November 23, 2008
To : All tenants of Chip Bee Gardens
RE : IMPORTANT -- Petition to JTC for lower rentals at Chip Bee Gardens.
Dear Tenants,
1. Your support for the petition.
Most of the older tenants that have being living in the estate from between 2 years to 16 years and above, have received notice from our landlord, JTC, on the steep increase in rents from [S$2,000 -- S$2,200] to [S$3,400 -- S$4,000]. This is a 90% increase during financially challenging times. Tenants are given less than 3 months notice on the increase, and this does not give us decent lead time to seek out alternative housing arrangements as the new rates apply immediately.
We are petitioning against the rental increase and appealing to the senior management of JTC and our Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit-Panjang, Mr Lim Swee Say, to reconsider and not to increase the rental for the older tenants and to consider to reduce the current rental of newer tenants that had recently moved into the estate as we enter the current economic recession.
We would like to seek your support in this petition. All you have to do is to sign this support document (first page) and return by hand to 35 Jalan Puteh Jerneh by
28-Nov-08 (Friday), 6.00pm. You may slip your signed copy into the letter-box.
Kindly refer to the enclosed copy of the petition which will be sent to JTC and Mr Lim Swee Say. If you have any feedback or input towards our cause, please include your comments on the form below.
2. Residents Meeting.
There will be a meeting to discuss the actions going forward. You are invited to join us.
Details are as follows :
Date : 30 Nov 2008 (Sun)
Time : 11.30am
Venue : 35 Jalan Puteh Jerneh
------------------------------------------------------ Form -------------------------------------------------------------
To : Mr Lim Swee Say (MP for Holland Bukit Panjang);
Mrs Ow Foong Pheng (CEO of JTC).
I / We support this petition. We are appealing to JTC to review the recent rent adjustments and NOT to increase the rent for Chip Bee gardens.
Name : ____________________________________________Signature : _________________
House / Unit :______Street : ___________________________________Date: _____________
Other comments / supporting remarks : (Please continue on another sheet if you need to, or attach a copy of any recent correspondence you might have had with JTC regarding this matter) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Nov
23rd, 2008
To Mrs. Ow Foong Pheng, CEO of JTC and
Member of Parliament for Holland Village Mr Lim Swee Say,
Dear Madam / Sir,
As Singaporeans and your residents enter this current economic recession, this is a letter of collaboration, and, in effect a petition, by tenants of the estate at Chip Bee Gardens to address the justifications for the recent request increment of rent by your government body, JTC.
In point form here is a summary of the following petition drawn up by residents of Chip Bee Gardens to bring to the attention of the Government and JTC, factors which we consider to be the unreasonable to its residents.
Unjustifiable near doubling of rental fees to tenants at a time of financial credit crisis and recession.
The lack of sufficient notice to tenants with regard to the rental increase.
Tenants who required more time to relocate themselves were given extensions of their leases but told to pay the new rental charges.
The insufficient consideration for adjusting rents for loyal and long term tenants.
Eroding of creative artistic / creative suburb and lack of foresight and support for the artists and long term tenants who helped created the original vision of Holland Village as a creative hub.
Relevant practical suggestions for Government run bodies such as JTC / Premas in managing their schemes and tenants with more flexibility and compassion.
Unjustifiable near doubling of rental fees to tenants at a time of financial credit crisis and recession.
In a time in which all Singaporeans are entering a period of prolonged constraint, it appears that there has been a professional oversight leading to the assumptions of market forces being the apparent rationale for rent hikes. In our opinion the high rental environment has softened tremendously in the last few months and JTC should take the new economic circumstances into consideration.
In some cases tenants paying a monthly rent of $2,000 have had their rents increased to $3800, an increase of 90%. In the rest of the world where market forces predominate, Government bodies are taking ownership through bail outs and fiscal measures. Here, the governing body appears to be doing the opposite by doubling the rents. At this time of a credit crunch and liquidity crisis it is surely a time when we should all be expecting rent reductions.
For many people Chip Bee Gardens has been home for as long as ten to fifteen years, and these individuals have contributed much to the culture and the creative environment. We hope that JTC and the government can offer the tenants of Chip Bee Gardens some compassionate considerations in our rental renewal.
· The lack of sufficient notice to tenants with regard to the rental increase.
If it was JTC’s intention to implement such large increases to the rent at Chipbee Gardens, then residents should have been given ample notice to look for alternative accommodation.
With such an unforeseeable significant increase to our rents, a notice period of 6 months would have seemed more reasonable. A lot of us were not given enough advance notice. (One tenant received only 2 weeks notice!) In our opinion, this very short notice is unreasonable and should be reviewed in context of the current financial environment.
The insufficient consideration for adjusting rents for long term tenants.
For example: There are old tenants that have lived in Chip Bee Gardens for over 15 years and peacefully co-operated with your body and had contributed to the wonderful culture and success of Chip Bee Gardens. Despite their long term patronage, there seems to be no concession for them. After many pleas / requests, they have been granted only a short term extension on their lease, at the new increased rents.
In one particular case, the tenant has had to apply and wait through balloting to buy an HDB and is over 6,000 on the list and deemed too old and weak to move herself and her belongings to a new rental position prior to the permanent residency of an HDB. She feels forced to stay in Chip Bee until the HDB comes through. But despite pleading her case to JTC for the old rental prices until an HDB is found, JTC have not moderated its rule on their policy of charging on new rentals under the guise of market forces.
We also feel that JTC may be carrying out these new policies based on ‘market statistical research’ that is not relevant anymore. For tightly knit communities like Chipbee, it is short sighted indeed to dismantle long term inter-neighbourhood relationships on a value system solely based on ‘Market forces’.
This generalized and overbearing treatment by the JTC for long term, loyal tenants is insensitive and unfair, and detrimental to the larger social objectives that Singapore wishes to implement. It is recommended that JTC can look at all these considerations on a case to case basis instead of a ‘blanket - one for all’ policy.
We find that many people are moving into Chipbee for a few months, or one or two years, almost as a ‘stop gap’ temporary measure. If too many people do this, there are long term negative consequences to the identity of a community such as Chipbee.
Surely we should be encouraging Management Services to nurture the interests of the tenants and the community? Many of us feel that the previous management under Premas was much more understanding, and easier to talk to.
Tenants who required more time to relocate themselves were given extensions of their leases but told to pay the new rental charges.
Some tenants that were unable to meet the new rent increases were granted short term extensions on their leases; however they were told that they would be charged at the NEW rental prices and NOT their CURRENT ones; this appeared almost callous considering we are at the juncture of an economic recession. We hope that JTC will allow the existing tenant sufficient time to look for alternative and allow those that wanted to move out an extension of 6 months with the old rent.
Senior Minister Mr. Goh Chock Tong in his recent article explained about the ingredients for governance... he mentioned social justice as one of the four ingredients for any governance for now and the future, with the supervisory and regulatory mechanisms in place.
Eroding of creative artistic suburb and lack of foresight and support for the artists who helped the original vision of Holland Village as a creative hub
An article in the Straits Times by Minister Mentor Mr. Lee Kuan Yew “Orderly Singapore needs a few little Bohemias” illustrates the working backdrop behind Chipbee’s success. Neighbourhoods like ours are essential for nurturing the magic ingredients that ‘grow’ creativity. To not understand this in lieu for a heavy handed, short term value policy designed around ‘market forces’ (that are not relevant anymore!) increases the gap of misunderstanding between JTC and its tenants. We hope that JTC can help make Singapore more vibrant, innovative and encourage national identity building by looking closely and understanding more deeply the dynamics of social cohesion through the venues that it promotes.
Chip Bee Gardens was once a magnet for people in the creative industries and housed artists, play writes, authors, actors, film makers and professional world class dancers.
Systematically, one by one, these people have been driven out from the neighborhood by the extortionate increases in rents....many of them have left the country. These were the very people who gave the estate its appeal, motivated the concept of the work lofts, and made the estate a popular place to live; exemplified in numerous newspaper / magazine articles and TV documentaries. Most of these people were long time tenants who were shown no gratitude or appreciation for their contributions to the community but, on the contrary, were told that if they are unable to afford the rent increase, would have to move out as others were waiting in line for their units. It is ironic to note that whenever a marketing angle was employed by the Management agencies, the stories of these ‘bohemian’ tenants were used again and again.
Relevant practical suggestions for Government run bodies such as JTC in managing their schemes and tenants with more flexibility and compassion
A symbiotic relationship between the creative, scientific, artistic and business entrepreneurs could be harnessed such that after the economic turn around, all of the above sectors could complement each other by co-creating a vibrant, well rounded Holland village scene. Foreign, creative and scientific people desire environments that are conducive to their personalities. There are many collaborations and working relationships that can emerge from such a rich mix of individuals.
In the Government’s long term plans for Holland Village / Buona Vista and in making Singapore entrepreneurial and innovative, it makes sense to protect and keep artistic people in the area.
In closing it is our sincere request that JTC will review their decision to increase the rentals at Chip Bee Gardens and consider the points mentioned and not only adjust but reduce existing rentals in keeping with the current financial situation.
Thank you for your attention.
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