SINGAPORE – Flat buyers in at least three Build-to-Order (BTO) projects have been informed by the Housing Board of further delays to their homes just months before they were due to be completed.
Buyers at Tampines GreenCourt, Clementi NorthArc and Woodleigh Hillside BTO projects who were expecting their flats to be ready in the third quarter of this year – already a delayed completion date – will now have to wait between three and six more months for their homes.
More than 25 buyers across the three projects told The Straits Times that they were frustrated at being informed so late about the latest round of delays.
They will get the keys to their new homes nine to 12 months later than they had anticipated when they booked their flats.
In the meantime, some are scrambling to make new plans.
Assistant finance manager Joelle Lo, 37, said she was shocked to learn of the additional six-month wait for her four-room BTO flat in Woodleigh Hillside in Bidadari Park Drive. It will now be completed in the first quarter of 2023 instead of the third quarter of this year.
Ms Lo had hoped to complete renovation works and move into her new home by the end of this year, so that she could walk her six-year-old son to the nearby Maris Stella High School when he starts Primary 1 next year.
“We had everything all planned out, but because of this last-minute notice, we will likely move in only around mid-2023 after doing renovation works,” said Ms Lo, who also has a 15-month-old daughter.
Until then, her husband will have to drive their son to school from their current home in Hougang.
But they worry there may be more to come. “Who knows if there will be further delays?” she added.
Tampines GreenCourt is slated to have 2,192 BTO units, Clementi NorthArc 1,179, and Woodleigh Hillside 1,355 units.
The majority of buyers ST spoke to received e-mails from HDB on March 31 informing them about the latest delays.
In the e-mail seen by ST, HDB said the disruptions in construction activities posed by 2020’s two-month circuit breaker had been further exacerbated by Malaysia’s closure of its border over the past two years, which impacted key construction supplies, and the tightening of border controls for workers from South Asia for several months in 2021.
HDB said it has since implemented various measures to expedite on-site construction work and assist contractors to avoid further delays to the projects.
“However, despite the best efforts put in by HDB and our project partners, our latest assessment with less than a year to go to the current completion date of the project, is that there will unfortunately be a further delay to the project,” said HDB in the e-mail to buyers.
HDB assured buyers that it will continue to find ways to expedite construction work as much as possible, without compromising on the quality of the projects and the safety and well-being of workers.
These include the sharing of Covid-19-related cost increases to assist contractors and permitting less noisy work to be carried out on Sundays and public holidays.
But it also warned that there are still uncertainties with the global Covid-19 situation and “further changes to the project timelines cannot be totally ruled out at this stage”.
Buyers in at least two other BTO projects – Rivervale Shores in Sengkang and Eunos Court in Geylang – have also received similar e-mails from HDB to inform them of further three to six-month delays to their flats.
Both projects were initially due to be completed in 2023.
In response to queries from ST, HDB said affected buyers are updated periodically on project timelines and revised completion dates of their new flats, based on HDB’s latest estimates.
“For the first delay notification, this is usually done at the 18-month mark before the project’s probable completion date, or earlier, to allow affected flat buyers time to source alternative interim housing,” said HDB.
Then, as construction progresses, HDB said, it informs buyers of any further delays at periodic milestones.
“These letters will be sent closer to the project’s probable completion date and are usually the second delay notification,” it added.
HDB added that so far, it has not sent any third delay notices for BTO projects under construction.
Even after the latest round, HDB said the range of delays for ongoing BTO projects has largely remained at between six and 12 months, in line with what National Development Minister Desmond Lee told Parliament in November last year.
Most flat buyers of ongoing projects will be able to move into their new homes within four to five years of booking their flats, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it added.
HDB said it has been able to catch up on some BTO projects, but that the extent of delay varies by project, depending on site-specific factors such as manpower availability, on-site technical challenges, the contractor’s performance and available supply of materials.
“The ongoing global geopolitical uncertainties and worsening Covid-19 situation in China also add further uncertainties to the supply chain situation,” said HDB.
The current median waiting time, after factoring in Covid-19-related delays, is about 4.5 years for projects launched in 2020, and 3.8 years for those launched in 2021, added HDB.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the waiting time for standard BTO projects was three to four years.
Finance manager Serene Toh, 36, whose first child is due next month, had hoped to move into her five-room BTO flat in Clementi NorthArc in Clementi Avenue 6 as soon as possible as she and her husband, who got married in 2016, have just a room now in his parents’ home.
But her flat has been delayed by three months, on top of the previous six months, and will be ready only in the fourth quarter of this year.
“My husband and I are already finalising our interior design and had hoped for them to start work some time in the third quarter, so we’re quite shocked HDB informed us of further delays at the very last stretch when we’re just three months away,” said Ms Toh.
“Among all my friends, I was the first one to get married and the last one to get my home because most of them bought resale HDB flats or condominiums. I understand that some delays can’t be helped because of the pandemic, but in hindsight, I would have gone for a resale HDB flat or condo too, although it does not make sense for me to do so now,” she said.
Public relations officer Niven Tham, 33, had signed a contract with a designer in 2020 to lock in a lower price up until October this year, based on the initial delayed timeline provided by HDB.
But he is now looking at an additional 10 per cent to 15 per cent increase in renovation costs as the latest delays will push back the completion of his four-room BTO flat at Tampines GreenCourt in Tampines North Drive by three months.
Mr Tham said he felt “blindsided” by “the sudden announcement”.
He will also have to extend his rental lease for at least three months. He and his girlfriend pay slightly more than $800 a month for a bedroom in a four-room HDB flat.
Business owner Alivia Oh said she had some inkling that her estate was not on track to completion but was still shocked to receive news of an additional six-month delay to her four-room BTO flat in Clementi NorthArc.
“I could tell that there were some sort of delays from the photos and videos updates sent by people on our BTO group chat. For example, some blocks were not yet fitted with windows and the roads and gardens were not done up,” said Ms Oh, who is in her 30s.
“But no news from HDB is good news, so we just assumed it was on track and we made our plans accordingly,” she said.
However, her suspicions were confirmed the night she received HDB’s e-mail informing her of the delays.
She said: “The e-mail came at 10pm, so safe to say, it was a sleepless night.”
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