Published in ST on Sep 24, 2011
Indpendent chartered building surveyors found 32 defects in the pool, lift lobbies, residential units and basement carpark. Rotting wooden plank in the pool deck area (above), and water seepage in the basement carpark. -- ST PHOTOS: LIM WUI LIANG
By Amanda Tan
Home owners of The Seaview, an upmarket condo in the east, are seeking $14 million for defects that have allegedly plagued the estate since 2008.
In what is believed to be one of the largest amounts that a developer here is being sued for, the residents of the 546-unit project in Amber Road are suing Mer Vue Developments, a subsidiary of listed Wheelock Properties.
Also named in the suit - filed by the condo's management corporation (MC) - are main contractor Tiong Aik Construction, RSP Architects Planners & Engineers and engineering firm Squire Mech.
Even with properties worth over millions Singapore Dollar, what happen????
Singapore still has some way to go in terms of consumer rights... thanks to PAP who has tried hard to suppress anything that encourages civil liberty. Even the Fair Trading Act was in place just a couple of years ago. Despite being first world in hardware, we are severely lacking in other aspects of a developed nation such as consumer rights. There were many unreported cases of condos MCST seeking compensation from developer for shoddy workmanship but in most cases, the developer offers a token compensation worth a few hundred thousand and close the case. In fact they will leave you to deal with the main contractor. It takes a lot of energy to sue a developer, and council members being volunteers are usually unwilling to spend too much energy pursuing a case on behalf of typically ungrateful owners. eg. if the council incurs a lot of money and lose the case, the residents are likely to blame the council members for their "wrong judgement". Condo owners are like the typical Sinkie who wants you to fight for them but will blame you if things go wrong... basically the 60.1%... just my 2 cents from my short tenure serving in a Council years back