizon, a premium BTO unit which cost about $320+K excluding HDB loan of about another $100K. Understanding from HDB personnel, Premium BTO came with flooring done and charged to the flat as a whole. And owners are not allowed to opt out for the flooring. Thus we had no choice but to leave the flooring job to HDB.

Our nightmares started when we got our keys to our unit, there are many defects which could not be squeezed into the defect reporting form HDB provided. Our living flooring is terribly done; edges of almost all tiles are not even and they even have rough edges that might cut our feet. When reporting them to the contractor (from China, Jing Ye), they turned defensive mentioning they are following guideline provided by HDB. If we are like some other not highly educated Singaporeans, or those who do not know what they can fight for, we might had unwillingly accept the flooring. But I think that is not right for us to keep quiet and accept them. Thus, I requested for joint inspection with the presence of HDB personnel. BSC, the unit that help us coordinate the defect reworks, told us on the following week that HDB personnel will go down to check before arranging the joint inspection.

My wife and I had marked all the defects except the living room flooring for reporting. But on the day of the joint inspection, I was surprised that there are markings on the floor with the word “uneven” on them. And best of all, even with them on which were marked by either the contractor or HDB, the HDB personnel denied that it was neither their contractor’s fault nor HDB’s. And they tried to cover themselves, claiming the flooring is acceptable according to ‘Industrial practice’ and they are under ‘tolerances’. And he added “but we will try to rectify it for you”.

That is very contradicting, why would they marked my flooring with the ‘uneven’ wordings and still insist that the flooring is okay. He seems like trying his luck to smoke us. I believe some of our neighbors might have been told off just like this. But he can sense our unhappiness and knew we would escalate further. So they decide to hack away the existing flooring and re-lay them. Results are still the same. After 5-6 times of rectifications, there is no improvement in the flooring. And every meeting takes place on weekdays which we had to took vacation leaves just to compromise to the HDB personnel’s working timing. And the frustrating part is at every meeting, HDB personnel would use the same excuse to try convince us to accept the flooring. And if we do not accept, he would tell us he will ask the contractors to rework again. I found it weird that no matter how lousy someone’s workmanship is, they will not keep repeating the same mistake unless they are real idiots.

Thus I took out the spare tile that HDB gave to take a look. I was amazed that the tiles can rock on the flooring. Then I understand not only the workmanship has problem, the tiles have defects themselves. The tile itself is uneven with some area popping up and yet that HDB personnel kept trying his luck to tell us off. This is a terrible integrity issue and I became very disappointed with HDB. I thought maybe it is just that person, so I decided to give them another chance by escalating the issues to higher authorities in HDB. Ironically, they refused to handle it and diverted the emails back to that same guy. Thus I escalated it to our MP and he agreed to try to help as he mentioned many neighbors had complained too. He came to meet up with me and some other neighbors who had terrible defects even the blind can see. He witnessed for himself and understood why there are so many complaints. Thus he advised that HDB personnel in front of us to check with his higher authorities if they can work out with some reimbursements for owners.

But HDB turned a deaf ear to the issue. No follow-up was done with regard to compensations except HDB going back to their old tricks of rectifications after rectifications, hoping one day, you will give up and accept whatever they provide you. Many owners gave up because they had rented flats outside or are getting married. The dragging made them run out of time or money for their plans. Knowing that HDB would not be bothered even with the MP helping us, I wrote to Ministry of National Development and the MP in-charge, hoping to seek some justice, but there are more rubbish to come.

After 6-8 weeks, we go back to square one with that particular same guy replying to my email saying they are “actively” looking into the issues. MND actually goes back to HDB and HDB goes back to him. There is no escalation path in this ministry. That is the funniest thing I got to know. And I actually did ask that HDB guy to provide me the so call “industrial practice” guidelines. It has been 4 weeks and he is still waiting for approval to reveal the guidelines to us. We are the owners and they required clearance to reveal something we should know to us. I even wrote to the President but was referred back to MND and HDB. There is something terribly wrong with their doings, and I hope Singaporeans are aware of them and be prepared.”

This resident also posted photos of the defects found in his and his neighbors’ new BTO units at Anchorvale Horizon: